Question on Co2/PH reader

[Smitty]

Howdy,

I have one of the bell housings to help measure the Co2/PH in the tank. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get everything set up right.

I bought a KH4 solution from a local pet store (funny story behind that, but basically the store was recommended in the thread on how make the stuff, just turns out they are local for me). Anyway, I got the 250ml bottle of the stuff.

Once I got home I put a bit of it into a very clean glass, and needed to add the PH drops. I added drops until it was a dark blue (but not TOO dark). I did NOT count the drops... but thinking it was in the 8-10 range. I then put that into the housing and put it into the tank yesterday morning.

So, here is my problem... yesterday at the end of the day it was a light blue/green color and this morning my fish were at the top of the water gulping air. I thought that blue was not enough CO2?? I'm afraid to add more to make it go to the green section... Also, should I be using an air stone at night to get rid of the CO2? I'm using a 5g pressurized system that is on an electronic solenoid set to go on and off with the lights.

Thanks, I'm still new to this CO2 thing...

 

[Smitty]

Just as a quick update. I haven't changed the CO2 level but the fish stopped sucking air at the top. I did run an air stone for about 1 hour yesterday and not at all today...

I've bumped up my CO2 output to see if I can get to more of a green color. I need a bigger bell to read this stuff!! This tiny bell is so hard to see the color!

 

[Purrbox]

Your CO2 and O2 levels are independant. The fish are gasping at the top because there isn't enough oxygen, not because there is too much CO2. What type of filteration do you have on the aquarium? It could be that you need to adjust the flow to get better oxygen levels without affecting the CO2 levels overly much.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

filtration might be one problem... the other could be temperature... how hot is the tank? the warmer the tank.. the harder it is to keep it oxygenated..

 

[Smitty]

I think it was filtration but it is fixed and only lasted one day. I have a fluval 405 which should be more than enough for a 55g tank but I didn't have it set on full flow-but now it is and all seems good.

Still can't tell about how much CO2 I have... that little bulb is so hard to read.

 

[mgamer20o0]

keep the filter on full flow. you should be able to watch the fish to tell when its low on o2. you have to dump a lot of co2 into a tank to where it pushes out the o2.