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Im currently using a sera co2 system. this basically works by adding a tablet into a diffuser which is inside and tank and as the talet dissolves it creates CO2 which diffuses out during the day. This system seems to work ok, however i cant get the CO2 levels up to the 25-30 range. The highest ive had the sera system upto now is 20.
Im thinking of either investing some money and buying a pressurised system or making my own DIY system.
My tank is a 29G and i would like some advise on either a good pressurised CO2 which is available in the U.K or a DIY setup which will have no problems getting the CO2 up to the levels that i need for my size tank.

Can anyone help?

Cheers

Hi Paddy,

You say you have a CO2 level of 20ppm.
What is your KH and ph at that point?

About making a DIY CO2 system, there are quite a few posts here at FP, for example [link=This One]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Technical%20Tinkering/65458.html" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link].

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for that.

My pH is 7.0 and kH is 5.0

based on [link=Chuck Gadd's]http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] CO2 chart, you have only 15ppm. Overall, that is not too bad, but of course depends on your other tank factors:

- How much light do you have?
- Do you add ferts to the water column, if so which ones and how many and often?
-Do you have lots of plants (could be the reason why the CO2 is not getting any higher - limited system provision and high uptake)?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,

I currently have x2 30watt tubes, x1 Life-Glo and x1 Arcadia Fresh Water bulb. These are on for 10 hours a day, they were on for 12 but ive recently reduced them due to algae.

I does nitrate and phosphate as bensaf told me.
15ml each after water change and then 5ml evey couple of days. Im also adding 5ml of flourish excel a day.

The tank is not that heavily planted as others i have seen on this site.

Hope this helps

Paddy

Paddy,

I actually think that you are in good shape. To recap:

- You have a little over 2wpg on your 29G (not extremely high)
- You have 15ppm measurable CO2. And you add Flourish Excel, which is not measurable as it doesn’t change your ph. So overall your carbon should be fine.
- You add ferts to your tank, although I miss a few on your list – Potassium and Trace. I ran into a problem when dosing Phosphates without considering the actual uptake and the tab water values, try to make sure that this macro nutrient does not get too high in your tank.

Now, why do you want to change that?

Related to this topic, maybe you can help me out as well. I just have started to add Excel to my 125 in the hope to KILL my algae as it was suggested to me to be good for this purpose as well (I also have pressurized CO2). Do you have any algae issues and if so, which algae is there?

Thanks,

Ingo

EDIT: Say which one of These do you have?

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 04-Nov-2005 10:15

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The reason that im wanting the co2 levels to increase is that i ideally would like to stock the tank with alot more plants. Im also having alot of problems with algae mainly bba and there are also a few others.

Ive tried increasing and reducing ferts with no sucess so all i can think of what is left is the co2 levels.

The co2 system which im using is the Sera CO2 start system

I might be wrong (as I am fighting BBA myself), but:

Ive tried increasing and reducing ferts with no sucess so all i can think of what is left is the co2 levels

Did you ever use Potassium and a trace mix?

If not then I believe this is your first problem. Plants will not (or way little) use Nitrate and Phosphorus if other needed nutrients are not present. Algae, being more primitive, will then use these vacan nutrients in the water column and do their thing.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

If you don't dose everything as LF said you can run into troubles - you can get ferts here on the cheaps from greg watson. He's the go to guy for plant ferts. You would want to buy CSM+B Plantex 1 lb and Potassium sulfate. I got my order from him in two days.

Oh, and you should stock every square inch of floor space from the start for a heavily planted tank. A lot of people mess that part up and get lots of algae. You should just go for the plants now - like LF said, your CO2 isn't optimal, but should be sufficient for your setup.

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 04-Nov-2005 11:52

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Sorry i forgot to mention that im also adding potassium and using seachem flourish aswell.
I belive that my problem is one of two things:
- Either not enough CO2
- Or not enough plants in the tank

I forgot i had an old hagen co2 system in the garage so im going to run that along side the sera one and see what difference that makes before i go out and splahs some money on a pressurised co2 system.

Thanks for your help

Paddy

Good idea Paddy,

Do don't have a Phosphate test kit I assume, right?

It would be nice to know how high your value is (after a dosing, before a water change, after a water change).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club