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Hey Everyone! Ok i got my co2 system up and running. I gave up on the DIY setup, i bought a ceramic Diffuser and regulator with solinode valve and bubble counter. My question is this, In the bubble counter how many bubbles should pass through the water per min or per sec. I have mine probibly at 1 bubble per 3 seconds, i had it faster but i lost two fish, and i think it had something to do with it. I am going to do a test in a few min to see what ppm i will be running. I guess i am just asking is there a "average" settting or does my PPM all depends on my water conditions. Ill post my KH and PH levels and what my PPM is.. i just dont want to loose any more fish..


Shawn

Shawn,

The bubble rate also depends on the tank size. Smaller tanks need less bubbles (per second, BTW) to reach the same saturation. Makes sense, right?

Yeah, give us the KH and ph, and also mention if you add any ph-altering stuff to the tank (some kind of ph down for example, or even peat moss and driftwood that creates tannins).

Also, what substrate do you have?

About the fish loss: I seriously doubt that 1 bubble per 3 seconds, or even per second, would cause any fish loss. What were the fish symptoms? Did they swim on the surface all the time (all fish in the tank) and were breathing air? What are your other tank values?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Little_fish

Thanks for the quick reply, and i must say your tank looks incredible, i was just browsing through your log a little while ago.

Ok as it stands now i have no ph altering stuff in my tank, my ph now is 7.0, my KH is 5 which i believe it gives me 18ppm my bubble counter is 1bubble every 3 seconds. My substrate is just generaic LFS stuff, no driftwood or anything else, Lots of ferts and other stuff that should be in there for my plants. also my fish tank is 110gal.

The fish problems, the fish were mid hight tank swimmers.. kinda went all over really, and they were at the bottom and once died had noticeable blood vains aroudn gills. Its kinda annoying actually it seems every time we add new fish to our tank we loose approx 3 old ones. I use melafix and stressizem when adding new fish to give a little med buffer but it seems to not make a difference. We also check for most kinds of deseases in the LFS tanks before buyin any.

so i know my levels are low for PPM if i increase my co2 will that change my KH and PH or do i need to change eithe KH or PH to Get a higher co2 PPM?

thanks

Shawn

i just did a few more tests and my phospherus is approx 1.0ppm and my nitrate level is 0.ppm... i need to increase my dosage on that to bring my nitrates up higher. What is the general rule of thumb for nitrates? I read between 0-40ppm is good, but i might have misread something on that too.

Does Phospherus and Nitrate affect my co2 ppm? or is it just the KH and pH that affect co2?


Shawn'

You have some very good questions, but the size of the tank isn't the only factor needed to determine how much co2 and ferts you should dose.

The other factors are light (more light more co2 is needed) and the amount and types of plants you have in your tank.

Generally speaking you want about 10-20ppm no3 and 1 to 2ppm po4. But I wouldn't dose in these ranges unless your light is strong enough and you have plants to absorb these ferts.


My Scapes

tetratech thanks for the reply,
well my lighting is quite strong enough, im currently running 4 florecent bulbs all approx 6700K all are Over driven using electronic ballists. I have two lighting cycles, the first bank comes on at 10:30 and by 1ish the second bank of lights comes on for 5hrs then the lights first remaining bank shuts off about 12.5hrs of total light. most of my plants are moderate light.. with some lowlight plants in there as well. Im sorry im horrible with names of plants so im not going to even try. Ill see about posting some pictures of my tank soon. Also I have to master taking photos that are not blurry... i need to use i tripod.. anyhow thats not the issue lol.. but there is some more info for you.

For my fert schedual. I dose Seachem nitrate 2times a week, i dose Phosphate once a week, I dose seachem flourish once a week, and i dose potassium once a week. and i dose fluorish trace twice a week as well. I alternate days too with what is being put in so that not everything is dumped at once... And im just using what the directions on the bottle tell me to according to my tank size.


theres some more info. hope that helps with some thoughts...

Shawn

here is a pic hope it works... like i said sorry bout the picture, and yes i am new to the aquascaping.. but i like it so deal LOL


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Sounds like you have all the ferts and equipment we just need to give you a reasonable dosing schedule that will make sense for your plants and light. Do you know what the total wattage of the 4 bulbs is? You really need a mininum of 2 wpg which on your tank would be 220 watts.



My Scapes

I believe that i have probibly 2wpg however my tank is tall which creates a problem with lighting. but as you can see i have a pretty solid substrate base. my tank is 24" tall and i know light intensity is reduced with tanks taller than 18"... so i am going to say that my water colum is approx 22" tall.

few new pics

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new pics

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My lighting is actually lower then i thought it was, each bulb is 40w and its 50% overdriven so if all is right im gonna guess it to be about 200watts.. i cant find the link on Overdriving Florecent light fixtures.. anyhow i cant afford an elaborate light hood so i made it myself. The only thing i could do is add two more ballists and overdrive my lights to 100% .... we'll see...

Shawn,

I guess our questions opened about 100 other things to talk about, but to come back to your original issue:

No way that 18ppm would have killed your fishies, there must be something else going on. In order to raise the CO2 you increase the bubble count. This will lower your ph while not mess with the KH (basically).

Also, your ferts certainly seem a little out of wack, having 0 nitrates will pretty much stop the uptake of the ferts you offer via dosing.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thats what i figured, but i thought i would ask the question anyhow. I didnt realize that my nitrate level was so low, ive been adding to the tank and i havent been aroudn lately to do a rigerous tests on the tank. So ill be increasing that.

Shawnp2k,

Are you doing weekly water changes? If yes great, but if not it's very important to do that if you are dosing all these ferts on a regular basis. It protects the tank from getting to far off center in terms of ferts and waste, especially in your case if the plants aren't uptaking the ferts as much because of lowlight, etc.

Most of us here, who run co2 tanks with regular fertlizing do 50% water changes every week. Really easy with a Python.

My Scapes

Yeah i do weekly waterchanges however its not 50% tho, its more like 30-40..

What can i do to increase my lights. I dont really want to go into the PC fixtures and bulbs at this time. Is there anything i can do with my current setup to increase my light output? Would it make a difference if i add two more ballists and overdrive my lights 100%? or am i just wasting my time for the end result? and if i were to go to PC lighting What should i be looking for? my tank's dim are 60"long x 24"tall and 18" deep. would i need 4 24" PC? or 4 48"? PC's?

now that i think about it my last reply didnt make a heck of a lot of sense. Ill try to re word it better.

My current lighting setup i have 4 florcent light bulbs 6700k overdriven by 50% which woudl give me approx 200watts. which is low for my tank. What can i do to increase my WPG inexpensively? Would it be better to over drive my lights to 100%? or should i change my setup all together and if i were to go to Power COmpact would i need to get 2 units at 2x96? for my tank setup which would give me approx 3.5WPG. Any ideas? I want to do this as cheap as possible, im pretty handy so the DIY kits would work for me.
thanks guys!

Shawn

Hi,
While I understand wanting to keep the costs down to
something reasonable, your choices are a bit limited.
You could go with the VHO system but that requires
special ballasts, and special end caps on the tubes as
well as some way of cooling the bulbs, a cooling fan
mounted in the hood.
You could convert to T-5 bulbs. At 5/8 inch diameter,
you can add several to an existing hood but that too
is expensive and would require cooling.
You could convert to Compact Fluorescent bulbs and that
too would initially be expensive as well.
I don't think that MH would be advantageous.

Personally, I went the CF way, and use the 6700K to 8800K
bulbs. I purchased a hood made for them that came with
a small muffin fan built in and use timers on the hood
to adjust the tank's light cycle.

Careful shopping can help keep expenses down, but ya
gotta face it, this is not an inexpensive hobby.


Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hey Frank! Thanks for the reply, so what your saying is i should just bite the bullet and buy fixtures instead of trying to modify my current configuration? Yes i know its an expensive hobby.. but i guess the real price is the initial setup and the rest is kinda not as harsh.... I went to the electrical store as well and they dont have any 96watt CF fixtures... ill keep looking..

Shawn