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I am very new to the planted tank "thing" and I am wondering....Can too much CO2 harm fish or plants? I am using a newer method on the market called "carbo-plus". It consists of a carbon plate that is hooked up to a power source. The variable controller essentially "burns" the carbon plate releasing CO2. I am just wondering if I should just use a lower setting or what? Don't want to "wreck" stuff.

Too much co2 makes it hard for the fish to breathe. You'll see them gasping at the surface especially in the morning. What size is your tank and how many plants do you have? I have carbo plus turned all the way up on my 55g. Also for the carbo plus controller don't set it on the lights, filter, anywhere it can get moisture or heat, set it on a flat surface right side up. They overheat very easily and don't handle moisture. I've killed 2 controllers so far... The 2nd one I thought maybe if I turned it sideways and set it on the floor it wouldn't overheat as bad but it quit working. The first one I left sitting on my lights and it got too hot then it worked awhile sitting on the carpet before it finally died. If I didn't find used ones for cheap off ebay I probably wouldn't be doing carbo plus anymore.

It's a 110 gallon. I have 2 larger black swords, about 10 small misc. plants and 4 medium sized bunches of sessiflora. I just put all the plants in the tank today as well as the carbo-plus. Have 60ish zebra danios helping cycle. Cycle is pretty much done now too. I have the CO2 plugged into the timer with the lights, so NO CO2 at night.

Last edited by X-Treme at 30-Jul-2005 20:14

I believe the co2 shouldn't really exceed 20ppm.
You can measure co2 by kh and ph readings and using a co2 table like this one.

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/kh-ph-co2-chart.html


My Scapes

I would start with maybe 2-3 settings below full and see how the fish do then slowly turn it up if possible or down if you see a problem like fish staying only in the top level. I think there's 10? settings so then start it on 7-8. The problem with the co2 chart is that carbo plus lowers your kh while it's running. The calcium collects on the plate so it's difficult to tell if the chart is accurate in this case. My kh may go down to 2 on a test kit but the ph won't change even though my tank is full of bubbles. When the carbo plus is off for a week I get tons of spot algae and when it's turned back on the algae goes away and the plants grow so it works and there's co2 but it doesn't match the chart.

X-Treme

I have never used it and have no personal experience.
I do recall one day at the local LFS there was a big panic fish dying and others very near death. The Co2 had been wrongly set and overnight all the troubles comenced.

They lost many fish from that costly error.

Keith

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That's why when I started mine I only ran it during the day at first and the first time I ran it overnight I turned it down for the night and up during the day. It's difficult to accurately measure the co2 from carbo plus which leaves room for mistakes. It does work well though.

Last edited by sham at 30-Jul-2005 20:55

Have you checked your Kh? The carbo plus unit per my understanding (haven't used it) will 'burn' through kh and you may want to supplement it if your water is softer.

One of the dis-advantages of the Carbo Plus unit is the way it generates carbon by doing something to the KH.
It renders calculating Co2 content thru the usual method of measuring KH and pH ineffective. So there's no way that I know of to calculate the level of Co2 in the tank.

But then again as it's producing carbon rather rather then Co2 gas it's probably a mute point anyway.

Last edited by bensaf at 31-Jul-2005 09:23

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I believe the co2 shouldn't really exceed 20ppm.

Not really....as long as your fish are ok you can go higher. I personally have about 30 ppm in my high light tank, fish are fine. I know some people go as high as 40 ppm but IMO anyway that is just a bit much. I would say 20 ppm is the minimum in a high light tank, not maximum. It does depend on light though, with lower light a ton of CO2 is not as important.

Hey sham......does having your carbo plus turned all the way up make your water "cloudy at all"??? I have mine cranked uo to full now and the water seems cloudy (or maybe just full of tiny bubbles) and has alot of bubbles on the surface. although I'm pretty sure that I need a surface skimmer.

Mine puts out thousands of tiny bubbles but I also have quite a bit of water movement that spreads it all around. Unless your sitting right by the tank the bubbles are too small to really notice. Except for some tannic acid making my tank a bit brown the water looks clear from a distance.

I haven't had any problems with the kh and carboplus. The ph hasn't dropped and if you turn the carbo plus unit off the kh bounces right back up where it was within a few hours. Maybe if you went months without water changes and left it running 24/7 you could have problems. It seems to just collect around the unit and then dissolve back into the water as needed.