[yildirim]

Hello to all,

I use DIY yeast CO2 for my heavily planted tank. I do regular weekly water changes and dose fertilizers as discussed in many other topics and also make the tests for the water parameters paranoidly. I have read from many topics that yeast CO2 is not an efficient way of adding CO2 to the tank. I use a 5 lt. bottle with a few grams of yeast and at least 100 grams of sugar at startup and 1 spoon added every 4 or 5 days or sometimes a week to the mixture. Regarding to the CO2 charts everywhere ( I found at least 3 or more charts and also another xls file from Chris Rolson) and my readings of my tank parameters my co2 nver gets lover than 40ppm. May it be possible or there is something which I do not take to account. My readings are as follows:
pH:6.5 - gH:9-10 - kH:6-7

I do not see any stress at fishes even I have read that more than 30 in long term may be problem for fishes (and I have a good load fishes) and plants are pearling very good.

Waiting to hear for your comments.
YILDIRIM

 

[Bert H]

The problem with diy is the fact that it can be so variable depending on the status of the culture. Having said that, many people use it on tanks up to 55gal and are very happy with it. You don't mention how big your tank is, but your levels are quite high. Actually using Chuck's calculator with your pH of 6.5 and KH at 6.5, you have 61ppm of CO2. You say your fish aren't stressed, I'd be careful if I were you. Or perhaps your test kits are off.

Bottom line is if it's working for you, you're OK. But if your CO2 levels are indeed that high, I would be concerned especially at night, and with such a high fish load. HTH.

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

You could try cutting off the co2 at night just to be on the safe side.

 

[C_perugiae]

You might want to double check those test results with someone else's test kits, or see if you can get LFS to look at your water for ya. I would think a CO2 concentration at 61ppm would prompt your fish to climb out of the tank and slap you around a bit. I accidentally bumped my concentration up to 43 ppm this summer (in one of my less intelligent moments) and killed a bunch of ghost shrimp in about four hours. I can't imagine fish could all that much more hardy, unless you have a tank full of Bettas...

 

[yildirim]

CO2 question continues

Hello again,

My tank is 120lt-32g and 132w (6500k&1000K) and it is on from 9AM to 12midnight with a 2 hours of midday break (13hours). I have a good amount of neons and rasporas in it. Since the beginning of the year my CO2 levels are this high and I haven't seen a death or stress even early in the morning before the plants start pearling. So I have never considered to unplug it from the tank. (I'm also planning to switch to pressurized setup in a month.) I used test solutions with known parameters and I got the correct readings. So for now I'm sure of the readings. What I'm mostly concerned is to know:
i. if yeast co2 may produce this high levels of co2 (I have given the details at my previous post)
ii. if there may be some other factors affecting the formula used to derive co2 amount from ph and kh.
iii. if I switch to pressurized setup can I still use intake of my Eheim canister as a reactor (I do not want to place any objects in my tank)

Thanks,
YILDIRIM

 

[yildirim]

CO2 question continues

Hello again,

Any comments for my three questions at my last post ????

Thanks,
YILDIRIM

 

[Bert H]

1. I had diy on a 29 gal before I switched to pressurized and my levels never got that high, that's not to say yours can't.

2. Anything that affects pH will throw off your readings, such as buffers. Otherwise, I believe it is thought that often you will actually have an underestimation of your co2 levels rather than overestimation using the kh/ph relationship. Bottom line here is if your fish are ok, I wouldn't worry about it.

3. Why not build a simple reactor and plumb it in line to your filter. Nothing extra in your tank and the efficiency is much higher. People have reported some issues with using the cannister as the reactor.

HTH.

 

[yildirim]

co2 reactor question

Hello Bert,

Thanks for your reply. Can you give me some details or a link how to build that
simple reactor which I can plumb it in line to my filter.

YILDIRIM

 

[Bert H]

Yildirim,
Look here for Gomer's reactor. You can go cheaper if you use regular pvc instead of the clear one for the center. Then just plumb it into the return side of your filter, ie, rather than have the return hose go directly into the tank, have it go through the reactor first, then the tank. These systems work great with cannister filters.