I ordered mine a couple of nights ago, so I will have it up and running in a week or so hopefully.
DIY Drop Checker
3
It is quite easy to make your own "Drop Checker" or CO2 Indicator from acrylic sheet. The object is to have a small device that holds a few ml of water/indicator solution under the water line of the tank, so there is an air gap between the tank water and the indicator solution water. The commercial versions of this range from the elegant ADA glass unit, which is currently out of stock, to a much cheaper imitation ADA glass unit from Hong Kong, to a Red Sea plastic unit which is still cheaper. All do the same job. Two of the commercial versions are the imiitation ADA unit:
![]()
and the Red Sea unit:
![]()
Both are available on ebay at: eBay: Type2 Co2 Drop Checker-monitoring proper dosage of CO2 (item 250038130859 end time Oct-18-06 09:05:18 PDT)
and eBay: CO2 Indicator Red Sea Real Time CO2 Monitor (item 300036151186 end time Oct-14-06 09:48:10 PDT)
The easiest way to DIY this is to use all straight lines and rectangles, and make it from acrylic plastic. I made one a couple of years ago, but hadn't figured out how to effectively use it so I tossed it. Here is what it looks like:
![]()
All of the pieces of acrylic have to have squared edges, and the pieces that establish the thickness of the device should be cut from a constant width strip. When glueing these together, remember, the assembly has to be air and water tight, and any smearing of the cement makes it hard to see the color of the indicator solution. For an indicator solution you can use the solution from an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals pH test kit, or any other test kit that gives yellow at pH=6 and blue at pH=7.2 - use at least double the number of drops of indicator solution as the kit says to use, to get a more intense color. (Using even 4X the recommended number of drops doesn't change the test reading, only the intensity of the color.) To use this see:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...it-work-ada-glass-dropcheck-3.html#post236934
and the Red Sea unit:
Both are available on ebay at: eBay: Type2 Co2 Drop Checker-monitoring proper dosage of CO2 (item 250038130859 end time Oct-18-06 09:05:18 PDT)
and eBay: CO2 Indicator Red Sea Real Time CO2 Monitor (item 300036151186 end time Oct-14-06 09:48:10 PDT)
The easiest way to DIY this is to use all straight lines and rectangles, and make it from acrylic plastic. I made one a couple of years ago, but hadn't figured out how to effectively use it so I tossed it. Here is what it looks like:
All of the pieces of acrylic have to have squared edges, and the pieces that establish the thickness of the device should be cut from a constant width strip. When glueing these together, remember, the assembly has to be air and water tight, and any smearing of the cement makes it hard to see the color of the indicator solution. For an indicator solution you can use the solution from an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals pH test kit, or any other test kit that gives yellow at pH=6 and blue at pH=7.2 - use at least double the number of drops of indicator solution as the kit says to use, to get a more intense color. (Using even 4X the recommended number of drops doesn't change the test reading, only the intensity of the color.) To use this see:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...it-work-ada-glass-dropcheck-3.html#post236934
21 - 40 of 358 Posts
Thats one positive thing about the cheap little read sea unit. The cone in the center that is actually inside of it.... Is white.... making it pretty easy to see what color it really is.... for 8 bucks i am pretty pleased with my cheapo verson
haha... now is it were something that I was planning to keep in my tank all the time I would go for the more sexy glass work however for just playing around with it to get a feel for if it works well.... and setting up CO2 flow after getting a tank refilled... it is serving its purpos well for me....I to am running mine with a KH inside the "bell" of 5 degress.... seems like thats where people using these are leaning..... are you guys seeing proper CO2 levels going this route? good growth, little algae, BBA not appearing nor green spot? I know my fish seem to be just fine with it.... however I cant really comment about algae or plant growth.... its been... well never since I had anything good in that area
lol
You need to look at one of the pH/KH CO2 charts and figure out where you want your CO2 levels. At a KH of 4, and a pH at 6.6, you have 30ppm of CO2. At a KH of 5 (what I'm running) you have a CO2 of around 38 to 40ppm. The pH regent will be green at a pH of around 6.6.
You need to use pure water (RO/DI, distilled, etc) and add enough baking soda to get your water to whatever KH you want (this is the fun part - trust me, it doesn't take much baking soda). You then put this water in the drop checker and add a few drops of pH test regent. You want it dark, but not so dark that you can't see through it.
It will be BLUE when you first put it all together. After about 2 hours, you will see that it has changed. If green, your good. Yellow, to much CO2; still blue, not enough CO2.
I noticed in my ADA catalog, they say to use your aquarium water. This won't give you an accurate measurement because of other contaminates in the water. I guess it would give you some kind of idea?
Brianop2:
You need to use pure water (RO/DI, distilled, etc) and add enough baking soda to get your water to whatever KH you want (this is the fun part - trust me, it doesn't take much baking soda). You then put this water in the drop checker and add a few drops of pH test regent. You want it dark, but not so dark that you can't see through it.
It will be BLUE when you first put it all together. After about 2 hours, you will see that it has changed. If green, your good. Yellow, to much CO2; still blue, not enough CO2.
I noticed in my ADA catalog, they say to use your aquarium water. This won't give you an accurate measurement because of other contaminates in the water. I guess it would give you some kind of idea?
Brian
op2:
21 - 40 of 358 Posts
