Any bad CO2 injecter models?

[Fish_Mike]

Well i've decided to make my 20 gallon a planted tank, and today am going out to buy a CO2 diffuser. But before i do, i want to know a couple of things:

1. Are there any bad models out there that don't work/you wouldn't recommend?

2. I've heard that too much CO2 due to a lack of plants will damage your aquarium, mine is a 20 gallon, and i currently have (in common names)

1 Ludwiga (sp?)
1 Hygro
3 swords (don't know the type, sry)
2 Vallisneria
2 tufts of java moss

And i'm also going to be buying some more plants today, any suggestions? I mainly want plants from tropical america.

thanks!

mike

 

[zig]

Hiya Mike

I presume you are going to do DIY co2, most of us here that go the DIY route are useing the Nutrafin Hagen ladders as the diffuser, they are very effective and i would recommend them as an easy solution, you could either buy the whole kit or buy the ladder itself (as far as i know you can buy them seperatly in the US) and use an ordinary plastic mineral bottle and some airhose to hold the mixture, and then hook it into the ladder, one unit should be sufficient for a 20g.

Not sure about to much to co2 due to lack of plants, i think what you may mean is to much co2, to much co2 can be harmful for your fish its unlikely to be harmful for your plants unless you massively overdose it, you want to aim for 30ppm co2 and try and keep this rate stable this level is not harmful for your fish, you will need a Kh and a Ph test kit to be able to measure it correctly, co2 charts are available on the web or gf225 has one linked in his sig.

Good luck with it

 

[Fish_Mike]

Hi zig,

Unfortunately no, i don't really want to do a DIY one But i've seen the whole kits with the ladder and casing, pretty cheap too. And yes, i already have a CO2 chart and Ph and Kh testing kits, so, thanks for your help

 

[Walt]

Ive been wondering....
Instead of using KH and PH to determine co2, why not jusy use a co2 test?

 

[zig]

Ive been wondering....
Instead of using KH and PH to determine co2, why not jusy use a co2 test?

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Good question, ill try and answer as best i can.

We need to determine the PH and KH of water when injecting co2 for a few reasons, PH is a measure of the acidity or alkilinity of our tank or tapwater, as we add co2 to our tankwater it forms into a carbonic acid which will lower the PH of the water, the more co2 we add to the water the lower the PH will go, now the KH or carbonate hardness is a measure of the buffering capacity of that same water, PH is more stable in water with a higher KH value, and PH is less stable in water with a low KH value or buffering capicity, the buffering capacity is really the ability of the water to resist changes in PH, the KH in effect is working to raise the PH of the water, both are interlinked.

Now we need to know this because if your PH or KH are very low it will cause you problems if you inject co2 into the water, the PH becomes unstable at low values usually at around PH 6 to 6.4 and when we inject co2 the PH will tend to flucuate widely which is not good for your fish and in extreme cases you will get a PH crash, which will more than likely kill your fish, this is why we use additives such as bicarbonate of soda to raise our KH (which also raises our PH) to avoid these large PH swings, the water is usually buffered up to a KH of 3 degrees minimum.

But im sure once you have determined the above you could use a co2 test, normally a permenant PH test is used, so you can check for any swings, this can be done with a probe which sits in you water all the time, there are other cheaper kits available also to give permenant PH readings which in turn allow you to determine your co2 levels at a glance.

 

[Walt]

Ahhh gottcha!

Actually.. im one of those low KH guys.. strangely enough my tap water is fairly high, 7.6, while my KH is about 2-3.
I noticed after my cycle, that my ph was sitting down at 6.0...wow.. quite a drop.. thats when i tested the KH of the tap water.... 2-3..hmmm
i then tested the tank.. KH1 ! OUCH!

I dropped in some KH buffer the other day, man, that stuff works!
Now my tank is at KH6 and PH7.4

So i think im ready for the CO2 game.....
Should get the defusser and needle valve next week sometime...

Thanks!
Walt

 

[zig]

Hi zig,

Unfortunately no, i don't really want to do a DIY one But i've seen the whole kits with the ladder and casing, pretty cheap too. And yes, i already have a CO2 chart and Ph and Kh testing kits, so, thanks for your help

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Mike we are sort of hijacking you thread here sorry about that, but maybe you picked up something there as well.

As regards the diffuser, a lot of people useing pressurised co2 will still use the ladder as the diffuser mainly because they are very effective at diffusing the co2, and in a 20 gallon a ladder type diffuser would work quite well, anyway just an idea.

In the states you can buy the ladder on its own, you dont have to buy the whole kit.

 

[Fish_Mike]

heh, no porblem, i learned a bit of stuff from what you guys posted!

I'm such a newb to all this, i constantly say diffuser, but i mean the whole injection system.