Diy Co2

A fire extinguisher is not dangerous, else they wouldnt be scattered around the hundreds of thousands of businesses in the uk.

Mine:

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Aint nobody gonna knock it over. The regulators are tight fits. No issues, no worries, no hastles.
 
The JBL bottle is exactly the same as the Fire extinguisher from a safety perspective, both die cast aluminium extinguishers with EU regulated safety valves on them, you're just fitting a regulator to them in the same way, so there are no differences except with the FE you have to remove the horn in some instances which is easily done, just unscrew the nut with an adjustable spanner.

You measure the levels of CO2 using a drop checker, it's a piece of glass ware which you partially fill with 4DKH water and bromothyml blue low range PH indicator solution, it is then turned upside down and place in the aquarium so a bubble forums in part of it, as it is sitting in the aquarium, the CO2 in the water will diffuse into the air trapped in the drop checker as it has a lower concentration of CO2 than the water does, as it diffuses into the air chamber, it also diffuses into the 4dKH water with indicator solution, this changes the PH of the solution and it will change colour, you're aiming for a lime green colour, this is when the solution is at PH 6.6 and it indicates a concentration of 30PPM of CO2, if the solution goes yellow you've over dosed and risk harming the fish, if it is blue it isn't enough, which is why I recommend you start injecting low and then increase based on your findings, it should be noted that what you see in the drop checker reflects the CO2 levels approximately 2 hours ago.
 
Nice setup tizer. Maybe your both right. FE would be alot cheaper.

Anyway so as I understand it sbs, I should dose minimal CO2 to start with and slowly turn it up day by day using the needle valve until my drop checker turns green? Is that right? This will PH shock my fish im guessing if its done too quickly so it would have to be a very gradual thing? Also doesnt KH play apart in this somewhere too?

As it stands now my PH is always 7.6 I have no idea what my KH is as iv never tested for it.
 
Carbonic PH changes wont affect your fish, you don't need to know your KH, but you will need 4dkh water and the bromo blue as I explained earlier, these can be bought online. On a tank this size I would start with 1 bubble per second, you will need a bubble checker as per the FE instructions, as well as a solenoid to turn it off at night.
 
You could also invest in a jewelry scale and make your own 4dkh with distilled water and baking soda. I got my scale for about $5 (US). Just out of curiousity, how much does the 4dkh cost if you buy it online?

Liz
 
It's £3.99 in the UK here, using the method Liz suggested you could make it yourself much cheaper if you have access to the scales, you'll need a measuring cylinder also or a volumetric flask for maximum accuracy.
 
Carbonic PH changes wont affect your fish, you don't need to know your KH, but you will need 4dkh water and the bromo blue as I explained earlier, these can be bought online. On a tank this size I would start with 1 bubble per second, you will need a bubble checker as per the FE instructions, as well as a solenoid to turn it off at night.
Well from what iv seen online most drop checkers come with 4DKH and bromo blue solution which is good.
Brilliant thanx sbs I think I have all the knowledge I need for now to get started at least.
One last question, bubble counters, do u fill these also with 4DKH or plain water?

You could also invest in a jewelry scale and make your own 4dkh with distilled water and baking soda. I got my scale for about $5 (US). Just out of curiousity, how much does the 4dkh cost if you buy it online?

Liz
It about £4.00 for 100ml on ebay liz, not sure what that is in dollars :rolleyes:
 
Fill bubble counters with plain water.
Brilliant, well i have my shopping list now and the know-how thanx to you and i shall report back with photos when i have it all up and running. Wish me luck

Thanx again sbs :good:
 
lol Sorry to be a pain but jus one more thing.
My tank hasnt got a huge amount of flow going on. If i CO2 inject, would it be worth getting a powerhead to help spread the CO2 or will the flow from my 305 be enough to circulate it?

I dont really want to put the CO2 to a powerhead as i dont want bubbles flying about, i was thinking more along the line of a ladder diffuser and a powerhead (If needed) to circulate.

If a powerhead is disirable with CO2 what LPH should i go for?
I have angels so it cant be TOO powerful
 
Yes definitely, you'll want a turn over of 10x the tank volume, so 2600LPH, not sure what your filter does but minus that from the 2600, I'd recommend a hydor koralia, their flow is distributed and not concentrated, so it doesn't batter the fish, for pressurised CO2 you really want a ceramic diffuser, place it in a corner where the flow is poor, then bubbles wont be blown about anywhere, but you'll get better diffusion if the bubbles are blown about.
 
My filter does 1000lph. Just found a 1600lph hydor koralia on ebay for £25
Nice one
 
My filter does 1000lph. Just found a 1600lph hydor koralia on ebay for £25
Nice one

Good choise, I bought the 2800 to begin with and it blew my fish around the tank lol it was too powerfull even facing the surface, having said that my tank is a bit smaller than yours.
I now have the nanno 900 above my diffusor and its perfect.
 
Out of the CO2 shopping list, I think the powerhead will definately be the first purchase so I can observe how my fish will cope with it. They should be fine.
Should I place the powerhead at the same end of the tank as the filter outlet so all the flow is going the same way?
Or should I place it at the opersite end to the filter outlet so the 2 flows collide? Or would doing this cause too much tubulence?
 

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