Look What I Made!

[coldcazzie]

Ok, I know it's not really a big deal, but I've been pondering this for about a week now and have eventually come up with a homemade drop checker, made using a little glass bottle that had oil in it, a piece of airline and a straight airline connector. This is it having a water-tightness test on the side of my fridge:

I'm dead proud of it!!

 

[stevereade]

Awesome, looks better than the syringe one lol.

 

[coldcazzie]

LOL ta! Here's it in action - not very accurate because it's using tank water which is 3dkh not 4, but I wanted to get an idea of it in the tank

 

[the biffster]

looks neat and sweet whats it made out of
i mean were did you get the bits

 

[SuperColey1]

Awesome, looks better than the syringe one lol.

I thought you were going to bid for my 'iconic' version I ordered a glass one from Hong Kong in anticipation of being able to sell the syringe version for a mint

Looks cool Caz. however you confuse the problem with tank water me thinks.

It's due to the other acids at work etc altering Ph in the tank that you don't use tank water. You want the reading to be only affected by Ph lowering by CO2 gas exchange.

If you know the KH of your tpa better to use that than the tank water. KH3 will be approx 22.5ppm rather than 30ppm at light green.

Some people on other methods (not ones I use) suggest a level of 15ppm. They use KH2.

AC

 

[stevereade]

Na, I'm gonna make one out of one of my missus old glass girly bottles now

 

[coldcazzie]

Tap KH is 3 also. Have bought some distilled water from the garage today so will set about making some 4KH water this weekend.

Apologies about the KH misunderstanding, I though it was at least in part to do with the KH of the tank water.

The bits were: small piece of 6mm airline, a 6mm straight airline connector, and airline clip and suction cup, and the glass bottle. My mum gave me a set of 10 scented oils in mini bottles for Christmas last year, with really tight plastic stoppers. I first tried to make a hole in the plastic stopper so I could wedge a piece of airline through it, but it would not fit for love nor money (and trust me, I tried both LOL!) and then I thought a connector might do. With the airline over the end, if I push it into the neck of the bottle it makes a completely watertight seal, then I just clipped it onto the airline clip. The whole thing is about 2 inches tall from connector to bottle base. And I have 9 more bottles that I could use! (Although only 2 more clips, and no more straight connectors...)

To be honest, I know for a fact there is going to be very low CO2, this is just so I can be depressed about how low! lol. I can't afford a pressurised system, and won't be able to for a good few months, and if you're right Coley, that yeast is unfeasible on a tank the size of mine, then I'm stuck with low CO2 for the time being.

 

[SuperColey1]

The solution in the DC is a reference. A control. Must be independent of any other contaminants. Therefore useing tank water will mean that there are already other acids etc in the DC changing the Ph.

therefore you need a reference independent of these contaminants. That is why we use the 4dKH solution. It could be any KH really as long as it is free of contaminants but 4KH is where we can see the colour changes easiest. Other KHs will give the same change for different ppms.


I wouldn't say that yeast is unfeasible for any tank however the larger the tank, the larger the amount of bottles and it becomes more leak prone the more connections there are plus a reet ballsache changing.

Add to that the cost effectivenes when 1 bottle uses 400g sugar per week, then 2 bags makes 5 bottles. Imagine you were using 5 bottles and changin each per week. That equates to 2 bags at 60p each = £1.20. That is £60 a year just for sugar.

I would suggest best to save up the £100 for a pressurised setup. they don't have to be the £300 sets with 'aquarium' written on them

AC

I wouldn'

 

[razer121]

sorry, but what is that for?

 

[coldcazzie]

I understand now more about the reasoning. As I said I'm planning on making some today, assuming I can work out the correct amount of water to use for 2g of bicarb as I don't have a scale which does parts of a gram. The recipes I've found so far have said 3.6g per 3l of water for 40dkh, then dilute 10x for 4dkh, is this right?

 

[SuperColey1]

5 litre DI + 6g bicarb = 40dKH

10ml of 40dKH + 90ml DI = 4dKH

the larger the initial concentrate solution (40dKH) the less problem an inaccuracy will be when watered down to 4dKH.

A lot of people miss this point and start going for smaller amounts and then diluting

Its not a waste. The 40dKH is still 'pure' in our terms of use. You can then use it for mixing ferts or anything else.

AC

 

[Verminator89]

sorry, but what is that for?

Seeing as they've skipped you question pal. A drop checker is for measuring the CO2 level in the water, for those of who use CO2 in our tanks

 

[razer121]

Thanks man