Would You Reccomend The Red Sea Co2 Indicator

[aaronnorth]

How often do you have to refill it, is it easy to use, any down sides etc

 

[radioman]

I would not recommend it because you have to but a 4dkh solution to make it constant. A relly good drop drop checker is made by black sunshine on I think the planted tank forum for $10 and it is really good.

 

[MoreCoffee]

About a year ago I did a comparison on 5 different methods of checking Co2 levels, here's what I found.
Remember that the Co2 in your tank will depend on your PH and KH readings, any test kit that relies on tank water for a reference solution could show errors if there is anything in your tank that adjusts the PH/KH.
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OK I've now measured my CO2 using 5 different methods.

1. A drop checker using a reference solution of 4dKH (VaughnH's method from the Barr Report website)
2. Red Sea CO2 test kit (tank water + liquid reagent)
3. PH/KH (tank water + reagents - Nutrafin test kits)
4. JBL permanent test set (tank water + reagent in plastic drop checker )
5. PH difference between water in tank and tank water that has stood for 24 hours to 'degas'

The results ......
1. Drop checker with KH4 solution/bright green colour = 30ppm
2. Red Sea Co2 kit (liquid reagent type) = 64ppm !!!
3. PH/KH PH=7.0 Kh=13 CO2=39ppm
4. JBL permanent test kit = Co2 between 24 - 36ppm
5. PH of tank 7.0 PH after stood for 24 hour 8.0. Drop on 1 degree PH
(PH7 KH13 = CO2 of 39ppm PH8.0 KH13 = CO2 of 3.9ppm)

A few notes:
The CO2 level fed into the tank has not been adjusted for sometime, all my fish & shrimp (amano, plus a single bumble bee shrimp) are doing fine, no signs of distress. Therefore I'm assuming the Co2 level is not too high ...

I'm sure there is at least some degree on inaccuracy with all these methods, however as the method suggested by VaughnH uses a pretty accurate reference solution of 4dKH and is the only one that does NOT rely on tank water, my feeling is that this one is perhaps the most reliable.

Anything that relies on tank water can be influenced by other factors. My tank has ADA AquaSoil and PowerSoil as a substrate. These are known to affect PH/KH etc.

The Red Sea kit seems to be WAY off the mark ! If the CO2 were at 64ppm, my fish be dead !

The JBL kit covers a range that is a bit too wide, but it would be OK for 30ppm +/- 5ppm, so not too bad at a PH of 7.0. Just a pity it comes with a crappy looking plastic drop checker. It would be of less use at other PH values as it could show a CO2 level as low as 19ppm as being good.

I have to say that I like the drop checker / reference solution. I have a feeling it's quite accurate and gives a clear visual indication of the level of CO2, without having to test the water all the time.
It is currently a bright/clear green colour. Any sign it's turning yellow/green shows the CO2 is rising, if it starts turning blue/green my CO2 is dropping.

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You can see that in the case of my tank the Red Sea kit was WaaaaaY off the mark !
I can only suggest you check your PH and KH and then compare this to the reading of the Red Sea kit.

I now use glass drop checkers with a known 4dKH reference solution (both purchased from Aquaessentials) and have had no problems for over a year.

I did once have a problem where my Co2 regulator failed and was pushing far too much CO2 into the tank ...... the drop checker turned yellow and by cutting off the gas and a big water change I rescued the situation with no losses.

The full thread can be found here the results can be found here ===> Permanent CO2 Test Kit. (Most of the rest of the thread is no longer relevant).

Al