Pressurized CO2 setup, what bubble rate?

[cemantic]

I got all the pieces in place for my new pressurized CO2 System.  I decided to use mineral oil in the bubble counter which seems to work fine though a very small amount did seem to leak through to the tube entering the CO2 reactor.  Very small amount so I hope it is not an issue.

My big question now is timing, air supply and bubble count.  I have read that you should start the CO2 an hour or two before the lights come on.  Turn it off at night.  Should you run an air stone at night?  I realize it may gas out the CO2 but also the plants eat oxygen during the night.  Where is the break point to make sure there is enough oxygen in there vs gassing out the CO2?  Should I be using an airstone at night at all?

My tank is 110 gallon and 30" high.  The DIY CO2 reactor is connected to the cannister output and the flow is great still.  I have the outlet jets pointed down slightly.  About 30 degrees.

Right now I am doing about one bubble per second.  With the size of the tank should I increase that?

[BigDaddy]

I personally have never used an airstone on a heavily planted and heavily CO2 injected tank.  So I can't say from my personal experience that they are a requirement.

CO2 requirements are dependant on your light and ferts too.  If you only have 2.5 WPG, you won't want the same bubble count as 6 wpg.

[cemantic]

levels after about a day have not changed.

One bubble per second for now.  I may have to bump this up.  The sumo regulator is set at 20 lbs.

CO2 DIY reactor working well it appears to be 100% dissolved.

PH 7.4 the same
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 same as before  From the substrate Fluorite Red?
Phosphates 1.0 from 2.0
GH a bit of a drop from 143.2 to 107.4
KH 107.4 same as before though it changed quicker so probably a bit lower

Sea Chem CO2 test kit says 4 ppm

I am going to stop the airstones for now.

Lights are 3 54W 6500K T5s and three 54W 4100K T5s the 6500K running for about 11 hours and the 4100K for about 10 hours.  I was thinking about taking out one of each and adding a white about 2500K which should have more of the appropriate range.

Suggestions?

I have Flourish and Flourish Iron but have not used them yet since adding the pressurized CO2..

The tank is 110 gallons 48" long, 18" wide and 30" high.

The blackout worked great, a week later and nothing left but dead algae, finally.  Doubters, it does work.  I must admit I did wonder how well it would work.

I did take out the crushed coral from the filter and cleaned it.

There are two shells still in there.  Should they come, probably so but would they make that much of a difference?

Almost there.

Thank you everyone who has offered help and suggestion through my CO2 adventures.

[charlie]

Air stones at night or lights out is not a must , i use them in the event something goes wrong, I would not use them on DIY co2 rigs though, but a pressurised like you have is fine.

In your tank , with the lights you have , 1 bubble per sec will do nothing & since you have no fish in the tank go wild with the co2, the plant will love you , i would guess you can crank it to about 5 bubbles per sec.before you start getting close to optimum levels.

[charlie]

This thread would probably be better off in the plant forum

[cemantic]

Sometimes I am not to sure where the best place to post is when it could be either.

How do you move it to another area?

I will put it up to 3 bubbles per second tomorrow and see what shakes.

I would like to get this stabilized, if possible by the end of the week.

Doable?

[cemantic]

I checked the levels again last night.  I thought I had the bubble rate about 3 bps but it was probably more like 4 or 5.  The PH was 6.8 and the KH was 89.5 five drops of the regent.  According to the tables that then puts the CO2 level about 23.8 ppm.

According to this article: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm
Phosphates will confuse the tables and you may not have an accurate reading, or calculation.  Phosphates went from 1.0 to 2.0 ppm, go figure.  I have a Red Sea test kit for CO2 and that puts the dissolved CO2 at about 10 ppm.

The plants were pumping out oxygen like crazy though.  Most of the leaves were coated with bubbles and steady streams coming off of some of the plants.

The reactor is working well but at that bubble rate it was not totally dissolving the CO2.  A few bubbles escaping.  I would say about 95% dissolve rate.

If it is not one thing it's another.  I have had an oil like slick on the water surface and the bubbles don't seem to get past it at the top.  Another post to get at the reason, but a quick history.  After the DIY yeast CO2 I seemed to start getting a slick on top.  I had also noticed the yeast or some cloudy stuff coming off the outlet of the DIT yeast CO2 generator.  I had put in Flourish during that three week period.  I then added a new piece of driftwood from BAs that should not have been a factor.  All of this before I connected the new CO2 system.  I tried to vacuum the water surface last night to get rid of it.  I got rid of most of it but it is still there.  As a result, there was about a 25% water change as well.

I tuned down the CO2 bps to a true 3 bps this morning so will see tonight.

Thoughts, comments or suggestions?


Definitely appreciated.

[BigDaddy]

Here's a simple guide.

If you can drop your pH 1 full point from a sample collected from your tank that you have let outgas, you have a good level of CO2 for plants that is not harmful to fish.

For example, you take a sample of your tank water and leave it in a wide mouthed container of some kind for 24 hour period

If water in container measures 7.2 and tank water during lights on measures 6.2, you are in good shape.

[cemantic]

water set aside for testing tomorrow night.

I think I almost have it tweaked.  I will adjust the CO2 one more time tomorrow morning then let it run for a couple of days and keep doing the test you suggest along with the test kits as a reference.  I do appreciate the test kits I have are not perfect.  If nothing else they are a reference check.  They are changing as I change the CO2 output.

Maybe not balanced exactly but the plants have never looked better and there is no real algae growth.

My only concern now is that I do not have too much CO2 going in there.  Fish is the next decision.