60 Litre Planted

[Alan]

looking great Al

[Gerry]

Could you show me the CO2 connection set up, and how long does the drop checker work for before needing replenished?

This is my worry, if adding CO2 you can't have surface agitation so how do I ensure enough O2 for the fish?

Do CO2 systems do any size tank or are they tank volume/system related?, In theory I assume they do any size and you just increase bubble rate, but sometimes theory is not accurate.

[altaaffe]

Yep Gerry, as posted in your topic, you can have surface agitation for O2. Heavily planted will give enough O2 as seen when plants start to "pearl" but you can keep CO2 levels up for a lighter stocking and still agitate. In fact most people I come across still prefer to have surface agitation and just accept the loss of a small amount of CO2.

I'm not sure on the drop checker, I just replace it every couple of weeks. Just remember that the drop checker is showing what the CO2 level was about 2 hours previously, so it is a case of getting the level right over a few days. As for the amount of CO2, don't base it on the numbers of bubbles a second, bubbles are different sizes depending on the set-up and of course a bigger tank needs more anyway. I just use the bubble checker as a visual aid to see that enough CO2 is going in.

Couple of pics of mine connected to a FE, hopefully it gives an idea of what it should look like. I've got a solenoid attached to mine as well so that I can turn off the CO2 overnight. It goes on about 90 mins before lights on and off about 30 mins before the lights

[altaaffe]

And whilst I'm here I may as well put a pic of the tank as it is now.
Got a little bit of BBA due to fluctuations in the CO2 when I added fish, almost gassed the poor little blighters the first night and then put it too low. It's starting to die back again already though.

[JohnL]

Ok I have to ask that's a fire extinguisher right. Do you have that filled with co2?

[Gerry]

Its a C02 extinguisher for putting out electrical fires, think the smallest size is 2Kg bottle. That's what I'm getting too.


Thanks for the solenoid info there Alt, I have one of these too

so regulator with needle valve,,then solenoid, then bubble counter and then diffuser.

I know the bubble counter is just a guide on gas flow and its KH/Ph numbers that count. Might need to buffer my KH up as we have virtually zero here as you know.

Thanks for the help, think I have an idea what I'm doing now

[altaaffe]

Not sure if I was sending you down the wrong path there Gerry.
But, the drop checker doesn't want tank water in it. It wants a 4dkH solution, other than that it doesn't matter what your tank water harness is but the ferts I put in do make it harder anyway.

This set-up here has the solenoid screwed into the regulator, the other one I have (better) snapped at the needle valve when I went to put it together so I've got to order spares. That has the solenoid separate completely.

Yes John, it is as Gerry says - a 2kg CO2 fire extinguisher. That is my back up supply, I've just managed to find a supplier of pub CO2 cylinders (6kg) so that will be going on.

I'm looking to sell a load of my young C.Moori and then the tank they are in will be given back to the large fish and I'll have 2 planted tanks, one on top of the other.

[Gerry]

I don't have a drop checker or 4dkH solution yet so will be going the chart route to start off. thought it better to buffer Kh up to try and prevent Ph crash. will get killed if these Discus die

Thought a low Kh was more unstable? maybe I'm reading into this wrong as its not my strong point.

[Gerry]

did you manage to get the drop checker locally as the only place I can find is ebay and a 4 week delivery

[altaaffe]

did you manage to get the drop checker locally as the only place I can find is ebay and a 4 week delivery

No mate, I oredered it off ebay, came from Malaysia I think, but although they quoted me several weeks most stuff arrives about 7-10 days later.

[altaaffe]

Had a couple of days off this week and in between other jobs around the house, I got the table around this tank finished.

[tjschultz]

Wow that looks great....I've thought about building a tank into some kind of furniture

[Gerry]

That looks great, wonder if Caroline fancies a coffee table

[Antonia]

Wow that looks great.

[Paul]

Very tidy Cool build.