Best place to add a Drop checker?

reef12

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Wondering if far away from the stream as possible, I do have a kind of slow spot in the 125.

Thanks

Jeff
 
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I asked the same question not too long ago. The simple answer is that it doesn't really matter since the trapped gas eventually equalizes with the water. So you should really put it in a place that is easy to see and not distracting.
 

Asmack Arabia

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i think its still a good back-up or reminder to let us know if our co2 is ok. my co2 system is at the back of the cabinet which i seldom got to check. a number of times happened where my co2 was malfunctioning and i only happen to know because my drop checker turned green or blue (it's always yellow). so i still keep it in my tank.
 
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If the only issue with drop checkers is the extreme amount of time lag (hours) before it tells us the CO2 concentration, then there are ways to improve upon it so that it's immediate, less than one minute. All that is required is to agitate the solution so that the gas diffuses much faster.
 

Asmack Arabia

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Solcielo lawrencia;117050 said:
If the only issue with drop checkers is the extreme amount of time lag (hours) before it tells us the CO2 concentration, then there are ways to improve upon it so that it's immediate, less than one minute. All that is required is to agitate the solution so that the gas diffuses much faster.

i haven't thought about that. can you tell me exactly how to do it ? like how many drops of solution to ml of tank water ? do you shake or swirl it ?

thank you.
 
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A small stainless steel ball bearing (one you can get from skateboard bearings) can be placed inside the drop checker if the opening is large enough. Moving a magnet outside the tank next to the drop checker will cause the bearing to move thus creating agitation of the solution. The only downside is that it is manual. Something automatic requires something more complicated.
 

Asmack Arabia

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i was thinking of doing the testing outside the tank. like you put an X amount of tank water in a cylinder then add X drops of the solution, shake, then you get an instant result.

is there such a thing ?
 

BriDroid

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Solcielo lawrencia;117075 said:
A small stainless steel ball bearing (one you can get from skateboard bearings) can be placed inside the drop checker if the opening is large enough. Moving a magnet outside the tank next to the drop checker will cause the bearing to move thus creating agitation of the solution. The only downside is that it is manual. Something automatic requires something more complicated.

That is a nice idea. I'll have to see if I can find a small enough bearing.

Would the indicator solution or the KH solution cause the bearing to rust, meaning I would have to change the drop checker solution out more often?
 
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Asmack Arabia;117078 said:
i was thinking of doing the testing outside the tank. like you put an X amount of tank water in a cylinder then add X drops of the solution, shake, then you get an instant result.

is there such a thing ?

That's the same as testing for pH. And if using the pH/kH table, that also requires testing for kH to measure the amount of CO2.
 
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BriDroid;117080 said:
That is a nice idea. I'll have to see if I can find a small enough bearing.

Would the indicator solution or the KH solution cause the bearing to rust, meaning I would have to change the drop checker solution out more often?

It depends on the quality of the stainless steel bearing. If there were ceramic bearings with a steel core, that would never rust. But I don't know if it anyone manufactures such a thing.
 

Tug

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Asmack Arabia;117078 said:
i was thinking of doing the testing outside the tank. like you put an X amount of tank water in a cylinder then add X drops of the solution, shake, then you get an instant result.

is there such a thing ?

I think you can get very close checking your pH independent of KH, to determine CO2.
Let your tap water sit for 24-48 hours to gas of any CO2 and check the pH.
Next, in your tank, check your pH after you've started to add CO2.
A one degree drop in pH should equal a 10x increase in CO2. :encouragement:

Tom Barr;116051 said:
pH drop is relative to an ambient non CO2 enriched tank, which should be about 2-3 ppm if things are going well.
If you view the pH/Kh/CO2 chart, for any KH value.the pH drop of 1.0- to 1.3 or thereabouts will = about 30-45 ppm.

That is independent of KH.

If the KH changes, or other acids are added to the system, the pH before/after start point will change, but the influence of pH due solely to CO2 will not.

Slow progressive adjustments and observations often are the best solution for CO2. Start with the pH/KH table, then adjust from there using the pH drop.

So, it can be done without knowing your exact KH.
 

reef12

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Solcielo lawrencia;117075 said:
A small stainless steel ball bearing (one you can get from skateboard bearings) can be placed inside the drop checker if the opening is large enough. Moving a magnet outside the tank next to the drop checker will cause the bearing to move thus creating agitation of the solution. The only downside is that it is manual. Something automatic requires something more complicated.

Can't use a Magnet with stainless steel, if all Stainless.

Okay so some don't use one then, nice answers though.:eek:

Jeff
 
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Stainless steel will contain iron so there is a magnetic attraction. The power of the magnet may not be strong enough if it isn't close enough to the steel. In any case, anything that can rust will eventually rust unless you coat it with some kind of clearcoat. Another issue is that the CO2 must outgas into the drop checker cavity. This can be a slow process so a device that can also agitate the aquarium water as well as the dkH solution will increase the speed of the drop checker reading.
 

Tom Barr

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Tug;117121 said:
So, it can be done without knowing your exact KH.

Well, this ASSUMES the degassed water is in fact, degassed. Some of the estimations using pure RO and baking soda suggested many canister filtered aquariums still had a good 10 to 15ppm left over.

So if you think you have 2-3 ppm, when you have say 15 ppm, then you add another 30-40ppm.............what could go wrong?

A lot.

Say your measure of pH is rather poor, or the pH probe has not been calibrated, or you think it is.........again, another source of errors.
So things need to be looked at carefully and checked to make sure the readings are correct.
Not quite as simple as we'd like.
 

Tom Barr

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Tug;117121 said:
So, it can be done without knowing your exact KH.

Well, this ASSUMES the degassed water is in fact, degassed. Some of the estimations using pure RO and baking soda suggested many canister filtered aquariums still had a good 10 to 15ppm left over.

So if you think you have 2-3 ppm, when you have say 15 ppm, then you add another 30-40ppm.............what could go wrong?

A lot.

Say your measure of pH is rather poor, or the pH probe has not been calibrated, or you think it is.........again, another source of errors.
So things need to be looked at carefully and checked to make sure the readings are correct.
Not quite as simple as we'd like.