co2 levels stuck at 4ppm

ccLansman

Guru Class Expert
Jan 22, 2008
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Vista, Ca
I am dosing quite a bit of co2 everyday and cant seem to get the ppm over 4, is there anything water paramater wise that could be causing this? I have almost 0 surface adjitation, and i use tap water with a decent Gh and dose Gh booster after every water change. Any ideas?
 

ceg4048

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Mar 21, 2005
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Hi,
How are you measuring your CO2? Only a drop checker filled with distilled water adjusted to 4dkh (or some known kH) can give you an accurate reading of your CO2 concentration.

Cheers,
 

VaughnH

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Jan 24, 2005
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Sacramento, CA
How do you diffuse CO2 into your tank water? And, what is the tank size and method for diffusing CO2?
 

VaughnH

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Jan 24, 2005
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You won't get an accurate reading on the CO2 in the tank water when you use tank water in the drop checker. Doing that makes the drop checker do nothing more than measure the pH of the tank water. If your water company adds stuff to the water to keep the pH above 7 at all times, that water doesn't follow the KH/pH/CO2 relationship that lets us measure the ppm of CO2.

Does you CO2 reactor always have a column of spinning CO2 bubbles in it when it is running? And, do a few microbubbles constantly escape from the bottom of the reactor?
 

ccLansman

Guru Class Expert
Jan 22, 2008
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Vista, Ca
Yes i made a few modifications to toms original method, added a longer tube and a much stronger rio, also added some blue filter floss to close off the bottom so only very very micro fine bubbles can escape. I am EXTREMLY excited to announce that as of the venturi running for its first day today, the plants are pearling like crazy! I would hope this would mean co2 is optimal.

Here are a few pics.

HC
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Venturi in action:
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