# CO2 Overdose?



## Happy Camper (Jul 22, 2004)

I have the following situation and I'll try to explain my setup and dosing schedule as accurately as I can and then perhaps one of you Guru's could enlighten me :idea: 

My setup:
100 L (23 Gallon) 3 foot tank.
Just over 1.5wpg light
DIY CO2 (2 x 2 Litre coke bottle reactors, 1 fed into intake of AC filter and another fed into intake of small powerhead)
PH out the tap is in the 8-8.5 range and KH is 7. Do not have a GH test so unable to say. CO2 pushes this down to around 6.7 - 7ph.
Moderate fish load
Moderate to heavily planted. A mixture of fast & Slow growers ranging from H.Polysperma to anubias, B. Longifolia, Crypts and Bacopa, Java ferns & moss and a few Tuber plants .... :arrow: 
Ferts are dosed using Chucks calculator to reach 10 ppm NO3, no magnesium or calcium is dosed as according to my Councils water report I have CACO3 (alkalinity??) at 135ppm. SHOULD i be dosing dolomite or something? Traces are dosed as per Dennerles Pflant-Gold 7 once a week at WC. 

Anyway, Tom Barr always states that if you run into BBA problems its probably from a lack of CO2. So the weekend just passed I cranked up the mixture a tad which is now pushing about 1 bubble from each reactor per second giving 2BPS total. I read in one of the Dennerle books that B.Longifolia will develope holes in the leaves if the co2 is too strong, which I did notice this morning on my B.Longifolia which were'nt there b4 I pushed up the co2! (Tiny Pin holes in the middle of one of the leaves) Is this CO2 OD?

I'm using the SERA test kits for ph & kh. KH is not a problem to test but I do battle with the colour readings on the ph kit, hence my dillema. I simply do not know how much co2 I am injecting. Judging from the tank size and water specs and BPS what do you guys think?

Should I carry on with the same amount of bps or should I tone it down a bit or just be patient and see what the tank looks like at the next Water change (this weekend)??

Thanks for any advice offered. Always greatly appreciatedjavascript:emoticon('')
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Kind Regards
Cameron James


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Tap:
8.0-8.5 pH, 7 KH, 135 ppm CaCO3

Aquarium:
100 l / 23 gall, 1.5 Wg, 6.7 - 7.0 pH, 21 - 42 ppm DIY CO2


Plants need Ca, Mg, NO3, PO4, K, TE and CO2.

Ca - 135 ppm CaCO3, good
Mg - we don't know, get water analysis or test it
NO3 - you are dosing NO3, how? Is there any NO3 left before the next dose? Test it.
PO4 - we don't know, get water analysis and test it
K - we don't know, get water analysis or dose it
TE - Dennerles Pflant-Gold 7, any details, what's in it?
CO2 - 21 - 42 ppm, good level

Edward


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Are you sure that Dennerle's Pflant-Gold 7 contains traces? I don't think anyone knows what it contains. I tried emailing Dennerle with a request to know more about what each of their ferts contain but never got any reply.

Dennerle has a series of fert products that are all supposed to be used in conjunction with each other.

I was using the Dennerle ferts but as soon as I started noticing a specific deficiency in my tank I had no idea which Dennerle product to increase as I didn't know what was in them.

So I've stopped using them and dose using KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4, Plantex, etc.


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