# API KH test kit - Anyone with experience? Measuring CO2 Amounts



## AheartlessFish

So i decided to take things to the next level of the hobby and test for how much co2 is in my tank.

I purchased an API KH/GH test kit. I read reviews on it and some people said they had trouble reading the results and such but also some who found that it was easy. I ended up buying one on amazon for like 6 bucks and put it to use. Little did i know, i should have listened to the guy who had trouble with it.

Product:
http://www.amazon.com/API-GH-KH-TEST-KIT/dp/B003SNCHMA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324517277&sr=8-1

Instruction says, add one drop, shake, repeat until testing water is YELLOW. *Note this is the only api test that DOES NOT come with a color chart. Usually theres a laminated color chart to compare the test tube right next to it.

So i filled up the test tube 5ml of fish tank water, shook up the bottle a little even though it didn't tell me to, added one drop in, capped the tube, shook it, and it turned LIGHT blue (i was expecting a darker blue), i added another drop and it turned LIGHT yellow. Is this when i should stop? In another container i had dropped in about 4-5 drops and it turned more of an ORANGE/YELLOW color than a bright yellow.

Anyone have any experience with this test kit? Does 2 drops indicate 2 degrees of Kh? My pH tested to be 6.4 and if im correctly using the co2 comparison chart, this means im doing everything right on my co2 levels (24 in green section).

http://www.gpodio.com/co2_chart.asp

I also have one of those Azoo indicators in my fish tank, i heard that if i dont use a specific type of liquid besides aquarium water then it wont work properly...If anyones curious its indicating Yellow (which means too much co2?)

Thank you for anyone's input in advance


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## XJfella95

That's how i test my CO2/KH as well. I count drops up to and including the one that turns it from blue to yellow. 

Sometimes if I set it for a minute it'll turn back to blue so I consider that +1/2drop this gets me between the lines on the charts for better guestimating.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi AheartlessFish,

Yes, it is a challenging test to read, especially if you have soft water like we do in Seattle. The color typically turns here between the 2nd and 3rd drop. The way I look at it is blue is blue, next comes green, and then yellow....I don't worry about the brightness.

As for you Azoo tester, now that you have a KH test kit you can mix up some 4.0 dKH water (distilled water + baking soda), fill your drop checker 1/2 full, add a few drops of indicator solution and then just monitor the color. Without 4.0 dKH water for your drop checker the reading is inaccurate.


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## AheartlessFish

okay if thats the case im gona stick with 2 dkh  that is how u read it right? each drop = a degree of kh...

As for the 4.0 dkh water, how much baking soda do you put in? do you have a specific recipe for this? i am very interested in using it. Also does it have to be distilled?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi AheartlessFish,

Here is the calculator I use for adjusting my dKH when necessary. According to the calculator adding .08 teaspoon (about 1/12th tsp) of Baking Soda to 1 gallon of distilled water will result in a 4.0 dKH solution. I always start with distilled because I believe it results in a more stable solution.


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## AheartlessFish

WOah! thats a tiny bit of baking soda for 1 gallon of water!  sounds good ill give this a try


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## AheartlessFish

So i got my hands on baking soda...but not distilled water...

i used the tank water and added a pinch of baking soda to the water, shook it up, poured into the little chamber and added 3 drops...instantly the solution turned dark blue

Lets see how this plays out :O


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## AheartlessFish

Went out and got distilled water, added 1/12th tbsp of baking soda, shook it up, added to indicator, added 3 drops of the solution

1 hour later, the indicator shows darkgreenish. should i increase co2?


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## neilshieh

after adding baking soda to the water you should test it to make sure it reads 4dkh. and green means there's enough co2 except dark green means you're a bit on the low side. blue means not enough and yellow is too much. this is assuming the drops of solution you added is actually ph indicator which is bromythyl blue. 
and you HAVE to use either RO water or distilled water because there's no impurities and is pure water.
you can get distilled water at any store like cvs, safeway, etc. they sell each gallon for about a buck each. 
using tank water WILL NOT work because there are impurities and the ph is weird.
4dkh solution works because there is a relationship between hardness/ph/and co2. the relationship between co2 and ph is obvious but as to hardness and ph i'm not too clear myself.
hope you're successful! i had a bit of a tussle in creating 4dkh solution myself haha.
and i think api kh test kits are really easy to use. it's when the solution turns from blue to yellow you stop. nothing to it... even if it's a pale yellow as long as it's not blue. sometimes you'll get a green, but just add another drop.


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## Fishguy10

I have an API gh/kh test kit as well that I was having problems with, however I think that I found out what the problem was. When trying to determine my kh, I would add the very first drop of solution and the test tube would still look clear. I could keep adding more and more drops, but it stayed pretty much clear until it suddenly got very very dark orange/yellow. The problem was (at least I think) that my kh is >1. I knew that my kh would be low, but I wasn't exactly sure how low. If you have a water sample with a kh higher than 1 or 2 or so, it is fairly easy to notice the sudden change from blue to yellow. 

When I mixed up a solution to put in my drop checker, (if you do not have a drop checker I would highly recommend that you get one, and it doesn't have to be an expensive fancy drop checker) I got some RO/distilled water and poured a few cups or so into a clean container. I then used a toothpick to add baking soda to the water. Add a little baking soda, test the kh of the water. If the kh is less than 4, add a little more baking soda with the toothpick, if it is higher than 4, add a little more water. Continue this process until you have water with a kh of about 4. It does not take very much baking soda at all. 

When I tested my mixed water for the last time, the first drop turned it light blue, the second a more solid blue, the third a very solid blue, and the fourth turned it a dark yellow/light green. A fifth drop turned it very light yellow. Therefore, I determined that my kh is between 4 and 5 degrees.

With my kh being between 4 and 5 degrees, according to your CO2 chart, I should have between 30-37ppm of CO2 when my drop checker is green. (If I remember right, the indicator solution used in most drop checkers is blue at a ph of 7.2, green at 6.6, and yellow at 6.0) Therefore, my CO2 should be just at or slightly above "optimum" levels. Optimum levels seem to differ person to person, but it sounds like generally 30-35ppm is a good number to shoot for. 

It takes a little bit of work to get distilled water with a kh of 4, but it helps give you a more accurate idea of how much CO2 you have in your tank. It's not a perfect test/indicator, but it is still fairly accurate. Sorry for the long reply, but I hope this helps.


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## AheartlessFish

haha indicator is showing yellow right now but i havent tested the dkh of the distilled gallon...i just copied someones recipe but i guess i should spend some time to do that 

Also co2 indicator is yellow, but im getting signs of black beard algae...soo somethings not right here

will update once problem is solved 

thanks for all of the inputs it helps alot ^^


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## Left C

Check out LaMotte's KH/Alkalinity test kit for an excellent and accurate KH test kit. It can change color twice. You have the beginning color, the end point color and the past end point color. I really like it. I use it for testing my 4 dKH solutions. You can even get refills for it. It is sensitive to 4 ppm or 0.22 dKH. It has an easy to use direct reading titrator.

instructions: http://lamotte.com/images/pdfs/instructions/4491-dr.pdf

kit: http://www.marinedepot.com/LaMotte_...water_Aquariums-LaMotte-LM1111-FITKAL-vi.html

refill: http://www.marinedepot.com/LaMotte_...water_Aquariums-LaMotte-LM1131-FITKAL-vi.html


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## AheartlessFish

thanks Left C but i think i found out how to use the API brand...after a test or two you get use to it haha.


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## thefisherman

not sure if this was covered but i found this guy to be helpful


Sent from my iPhone


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## AheartlessFish

haha thanks but i use something similar ^^ or probably that exact chart except in black and white


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## Left C

AheartlessFish said:


> thanks Left C but i think i found out how to use the API brand...after a test or two you get use to it haha.


The KH kit is easy after you get the hang of it. I hate their GH test kit. It is a little hard to tell the color change.

The API kit is accurate to 1 or 2 dKH which is approximately 18 to 36 ppm. The LaMotte kit is much more accurate at 0.22 dKH or 4 ppm.

I use both KH kits. I just like the accuracy of the LaMotte kit when making my dKH solutions. For testing my tap water or aquarium water, the API kit is good enough. My KH is very low, so I don't really worry with it.

Hagen's KH and GH test kits are decent. They use different reagents than API uses. Hagen's kit measures in ppm. 17.86 ppm = 1 dKH

Do you have any lab equipment (scales and volumetric measuring containers)? If so, both dutchy and billionzz wrote some very good directions for making up 4 dKH solutions.


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## neilshieh

OP you CANNOT make an accurate indicator by using tank water. you HAVE to use distilled or RO water. that is why your readings are off.


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## AheartlessFish

yea i figured that much, like i stated in previous post i went out and got some distilled water...and the 1/12 tsp baking soda per 1 gallon of distilled water gives me a perfect solution of 4dkh water.

Good news, my indicator now shows green and it has never done that ^^. I have a gallon of solution now added to my supply 

Thanks everyone for their inputs helped alot.


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## bsmith

Im not sure if you are tying to make a certain dkh reagent to add to a drop checker or if you are trying to use your pH and kH to determine what the levels of co2 are in your tank.

Here is what I can say about both scenarios. 

If you are trying to make a specific dkh reagent yourself that is fine. I tried my hand at it and became extremely frustated by the process and just ended up purchasing a lab certified soloution that I know 100% is accurate. 

Now if your trying to determine your co2 levels by using the pH/kH chart that is just not a good idea at all. It has long been proven that this method of trying to determine co2 saturation is horribly inaccurate due to so many different buffers (driftwood/reactive substrate/hard scape/co2 injection/and any water parameter altering products you could be using like peat and so many other things) that could be in your tank water that will throw off the reading/result you get you actually have a better chance guessing or pulling a ppm out of the thin air than using the pH/kH chart.


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## AheartlessFish

Well this post was originally about the Azoo indicator.

I ended up making a 4.0dkh solution with a gallon of distilled water and 1/12 tsp of baking soda formula

it works great and i get 4.0dkh when i test the distilled water. Wether the api test kit is 100 % accurate or not is a different story.

I got the solution to work in my indicator and im assuming thats the method you would recommend.

as for the PH/KH method, i just happen to have the KH test kit and i used the co2 chart which others are using as well. wether that is acurate or not is another story as well.

Combined with both methods of co2 indication, its showing good levels (30-40ppm)

What methods do you use since ur saying the PH/KH method isnt accurate?


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## bsmith

The ph/kH chart for co2 levels isn't another story at all, it's simply horribly in accurate and is useless for determining levels unless you can 100% say that there are no foreign entities in your tank water that could effect the ph. 

I use a drop checker for the simplest indication and don't use it as a measuring device per se but rather to just know that co2 is being dissolved into the tank water. I actually don't try to measure the co2 levels and have no plans to. I just use my plants as an indicator for the co2. If you know what your looking at/what to look for they are all you need.


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## HeyPK

I find that one accurate way to measure CO2 is to do the test on two water samples: One sample freshly drawn from the aquarium and another sample from the aquarium that has been standing in a shallow dish, open to the atmosphere for 24 hours. In the second sample most of the CO2 will have diffused out and the CO2 content will be in equilibrium with the atmosphere which has 0.03% CO2. The difference between the two samples represents the meaningful CO2 content as far as your plants are concerned.


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## DeChaoOrdo

The KH tests are a type of test known as titration. This type of test relies on precise volume concentrations in the indicator and a volume of test material sufficient that the additions can be counted as insignificant. In hard water the API tests can be somewhat relied upon using their 5mL standard, but when the KH is low the difference from one drop to the next can be a significant difference. The only way to adjust for this is to use a larger volume of tank water and a control standard to calibrate the kit with. The best way to make a control would be to add baking soda to water using weighed amounts until it is saturated, then filtering off the undissolved portion and drying it, weighing the dried baking soda and calculating the CO3 content remaining in solution in ppm then testing how many drops it takes to change to determine the approximate ppm for each drop. Obviously this is more work than its worth if you have water with <5dKH. The pH drop method as described by HeyPK is a much more reliable and simple method than trying to accurately identify your KH and using pH/KH charts(not to mention the inherent unreliability in those charts if your water is buffered by anything other than CO3.)


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## HeyPK

I use a LaMotte test kit that titrates with a sodium hydroxide solution and phenolphthalein as the pH indicator. The titration is over when the solution turns pink. The difference between water in equilibrium with the atmosphere and water just out of the tank has got to be due to CO2 because there isn't likely to be any other substance that escapes into the air that affects the pH.


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## AheartlessFish

Im interested in what you had to say about judging your co2 by your plants Bsmith

"I just use my plants as an indicator for the co2. If you know what your looking at/what to look for they are all you need."

what exactly are you looking at and for?

im just curious cause i want to learn as well.


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## Big_Fish

HeyPk, JUST to clarify: you test each sample for ONLY ph and measure the difference between the 2 samples, is that correct? (makes perfect sense, I'm just trying to make sure I wouldn't also need to compare the 2 samples for KH or GH or anything else as well...(I can't imagine WHY I'd need to, as I can't imagine either would change) )



HeyPK said:


> I find that one accurate way to measure CO2 is to do the test on two water samples: One sample freshly drawn from the aquarium and another sample from the aquarium that has been standing in a shallow dish, open to the atmosphere for 24 hours. In the second sample most of the CO2 will have diffused out and the CO2 content will be in equilibrium with the atmosphere which has 0.03% CO2. The difference between the two samples represents the meaningful CO2 content as far as your plants are concerned.


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## HeyPK

With my CO2 kit you titrate a sample of aquarium water with a NaOH solution until the indicator turns pink. You convert the # of drops into ppm CO2 using a chart. If you do 2 samples, one straight out of the tank and the other from the tank but allowed to stand for a day, and subtract, you get a more meaningful CO2 value. The CO2 that remains in water in equilibrium with the atmosphere isn't very much and isn't very available except for those plants highly adapted to being submerged and able to get CO2 from the bicarbonate ion, HCO3-, like Najas, Elodea, Ceratophyllum, etc.


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## DeChaoOrdo

HeyPK said:


> With my CO2 kit you titrate a sample of aquarium water with a NaOH solution until the indicator turns pink. You convert the # of drops into ppm CO2 using a chart. If you do 2 samples, one straight out of the tank and the other from the tank but allowed to stand for a day, and subtract, you get a more meaningful CO2 value. The CO2 that remains in water in equilibrium with the atmosphere isn't very much and isn't very available except for those plants highly adapted to being submerged and able to get CO2 from the bicarbonate ion, HCO3-, like Najas, Elodea, Ceratophyllum, etc.


That sounds terribly inaccurate. All you're doing is an acid/base titration so if there are any other things in the water acidifying it they will skew your results upward. Which is highly likely considering a lot of the biological processes involved in an aquarium will acidify your water by producing fulvic and humic acid, and then theres tannins if you have any driftwood. Measuring the pH difference is all you need. Which is pretty much what your describing in a roundabout way.

To the Big_Fish, atmospheric CO2 generally dissolves at 2.5-3ppm(pretty much exactly 1/100 of what is present in your ambient air and using 30ppm as 1 degree is a reasonable assumption). CO2 affects pH and if you isolate what is changing the pH to CO2 you get a measurement of CO2 as a factor of multiplication. CO2 is likely the only gas that changes pH in an aquarium, so by allowing the aquarium water to reach ambient levels of CO2 you will likely isolate CO2 as the culprit in any pH changes. pH is a logarithmic scale, meaning 1 degree=10 times the previous degree. So if you have a 1 degree drop you have 10 times what is present under ambient situations, and if you have less than 1 degree you can use the decimal as a multiplier against the total to get a rough idea of where your co2 is(e.g. if you have a .5 degree change you halve 30ppm to determine you have around 15ppm CO2.)


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## HeyPK

> That sounds terribly inaccurate. All you're doing is an acid/base titration so if there are any other things in the water acidifying it they will skew your results upward. Which is highly likely considering a lot of the biological processes involved in an aquarium will acidify your water by producing fulvic and humic acid, and then theres tannins if you have any driftwood. Measuring the pH difference is all you need. Which is pretty much what your describing in a roundabout way.


If all I did was the titration on the freshly drawn water from the aquarium, the other things acidifying the water could skew the results. By getting the difference between the two samples, I measure the CO2 lost when the one sample equilibrates with the atmosphere. Of all the things acidifying the water, only CO2 is volatile. The CO2 concentrations above the level of CO2 you get when your water is in equilibrium with the atmosphere are the CO2 concentrations of interest to aquatic plant growers.


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## thefisherman

my brain hurts... why wouldn't you just gas the heck out of your tank until the fishies begin to surface for O2. then dail down until plants and fish are both happy?

i bet you a bush of staurogyne sp. purple CO2 levels are 30-35 ppm 


Sent from my iPhone


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## AheartlessFish

my brain hurts as well...i looked into the Degassing method and might give it a try dispite how accurate it is or not. Doesnt hurt anyone to try.


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## Big_Fish

what HeyPK and DeChaoOrdo say makes perfect sense to me... 
and I can see the point DeChaoOrdo makes RE that there are biological processes going on 24/7 in the aquarium water that won't necessarily happen to the sample, but for purposes of getting a 'Ballpark' reading of how much C02 is in solution in the tank, I would think those biological processes could be ignored. Compare the difference between the PH currently in the tank and a sample that's been allowed to gas out.
I get it... I just wasn't POSITIVE there isn't a need to double check the GH and KH of either sample... (I KNOW solids don't evaporate from a water solution  )
Thanks both of you, this info is more than just a little helpful. :tea:


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## DeChaoOrdo

Testing the KH/GH is fine. My main point of contention is that titrations require a high degree of precision of both the equipment and user. Dropper bottles don't lend themselves well to precise volumetric application and short of lab quality pipettes and burettes its difficult to get an accurate measurement.

HeyPK, what I was pointing out is you are only measuring a pH difference but introducing an extra possibility for user error. You'd be better suited using a pH reagent selected so your ambient pH is in the middle of the colour range.


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## HeyPK

> HeyPK, what I was pointing out is you are only measuring a pH difference but introducing an extra possibility for user error. You'd be better suited using a pH reagent selected so your ambient pH is in the middle of the colour range.


The indicator, phenolphthalein, is a recommended indicator for CO2 determination at the pH 8.3 endpoint in the publication, Standard Methods for Examination of Water or Wastewater. It is also the indicator used in my LaMotte CO2 test kit.


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## DeChaoOrdo

HeyPK said:


> The indicator, phenolphthalein, is a recommended indicator for CO2 determination at the pH 8.3 endpoint in the publication, Standard Methods for Examination of Water or Wastewater. It is also the indicator used in my LaMotte CO2 test kit.


The indicator has no bearing on my contentions. It makes sense that the endpoint of phph would be the indicator chosen since it is attempting to read CO2 through pH/KH charts in one fell swoop. The manner you're using it sounds like an indirect measurement of the pH difference between a fresh sample and one that has been allowed to de-gas, rather than as a rough estimate of the CO2 in a fresh sample. That's where I can't understand why you would do it rather than measuring pH directly and taking the difference of the two. What does the titration bring to the table?

Further spelling out my problems with home titrations, other than the resolution and precision aspects, you're using a non-standardized titrant to test an impure titrand, and likely not mixing the titrand as the titrant is added. For the lamotte CO2 test in particular not standardizing the NaOH beforehand can skew the results fairly dramatically.


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## AheartlessFish

I didnt wana start another thread for this question...

But my Co2 indicator builds up this white gooey gunk where it traps air (at the bottom chamber) when its sitting there for a couple days...

anyone know what this crap is? is it bad for my tank? I usually just take out the unit and smack the goo out into a bucket...


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## Left C

AheartlessFish said:


> I didnt wana start another thread for this question...
> 
> But my Co2 indicator builds up this white gooey gunk where it traps air (at the bottom chamber) when its sitting there for a couple days...
> 
> anyone know what this crap is? is it bad for my tank? I usually just take out the unit and smack the goo out into a bucket...


It could be a protein buildup or some other type of organic scum. Just clean your drop checker when the stuff starts blocking the entrance or you can clean it as soon as your see it building up. It's your choice. I'm not sure what causes it. Maybe excess food pollution, infrequent water changes, dirty filter, etc. Any number of things may be causing it.


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## bsmith

AheartlessFish said:


> Im interested in what you had to say about judging your co2 by your plants Bsmith
> 
> "I just use my plants as an indicator for the co2. If you know what your looking at/what to look for they are all you need."
> 
> what exactly are you looking at and for?
> 
> im just curious cause i want to learn as well.


That's kind of a tricky one to answer as some plants respond different than others to low co2 conditions. But in general when a plant is deficient in co2 the new growth is considerably smaller less vibrant than prior growth if it had proper co2 exposure. This is especially evident in syngonanthus and ludwigia. Pretty much all plants that are carbon deficient will have a sickly look to them, maybe thats not precise enough but once you see it you will know exactly what I'm talking about. One very evident and relatively easy to observe symptom is a lack of pearling. Perhaps I run my tanks at the higher end of the spectrum but just about every plant in my high tech tanks pour bubbles like a fountain at some point during the photo period.

I have been doing this for some time now and I was not always able to measure the health of my system at a glance but with time and good observations when things are going well it will come to anyone. Also, pictures are a great resource in determining plant health. Either your own taken by you when the plants are looking their best or the APC plant finder as you can bet the farm that there are no plants being profiled in there that have pictures of sickly specimen!


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## HeyPK

Another consideration when CO2 is low is that aquarium plants differ in their ability to extract CO2. The ones most adapted to living submersed, especially in small bodies of water, are the best at this and will thrive and lower the CO2 content to the point where plants less well adapted to low CO2 environments stop growing entirely. Many of these low CO2 plants have the ability to take up the bicarbonate ion and extract CO2 from it, in contrast to the others that can only take up CO2 from the water. In general, plants that are entirely aquatic and can't grow emersed will win over those that grow emersed part of the time but can survive and grow submersed also. Many of the earliest plants to be used in aquaria, _Egeria densa_, for example, do well in low CO2 environments. _H. polysperma_ is a plant that likes medium to high CO2, and it shows quite different growth forms at low, medium and high levels:


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## AheartlessFish

hmmm...my plants dont really pearl like i see riccia pearl. I use to own riccia and when they pearl its pretty obvious. beautiful fields of bubbles. The only pearling that i ever realize (noticable) is when i do my 50% water changes...usually after i do it, it seems as if a buncha bubbles are comming out of the gravel (or maybe plants)...but never do i see the actual plant pearl as if riccia pearls...

But thanks for the inputs...protein build up sounds like a good answer haha.

Thanks everyone for all of their inputs ive learned alot this week.


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## bsmith

AheartlessFish said:


> hmmm...my plants dont really pearl like i see riccia pearl. I use to own riccia and when they pearl its pretty obvious. beautiful fields of bubbles. The only pearling that i ever realize (noticable) is when i do my 50% water changes...usually after i do it, it seems as if a buncha bubbles are comming out of the gravel (or maybe plants)...but never do i see the actual plant pearl as if riccia pearls...
> 
> But thanks for the inputs...protein build up sounds like a good answer haha.
> 
> Thanks everyone for all of their inputs ive learned alot this week.


Keep reading, it only gets more interesting!


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## DeChaoOrdo

AheartlessFish said:


> hmmm...my plants dont really pearl like i see riccia pearl. I use to own riccia and when they pearl its pretty obvious. beautiful fields of bubbles. The only pearling that i ever realize (noticable) is when i do my 50% water changes...usually after i do it, it seems as if a buncha bubbles are comming out of the gravel (or maybe plants)...but never do i see the actual plant pearl as if riccia pearls...
> 
> But thanks for the inputs...protein build up sounds like a good answer haha.
> 
> Thanks everyone for all of their inputs ive learned alot this week.


Don't worry too much about plants pearling or precise CO2 levels. Consistency is far more important than specific levels, and plants pearling isn't necessarily a positive thing(often damaged tissue leaking gas can be mistaken for pearling.) So long as you have consistent growth without problem algae CO2 is likely fine. The film in your drop checker could be a variety of different things but none I can think of are necessarily problematic outside of unsightliness. It could be an anaerobic bacteria taking advantage of a favorable environment, a fungus that is feeding on some excess mineral, or protein/lipids working their way out. With proper water changes all of these should work themselves out over time, and if it becomes too unsightly or blocks the gas exchange keeping the checker cleaned out periodically should fix the problem over time.


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## AheartlessFish

yea i noticed that when i prune my wisterias, the open stems would gas out after water changes.
thats what i figured all of the bubbling were since i prune them alot.

Right now i dont have any issues with the plants and im doing VERY well on algae control atm.

After a few weeks of trial and error im starting to understand how my tank eats up the nutrients and what not to dose and what i should dose more often.

As for the dropper checker ill just keep it clean whenever i see white scum  I just thought it was gross


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## Left C

AheartlessFish said:


> ... As for the dropper checker ill just keep it clean whenever i see white scum  I just thought it was gross


The fish are blowing their noses on your drop checker!


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## HeyPK

> hmmm...my plants dont really pearl like i see riccia pearl. I use to own riccia and when they pearl its pretty obvious. beautiful fields of bubbles. The only pearling that i ever realize (noticable) is when i do my 50% water changes...usually after i do it, it seems as if a buncha bubbles are comming out of the gravel (or maybe plants)...but never do i see the actual plant pearl as if riccia pearls...


After water changes the pearling is more intensive if the water introduced comes directly from the tap. Are you introducing water directly from the tap?


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## AheartlessFish

yes getting water from the tap 

LOL @ Left C's comment


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## HeyPK

Water directly from the tap has been under pressure and is supersaturated with gasses that have dissolved in the water when it was under pressure. When the pressure is relieved, the excess gasses come out of solution and bubbles form everywhere. The increased pearling seen then is not just due to photosynthesis producing oxygen. It is also due to the supersaturated gasses diffusing into the air channels in the leaves and stems of the plants and coming out of solution in these air channels.


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