# Drop checker or Co2 problem?



## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

The Co2 kicks on at 9:30 am and the lights kick on at 12 noon. Yet when the light come on at noon the drop checker is still blue. At around 4m it's green but turns yellow by 7:30pm when the Co2 kicks off. Why is it taking so long to get enough Co2 into the tank? I have the Co2 ran in to the intake on a power head and it is pressurized Co2. The drop checker solution I got from Sumo so I know it's has a 4dKH. All the plants are growing fine except my H. difformis which looks like it's reverting back to it emersed growth under water??? I am also using a canister filter.

What am I doing wrong?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi will5,

Drop checkers do not give an instantaneous reading of the CO2 in the aquarium; they can have a several hour delay. I just re-installed my drop checkers two days ago after a tear down a week ago. It took about 4 hours before they started turning green and about 8 hours before they stabilized. I run my CO2 24/7 and my drop checkers change very little from lights on to lights off.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

Ok so in fact I could have enough have enough Co2 or is it to much because it's yellow by then end of the Co2 cycle?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi will5,

It may be too much; I would certainly be watching my fish for any signs of distress.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi will5,
> 
> It may be too much; I would certainly be watching my fish for any signs of distress.


They all seem to be fine if not better then they were before I starting adding Co2. My gold barbs even spawned.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

You might want to tweak the CO2 down just a bit until you see a tinge of green. The reason I say that is, if it's yellow already, how will you know if the CO2 level increased? Some people will buy the 5 kdh liquid so they can run higher levels than 30 ppm and still see a change.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

I turns to yellow around 7:30pm. I did lowered it some today but I also did a water change today so I will have to see if it does anything tomorrow.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

To have a much faster response time, consider the Red Sea drop checker:

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/207617/product.web


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

bartoli said:


> To have a much faster response time, consider the Red Sea drop checker:
> 
> http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/207617/product.web


That's what I have.


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## nokturnalkid (Feb 27, 2007)

will5 said:


> The Co2 kicks on at 9:30 am and the lights kick on at 12 noon. Yet when the light come on at noon the drop checker is still blue. At around 4m it's green but turns yellow by 7:30pm when the Co2 kicks off. Why is it taking so long to get enough Co2 into the tank? I have the Co2 ran in to the intake on a power head and it is pressurized Co2. The drop checker solution I got from Sumo so I know it's has a 4dKH. All the plants are growing fine except my H. difformis which looks like it's reverting back to it emersed growth under water??? I am also using a canister filter.
> 
> What am I doing wrong?


Well it sounds like you are diffusing your co2 using the misting method. When I was misting, my dc would act like yours. The only reason I came up with is that you aren't really diffusing the co2 into the water like how a reactor would do. Instead, you are blowing microbubbles around the tank and onto leaves. The co2 is in the tank but still in gaseous form, still usable by the plants. That could lead to some false readings with the dc since not all the co2 is actually mixed in with the water. Hope that kind of makes sense.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

will5 said:


> That's what I have.


In that case, the long elapse time for the drop checker to change from blue to yellow is more likely due to the CO2 injection rate and/or the reactor's efficiency.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

bartoli said:


> In that case, the long elapse time for the drop checker to change from blue to yellow is more likely due to the CO2 injection rate and/or the reactor's efficiency.


I am thinking one of these is the problem.

This drop checker has never taken so long to turn green for me even with Diy Co2, but I was still using this same power head. So how could it be it. I will break it down and give it a really good cleaning and see if that helps some.


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