# how to get to Goal of 30ppm of co2?



## wantabe23 (Apr 6, 2005)

I have a quick question (or rather not so quick) I have a forty gallon planted tank and I am trying to get the hang of all of this. Yesterday I ordered dry ferts, and as of now I am using the Flourish stuff. But I think I have to find a solution to my KH/PH problem, I have reviewed the "Biginner basics of CO2" and then took some reading from my tank. I have the dip test strips that I just bought so I think they are accurate. I read them and my KH is at 120 and my PH at 6.8. Now I look at the chart and well the KH side only goes up to 20. My test bottle is in parts per million (ppm) And I am guessing the chart is in parts per one one thousand? Am I right on this one. Any way, if I am corret the 120 is 12 and my PH is 6.8 then I am injecting between 47-70 parts per one thousand. That seems like a lot of Co2 I think that I will lower the buble rate some and then go from there.
I dont know it seems that things should be growing faster and pearling more.
Hear are the parameters:
40 gallon
Substrate: mix of florite and flourabase
lighting: 110w by one and 36w by one Both are CP's
I do a 50% water change weekly
CO2 in injected with a preasurized sysyem and selenoid which turn on and off with the lights @ 10 hrs per day. My buble count is at about 7 per second (which I am going to lower). through a centered class difuser. I have various plants, but the ones that are doing not so good is the vals, which are kind of melting and losing their green from tip of leaf in. And other plants like I said before should be growing faster and pearling more. At the preasant I am doing the recomended dosing on the bottles of Flourish. Macros Monday, Wen, and Friday. other days dosing micros and inbetweeners.
And the fish that are housed are various Apistogramma species.
Thanks for your help!


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## BSS (May 2, 2006)

wantabe23 said:


> I have the dip test strips that I just bought so I think they are accurate.


Most hobbiest level test kits can be pretty variable. And, unfortunately, the dip test strip are some of the worst. Because you can't guarantee how much solution really remains in the little pads and you can't really tell how much water is in contact with the pads, the readings can vary. But, they are certainly better than nothing .



> I read them and my KH is at 120...Now I look at the chart and well the KH side only goes up to 20. My test bottle is in parts per million (ppm) And I am guessing the chart is in parts per one one thousand? Am I right on this one.


Actually, the charts are given in degrees. To convert from ppm to degrees, divide the ppm by 17.9 (I'm pretty sure that's the number!). That would give you a KH reading of around 6.5 on the charts, and that puts you right in the 30 ppm range for CO2...at least per the charts.

Unfortunately, there are many cases where the charts aren't overly accurate. In my tank, my KH=8. However, per the continued presence of new BBA, my CO2 levels weren't low enough, even though I had my pH around 6.7-6.8 (which implies CO2 ~40+ppm). I've now got my pH ~6.2, which per the charts would give me a ppm of ~150...but my fish don't seem to really mind. So, something isn't 'standard' in my tank.

Oh, if only the test kits were 100% accurate and the charts worked in all cases and everyone's water were the same....


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Here's Chuck's calculator and chart. It can either use degrees or ppm. Measuring CO2 levels in a Planted Tank


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## wantabe23 (Apr 6, 2005)

Well as fare as the test strips they are a day old, and in the past I have used the method of dripping into the water and comparing the color, and the strips are way way less time consuming not to mention messy.
Any way, thanks for the conversion, and I know the charts can be off, but I guess Im hopping they are not off my to much, I have to start some where. 
So mabe my problem is in fertalizing? A difficiency or something. Do you think that the vals are experiencing root rot from the high levels of iron in the substrate?
well off to class. thanks guys!

At what levels do I want my nutrients or Ferts? What is a good starting levels of each?
Concerning the Fertalator: I am using seachems flourish stuff, and I have been dosing NO3, PO4, K, Fe, and some micro nutrients that has magnesium in it but no Ca. I put in the levels I have been dosing in the fertalator and came up with this
[email protected] ml=1.09ppm
[email protected] ml=.06ppm
[email protected]=2.61ppm
Ca ?
Mg?
[email protected] ml=.57ppm
Now on the fertalator once you have calculated it and you get your results in the boxes, I noticed just below the boxes there are numbers within parantheses, are these suggested ppm's?
Any suggestions?


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