# Starting co2



## Malex530. (Dec 4, 2014)

Hello everyone!

I am going to start using co2 and ferts in my tank. my question is, how do i find the right balance of co2 for my tank without killing my fish? Its a 40 gallon aquarium, 3 bleeding heart tetras (i lost 3 of them) 2 american flagfish, 1 angel, 2 otocinclus. I cant move them to another tank, and i dont want to turn the tank into a gas chamber. 

Pardon my stocking, ive had this tank for 5 years and i just changed the substrate and it caused an ammonia spike, which got to a few of them. I will be replacing the lost fish once i get the tank fixed up. 

Thanks!


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## Patriot100% (Nov 12, 2011)

How heavily planted is it? Would be hard to gas them since plants will quickly convert it to O2.


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## Malex530. (Dec 4, 2014)

Patriot100% said:


> How heavily planted is it? Would be hard to gas them since plants will quickly convert it to O2.


So far not that planted, but within the next 2 or so weeks I will be adding lots of plants, and then the co2. As of now I am planning on lots of stem plants.

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## kraigstein (Aug 21, 2015)

My advice would be just to start out slowly with the co2. There are calculators out there that you can use to estimate your co2 levels. You will need to measure your pH and KH temperature. once you type in the numbers it will give you an approximate co2 saturation level. Keep in mind that if you have "acid buffers," pH reducing chemicals or peat filtration is being used in the system. These substances invalidate the calculations.

The goal is to get the co2 level between about 15-30mg/L. You can slowly increase the level and take measurements a couple hours after increasing the amount of co2 going in to the tank. As long as the fish aren't showing any signs of stress (gasping at the surface is the most common indicator) you can continue to increase the co2 until you get it to the level you want.

Another method for checking the co2 levels is o get a drop checker. These are not affected by any pH buffers since they measure through the air gassing of the co2 in the tank. I would recommend adding a drop checker in the tank as a quick way to check that the c02 level is where you want it.

What type of ferts are you planning on using?


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## Malex530. (Dec 4, 2014)

kraigstein said:


> My advice would be just to start out slowly with the co2. There are calculators out there that you can use to estimate your co2 levels. You will need to measure your pH and KH temperature. once you type in the numbers it will give you an approximate co2 saturation level. Keep in mind that if you have "acid buffers," pH reducing chemicals or peat filtration is being used in the system. These substances invalidate the calculations.
> 
> The goal is to get the co2 level between about 15-30mg/L. You can slowly increase the level and take measurements a couple hours after increasing the amount of co2 going in to the tank. As long as the fish aren't showing any signs of stress (gasping at the surface is the most common indicator) you can continue to increase the co2 until you get it to the level you want.
> 
> ...


Thank you! 
I plan to start EI dosing around next week when I can get more plants. 
I'll look for the calculators.

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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

This is the math behind the chart you find on the web.
KH being the drop count, pH your pH.








Here is an example.








This only works for non-R/O unmodified water.

If using R/O or modified water.
Measure pH in tank and de-gas a sample.
Air stone for 30 minutes in sample will be sufficient.
Measure pH of sample.
Every 1.0 drop in pH = 30ppm of CO2.


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## PAXpress (Sep 22, 2011)

Malex530. said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I am going to start using co2 and ferts in my tank. my question is, how do i find the right balance of co2 for my tank without killing my fish? Its a 40 gallon aquarium, 3 bleeding heart tetras (i lost 3 of them) 2 american flagfish, 1 angel, 2 otocinclus. I cant move them to another tank, and i dont want to turn the tank into a gas chamber.
> 
> ...


 How is the progress I'm curious because I have a 40g tank I'll be switching from EI to PPS this weekend I believe and I think a good starting point for co2 is 1 bubble per second. Don't think you'd gas them with that for sure assuming you have some kind of water movement. In my 40 with 2 canisters and a surface skimmer I'm using 1.5-2 bps about. No gaseous deaths yet.


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