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No necessary. Can use the kH and pH value to determine.
See http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm and http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/aq_calculator.php
Plecostomus, Corydoras & Apistogramma Enthusiast
Is it a MUST to use a co2 meter/tester in a tank to know that is the co2 enough for the tank?
No necessary. Can use the kH and pH value to determine.
See http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm and http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/aq_calculator.php
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
assuming you didn't use ADA or GEX soil or other stuff that alter your pH and kH.Originally Posted by juggler
I'm beg to differ. I'm using ADA and find that the ph is stable. How could substrate mentioned alter after its being cycled? Unless you're referring to the initial stage which I've experience an ammonia spike.
what he means is that ADA soil alters your ph/kh and as such although it is stable after the initial period, the ph/kh chart method of co2 testing will not work accurately
Yeah the pH will be stable after it is fully cycle. ADA have pH and kH lowering property, kH with ADA is always around 0. Thus you can't use the table to get the CO2 ppm.
Put it this way, assuming I got tank with only water with kH is 4 and pH is 7, after CO2 injection pH drop to 6.5. By using the table I can find the CO2 ppm. Let say now I add ADA soil into the tank, assuming the tank is fully cycle, the pH will be around 6 even without CO2 injection. So now if you get back to the table, you found that you got wrong CO2 ppm.
Ya, tat's true. I'm a little confused... if my ph is about 6.5 (ADA) and kh is about 4 via usage of coral chips as media. Would the findings be accurate?
Brainstorming here... DW would also lower the ph, does this mean that it the findings would not be so accurate.
Thanks guys for sharing your valuable knowledge
nope, once you're using a ph lowering soil, you won't be able to accurately use the chart. if i remember correctly though, there's a rough estimate you can use, though it's not very accurate. basically you scoop a cup of water out of your tank and leave it for 48 hours, then measure the ph. if the ph increases by 1 in the cup of water, you have roughly the correct amount of co2 in your tank. experts please correct me if i'm wrong, this is something from memory which might have failed.
the most accurate method in your case would probably to use a drop checker, but do note that drop checkers do have a couple hours of reaction time before displaying the correct result
Plecostomus, Corydoras & Apistogramma Enthusiast
wow i've learn some new things... so if i wanna measure KH do i need to buy any tester to measure? Any recommendation?
Yes doubleace. You would need a kh test to do that.
Back to the discussion. If a CO2 drop checker is more accurate and ppm calculation is corelation with ph and kh. May I suggest that it is vital to get CO2 drop checker and get either ph or kh test kit? In terms of,
X = Y + Z, or something like that.
Here's more reading of one sticky thread, if you like.
Another way to determine CO2 in our tanks
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Interesting article, never try it yet. However I do not understand the 1.7 drop posted by vinz. 1.7 pH drop is quite a lots. Anyway, I'm trying it out. Will take the sample today and make pH measurement tomorow. Let see if my tank with known CO2 ppm by using drop checker have around 1.7 pH drop.
The pH drop method is not foolproof since organics and many stuff will affect the pH in the tank constantly. Dropchecker with a reference KH standard is the best way to go along now.
Regards,
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Plecostomus, Corydoras & Apistogramma Enthusiast
But howcome some say that drop checker is not that accurate? Or must have a pH and KH meter to go along with the drop checker?
I think it is quite accurate, assuming you are using known reference kH. The accuracy error is probably due to user color interpretation, because you need to match the color inside the drop checker with the given color chart.
In my opinion drop checker is more accurate that pH and kH, the problem is it took 4 to 6 hours for it to response. Furthermore drop checker can be used universally regardless any water chemistry altering chemical you used.
I wonder why no one thinking of making digital drop checker. Just add digital pH meter insideor maybe because of the digital pH meter size
If you are good enough, you can DIY one pH meter with a membrane cap with the reference KH solution inside. Response time is about 5 minutes or so as mentioned by Tom. The issue here in singapore is finding the membrane at a cheap cost.
Regards,
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Plecostomus, Corydoras & Apistogramma Enthusiast
I'm using a co2 reactor so can i use the drop checker to check my co2 level as well?
Sure.
Regards,
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Plecostomus, Corydoras & Apistogramma Enthusiast
Does magic soil affect the reading?
After 24 hours of aeration, I made some measurement and calculation based on the pH op = X +.67*(Y-X). What do you know, it does work. I got about the same value as drop checker, as well as reconfirm it using pH and k table.
pH X = 7.2 ~ 7.3
pH Y = 5.9 ~ 6.0
pH op = 6.3 ~ 6.4
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