ADA Soil, water parameters and CO2 measurement

[hmph]

Been reading thru the forums and some bros here have said the usage of ADA soil will skew the readings of water parameters such as ph/kh. If one does use ADA soil....so how does one accurately measures the C02's ppm in the tank?

[cheeboonyong]

Yap, I have this same problem. Basically, I used trial and error. Observe your plants and see whether they grow well. That should be the key to the right level of CO2. Be careful whenever you adjust the CO2. Make sure the fish are not subject to CO2 poisoning (which happened to me several times [] )

[murphys33]

use prawns as indicators - thats what i did... later on i bot a co2 test kit and adjusted it to the level below which my prawn died... and thats it...now i only play with adjusting the kh

[victri]

Hi,

I have this thread bookmarked which I think might be useful to you. Hope it helps.

CO2 level without KH measurement

Quote PeterGwee from the above thread:
"BFG, ADA aquasoil tends to lower the KH substantially during the initial stages and usually it is lower than 1 or so which the pH/KH/CO2 relationship would breakdown. You would still need to make sure the KH stays above 1 and better still at 3 or above if you want to use the pH drop method. I have use the ADA aquasoil before and it is rather troublesome as the KH tends to drop real fast during the initial stages due to the peat and you would need to look at the KH real closely or you might end up killing your critters."

[BFG]

Thanks Victri for the bookmark. For ADA user, read thru and follow as BcLee had suggested. This is the only method that I am aware of right now.