# CO2 concern



## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

I have set up a CO2 DIY system in my 10gal planted tank. I set it up last night. I did not put a diffuser on the end of the tubing but instead put the tubing into the filter so that the output for the filter would act like the diffuser. I checked the ph level last night before putting it in. It was 7.2. This morning when I checked the ph it was 6.6. I decided to move the tubing from the filter to just a random place in the tank. My understanding is that the smaller the bubbles coming from the CO2 the more CO2 that actually gets trapped in the tank so I figured doing this might up the ph a little more then what it is now because it won't be trapping so much of the CO2. I'm concerned for the fish (mostly fry) in the tank that the ph drop might be too much for them. What do you recommended? Should I take the CO2 out or just watch or what should I do? I want the plants to grow better but not at the cost of my fish.


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Amie, you have a small tank with low light, low maintence plants in it. Your really causing yourself more problems then you are doing good with your DIY set up.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

How so? 

pH of 6.6 is just fine actually.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

Yep, 6.6 is a great number.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The ph drops from co2 doesn't affect the fish like a ph swing from water changes and such. Your fine.

At night I would leave the diy co2 running but maybe add an airstone to help outgas some of it. then remove it before turning your lights on.


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

I moved the tubing so that bigger bubbles were coming out so that there was less diffusion of the CO2 in the water. Ph is still 6.6-6.8. Fish seem fine so I'm going to leave it like this, unless something goes wrong. Thanks everyone


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

What kind of light do you have on the tank?


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## bigscale (Nov 17, 2010)

how many plants in the tank most people who use co2 turn it of at night becouse plants
produce carbon dioxide at night time and co2 is not needed as susankat says a airstone 
helps disperse carbon dioxide a ph 6.6 is great


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

2 35watt bulbs. Not the pigtail kind but not the regular type either. They have 2 hollow tubes straight tubes that come out, curve and go back to the base part. 

So far I have been leaving it on. It's working out fine so far. No lost fish, snails are fine and plants are growing faster!!


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

I started with 2 bunches of Anacharis. Since then I have cut most of them in half so more like 3 or 4 bunches of those now. Java Moss I'm trying to grow. 2 bunches of Wisteria which are now like 3 or 4 from the same thing and 3 Anubis plants.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Amie said:


> I started with 2 bunches of Anacharis. Since then I have cut most of them in half so more like 3 or 4 bunches of those now. Java Moss I'm trying to grow. 2 bunches of Wisteria which are now like 3 or 4 from the same thing and 3 Anubis plants.


I have these exact plants in a tank of mine with no CO2. My wisteria grows about 2 inches a week and anacharis about twice that. The Anubias are huge (older plant) and produce about 1 new leaf per week, My point is these plants have no real need for CO2. They will benefit no doubt, just not needed.


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

Yeah I know they can live without it but I'm anxious to get them growing because I want to use the 'child' plants from these 'parents' to plant the rest of the tank. Also, I haven't seen the Moss grow yet at all and I'm not cure if that one is going to be okay or not so I decided if I'm going to see any growing in the Moss I better add the CO2 and see if it grows then. 

But the CO2 has been working fine. No fish problems, snail problems or plants problem


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Java moss will grow in your toilet in the dark, I believe. I started with a little ball and spread it and weighed it down under a piece of driftwood. I noticed after a while it didn't look like it had grown very much and I lifted up the driftwood and all the growth was underneath. Just couldn't see it. It had grown to 2-3 times what I started with in about 2 weeks. This was with standard lighting also. It has gwon so much now I look for ways to get rid of some.


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

I had Christmas Moss originally from ebay and it arrived in very rough shape and I tossed it out about a month ago. Poor thing was just suffering. This Java Moss came from ebay too. Both from Malaysia but from different sellers and this one looked good when it got here so I've been trying to make sure I get this one right and it is definitely getting taller. I'm noticing some good growth in the other plants too. My Anacharis has been losing leaves at an alarming rate and growing new 'branches' and new leaves on those but not regrowing the lost one. The Anubis is getting bigger leaves and each plant has 1 new leaf too. 

I figure the CO2 couldn't hurt (at least not too much) and it seems to be doing great. I'm probably going to remove it when the plants get to where I want them to be though.


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