Co2 Diffuser

[dirtyfishtank]

I have the DIY yeast CO2 connected to the intake of my canister filter. Is this enough? I feel like my plants have not improved and I am seeing algae form in my tank. This leads me to belive that the CO2 is not being absorbed into the water. Do I need a diffuser? And where should I get one, ebay? Can I make one? Thanks for any help.

Tanks stats from yesterday include:
GH- 179 Too hard
KH- 89.5 OK
Ammonia- 0 -.1 SAFE
Nitrate- 40
Nitrite- .5
Total Hardness- 250
Total Alkalinity- 100 about
pH- 7.4 about

Its a 72 gallon community tanks with 2 amazon sords, 4 clams, 23 fish, 3 are small angels nothing bigger than them, and 5 snails. Also if anyone has suggestions how to improve my water quality I would love the help. I know my water is really hard. How should I soften it? Please feel free to tell me I'm a bad aquariust. haha.

 

[cheesy feet]

7.4 isn't really hard...7 is neutral!

 

[Sibelius]

A diffuser is almost essential for use of CO2. Aqua essentials have a large variety that you should browse and find one suitable for your tank.

Your water quality is confusing. I've never heard of GH above 18, what scale do you use? 17.9 is feasible, but it still very high. Try to figure out where these hardness readings have come from, your KH seems impossible also.

Did you add all your fish at once? this may have caused your algal bloom and nitrite of .5 which is toxic to the fish. Any reading above 0.000 ammonia is also not good news. Carry out a water change and add a filter maturing product like stress zyme which artificially adds the biological load that your filter needs to get going properly.

Plant heavily, very heavily, otherwise algae will have huge amounts of nutrients to consume (especially with all your fish.) You are probably not nearly overstocked though, especially if your fish are small.

Adding amano shrimp and otocinclus/ bristlenose plecs will help solve your algae issues but it's best to try and find the root of your problems.

 

[dirtyfishtank]

A diffuser is almost essential for use of CO2. Aqua essentials have a large variety that you should browse and find one suitable for your tank.

Your water quality is confusing. I've never heard of GH above 18, what scale do you use? 17.9 is feasible, but it still very high. Try to figure out where these hardness readings have come from, your KH seems impossible also.

Did you add all your fish at once? this may have caused your algal bloom and nitrite of .5 which is toxic to the fish. Any reading above 0.000 ammonia is also not good news. Carry out a water change and add a filter maturing product like stress zyme which artificially adds the biological load that your filter needs to get going properly.

Plant heavily, very heavily, otherwise algae will have huge amounts of nutrients to consume (especially with all your fish.) You are probably not nearly overstocked though, especially if your fish are small.

Adding amano shrimp and otocinclus/ bristlenose plecs will help solve your algae issues but it's best to try and find the root of your problems.

I use the API (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals) GH & KH testing kit. The GH reading of 179 is ppm (parts per million) as is the KH of 89.5ppm. It took 10 drops to change color for the GH. So is the reading a 10 instead? Same for the KH, it took 5 drops to change color, is the reading a 5? Both both the fluid test for hardness and the test strips show my warter is way hard right?

The fish were not all added at once, the tank has been running since the end of December. As for Nitrites, it says a reading of .5 is safe. Although I know it should be zero.

I test everything else with Mardel Test Strips. I over estimate the color to be on the safe side.

I have 2 bristle noses and an asian algae eater.

Any tips on how to correct my water parameters? Also did I provide you with enough info to understand my tests. Thanks for your help.