How Long Before I See Some Results?

[SO19Firearms]

I have been using Flora-Grow liquid fert, but all it seems to do is promote algae in the filter and pipework.

Ferts don't cause algae. Flora Grow doesn't have Nitrates and Phosphates in though, that coupled with CO2 would be a good cause of algae (or lighting too high)
If you haven't already, have a good read through the guides on here to get a good understanding of Ferts, CO2 and light. That should set you up in the future for getting a feel of what's going on in the tank.....

 

[coolie]

Does anyone know if 2 bubbles per second is ok for 240Litre bearing in mind a lot of my bubbles are rushing to the surface and therefore going to waste. My drop checker isn't here atthe mo. It's just that I have only just realised I never seen anything "pearl" after reading another thread.

 

[levahe]

You could use your regular pH test to give you a relative idea of how much co2 is in your water. Just get a test of your aquarium water that has no co2 in it ( leave it over night to stand ) and then test the water just before your co2 turns on and every hour after that. As the co2 dissolves into the water the pH will lower, and I believe that the target range of 30ppm co2 will drop the pH by 1 .

You can then adjust the co2 slowly over a few days until it reaches 30 ppm 2 or 3 hours or so after turning on, and you can then coordinate when you reach 30 ppm with lights on.
So if your co2 takes 3 hours after turning on to reach 30 ppm, set the timer to come on 3 hours before lights on. If your photoperiod is 7 hours, set your co2 to go off after 7 hours. The important thing is to get the co2 at the correct level at lights on and not to worry about if your plants are pearling at this time.

 

[SO19Firearms]

You could use your regular pH test to give you a relative idea of how much co2 is in your water.

I'd always say just use a drop checker (4 dKH) to get the relative idea - Measuring two variables is always asking for trouble, that coupled with rubbish test kits - It's borderline pointless.


IMO

 

[levahe]

Well yes and no, using a pH test (liquid not strips) can help you fine tune your co2 because you can see how the co2 is behaving in your water and as a bonus its instant. Its not accurate we all know that but a pH test can be used too your advantage when it comes to co2.

Example - this is how co2 behaves in my tank

Baseline test pH 7.6
11am before co2 turn on pH 7.2. This tells me there is still co2 left in the water from yesterday.
12pm CO2 ON ph 7.2
1pm pH 7.0
2pm pH 6.8
3pm. PH 6.6 LIGHTS ON 30 ppm co2 - green drop checker
4pm pH 6.6
5pm. PH 6.6
6pm. PH 6.5
7pm. PH 6.5. CO2 OFF
8pm no test
9pm no test
10pm no test
11pm pH 6.8 LIGHTS OFF

 

[KirkyArcher]

 I'm requiring 100 bubbles per minute (just shy of two bubbles a second) in my 125 litre tank to get the magic 20mg/l indicated on my JBL Permanent Co2 Test, (colour indicating the Co2 levels) a nice little compact unit about 35x35mm

 
5 bubbles a minute is going to be of no use even in the smallest Nano tank! For your 100 litre tank you'd be looking at about 80 BPM
No need to run an air bubbler while only running the Co2 during the day.

 

[coolie]

Being in the same boat (waiting to see results in a new CO2 setup) I have thought of one or two issues...
 
The plants which survived the year before of non-CO2 use, have tended to be the hard-to-kill plants like Java Moss, Java Fern, Amazon Sword.
 
I am guessing these plants aren't fast growers even when switching to CO2.
 
 
The other plants which survived without CO2, had *kind of* gone into hibernation. They occasionally sent forth the odd bud, but on the whole, were brownish and hard, bearly alive. 
 
I think, hoping for both these two groups of slowish growing plants and plants protecting themselves by sleeping to suddenly spring forth into action may be my problem? Anyone?
 
 
Of course, every green fingered gardener or aquarist wants to grow their own plants, and not go a buy somebody else's to plant the whole tank out in one go, well at least I don't.
 
I want to see some of my own plants grow.

 

[levahe]

Amazon swords can grow like crazy once they get used to the co2 and ferts, I had to remove all mine because they started to take over my tank! The moss an ferns will grow a bit faster but not as fast as most other types of plants. For some reason moss won't grow in my high tech but thrives in my low tech ?!?.