New Drop Checker

[donkey]

not sure if this will work as i cant see what the other side of it looks like .but it might be worth sending him an email and asking

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Small-Sucker-Cups-to...VQQcmdZViewItem

 

[JamesC]

This is another way of making a KH4 solution if you are short on water. It isn't as accurate but as long as you are careful measuring out the amounts it should be fine.

Add 6.0g Sodium Bicarbonate to 1 litre of DI water. This will give you 1 litre of water with a KH of 200. Now take 10ml of this solution and add it to 490ml of DI water (a dilution of 1:50). This will then give you your KH4 solution.

James

 

[Themuleous]

I really must try this one day

Sam

 

[donkey]

even i got it wrong .its 52p a Litre

 

[SuperColey1]

1 question before I get all this done tomorrow:

Is Baking Soda the same as Bicarbonate Soda (If not I'll have to buy some Bicarb)

Can I get weighed 1.2000g and add this to 1 litre (I guess we're talking fractions in accuracy) and still get 40KH +/- 1

If so the KH solution when diluted 10 into 90 would be 3.9 - 4.1. Will this be accurate enough for our purposes?

(By the way the drop checker is a lovely shade of mid green (a little less green than grass) today on my return to work, so I guess over 18 hours it has found it's level.

 

[JamesC]

1 question before I get all this done tomorrow:

Is Baking Soda the same as Bicarbonate Soda (If not I'll have to buy some Bicarb)

Yes same thing

Can I get weighed 1.2000g and add this to 1 litre (I guess we're talking fractions in accuracy) and still get 40KH +/- 1

If so the KH solution when diluted 10 into 90 would be 3.9 - 4.1. Will this be accurate enough for our purposes?

The larger the quantities used the more accuracy you'll get. If you feel you can accurately measure the weight and water volumes then go for it.

James

 

[SuperColey1]

I got the 1.2g weighed out at 1.2010 at work today, I guess thats fairly accurate, and it was measures in a test tube on the scale (i.e. test tube on recal to 0, the add Bicarb)

Got home and measured out 1Ltr Deionised water and added the 1.2g, stirred it up and left it for a couple of minutes.

Then measured out 100ml more ionised water and syringed out 10ml to make the 90ml.

Added the 10ml solution, and stirred it up again,

Syringed 4ml into my drop checker, and added 3 drops Ph Solution. To my delight it was a light to mid blue.

Is in the tank now and will tell you what it tells me (bear in mind I am only on 2 x Nutrafin through the Nutrafin Ladder)

Andy

 

[donkey]

nice one mate .keep us posted on how its going

 

[SuperColey1]

I guess this means I'm around the mark, don't know how clear the photo is (cameras rubbish cheapo, and the drop checker is on a side (24" tubes ina 30" tank - not much light) The colour is a lightish green now

Andy

 

[donkey]

Hi Andy. i am having a problem seeing that pic mate

 

[donkey]

Hi
I think i have a problem with my Drop checker . my lights and co2 are on for 10 hours a day and there off for 14 hours a day but today i was looking at my drop checker just before the lights come on and it was still green and there had not been any co2 put in the tank for 14 hours .how can this be ? anyway i took the drop checker out of the tank and after about 2 hours it turned blue ( no co2 ) so this would mean that my tank is keeping 30ppm of co2 in it for 14 hours . how can that be right ?

 

[JamesC]

If you have a high plant biomass then this will provide quite high levels of CO2 during the night which will keep levels up. Also if you don't have too much surface agitation then your CO2 loss won't be very high. I find my CO2 levels don't drop that much during the night. It is a good idea to start adding CO2 2 hours before lights on so you reach optimum levels when lights are turned on.

I wouldn't expect your drop checker to go blue during the night but would expect it to go a slightly darker shade of green. This may be hard to detect if the lights are turned off. If it was to go blue then this would mean that your tank was dropping to very low CO2 levels which would be very unlikely.

It sounds as though your drop checker is working fine if when you removed it it went blue in 2 hours. This is about right for the time it takes to react. I try to aim for a light green colour but with a slight hint of yellow to it as I've found this gives me a perfect level of CO2.

HTH
James

 

[Dave Spencer]

Ditto what James said.

I have noticed a pH increase of 0.4 overnight whilst the CO2 is off, but this causes no problems, either.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[donkey]

Thanks Guys
at the moment i have my co2 come on 1 hour before the lights come on . and it turnes off 1 hour before the lights go off .should i maybe change this to 2 hours before the lights come on and 2 hours before the lights go off .

 

[JamesC]

Check and see is probably the best answer. Everybody seemed to advise to turn on CO2 1 hour before lights so I just went along with this for 2 years. Having brought a pH meter a while ago which can get pretty accurate readings I decided to check out my CO2 levels. Found that 1 hour before the CO2 levels wern't quite up to normal. 2 hours before and it was perfect so this is what I now do. My CO2 goes off about half an hour before the lights. No particular reason for this, just what I fancied and it seems to work OK so I leave it be.

James