Simon's Planted Tank Journal

[kenneth_kpe]

haha i would say no i had 3 of my wisdom theeth pulled at the same time... and my planted tank was my source of relief to distract my mind from the pain

simon. the light looks great ! im planning to make my tank with lighting similar to yours ! looking good i should say

 

[simonbrown403]

Thanks for the comments.

godzuki......Golly Gosh guys, i was going to look into doing a planted tank.... but now I dont think I'll bother.... having your teeth pulled sounds less painful and I dare say less expensive...

What is it george says (gf225) the destination is nothing without the journey, its true getting there is half the fun.
Every time i look back at old pics it surprises me how far I've come, not to mention what I've learnt along the way.

If you don't fancy your chances with a hi tec version, go for the low tec, they can be every bit as rewarding.
This is mine all i do is 30% water change each week and dose with 5ml of seachem flourish, and everything grows well, its a pleasure to keep.

 

[simonbrown403]

My co2 cylinder ran out today, i bobbed into a local supplier to see if they could do it on the off chance, before i bought a bigger one.
It was a stroke f luck real they did it for free, he said " they wasted that much co2 on a blow off what ever that meant.

Here comes the bad bit i kill all my fish i didnt let the cylinder warm up to room temp before i put it on.
So as the bottle warmed up the pressure shot up and so did my co2 levels i tested and the co2 was 240 probably way over they as the PH test kit only go's to PH 6.

There's a mistake i wont make again so a word of warning to all you pressurized co2 virgins out there, when you get your co2 cylinders refilled.

!!!!!!!! LET YOU BOTTLE WARM UP BEFORE YOU CONNECT !!!!!!!!!!! DOH!

 

[pseud]

Simon, smithrc did the same thing a few weeks back. I believe he posted about it. Bummer man, sorry for your loss.

 

[Ste_J]

My co2 cylinder ran out today, i bobbed into a local supplier to see if they could do it on the off chance, before i bought a bigger one.
It was a stroke f luck real they did it for free, he said " they wasted that much co2 on a blow off what ever that meant. smile.gif

Simon, What was your local supplier? welding, pub ?

Should be getting a CO2 bottle from a pub this wekend so will be trying that with my JBL reg but would be intereted to know where you got your bottle refilled.

 

[simonbrown403]

My co2 cylinder ran out today, i bobbed into a local supplier to see if they could do it on the off chance, before i bought a bigger one.
It was a stroke f luck real they did it for free, he said " they wasted that much co2 on a blow off what ever that meant. smile.gif

Simon, What was your local supplier? welding, pub ?

Should be getting a CO2 bottle from a pub this wekend so will be trying that with my JBL reg but would be intereted to know where you got your bottle refilled.

A beer gas suplyer, i would not like to give the name out just in case, the bosses wernt in, and they did it on the sly, it the standard fitting of the filling hose fit but not 100% so there was a little leakage as they filled it.

 

[simonbrown403]

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its unbelievable just as things start to come to disaster after disaster.

While at work my two year old son has put some water colour paints in my tanks, so now my water is milky green colour.
I've just done a 80% water change and will probably have to do another big one again tomorrow, if i hadn't of killed my fish with the co2 incident , they would probably be dead now.

On a good note, got a free 3.5kg co2 bottle today, and its about 3/4 full , spoke to a guy that deals in waste gas bottles and stuff like that, he's going to get me a full 3.5kg co2 bottle for next week free.
So il be able to alternate as they need filling.


For some strange reason my JBL regulator fits the bottle perfect without having to file anything down and the guy that give it to me said its a standard.
The "O" ring on the regulator is a chunky over sized one, well there's another one stuck to the front of the instruction booklet which is thinner, i took it off and replaced it with the thinner one and put a plastic washer at the back job done.

It might be something on new JBL sets i don't know?

 

[Bloo]

Crikey - sorry to hear Simon
Hope things start improving - well there isn't really much else that can still go wrong, is there ?

Or perhaps I shouldn't say anything to tempt fate - hope you're not superstitious !

 

[zig]

Sorry to hear the bad news Simon but at the same time great news......free CO2 supplies.......excellent, interesting about the JBL, nobody on this board had ever put one on a standard bottle at least now we know it can be done.

 

[Ste_J]

Happy days on the JBL and 3.5kg bottles

My original JBL is hovering just above the red line at the moment and have found a gas supplier recently so was due to visit them. It's amazing how fast the needle drops once it gets past 50!

What kind of pressure do the 3.5's read on the reg? I was speaking to my father in law the other night who sells welding gear and he was saying that a standard bottle would blow the reg? due to the pressure in the larger bottle. He's going to see what reg he can get for me but was going on about heated regs so I'm not sure what he will turn up with

 

[simonbrown403]

Happy days on the JBL and 3.5kg bottles

My original JBL is hovering just above the red line at the moment and have found a gas supplier recently so was due to visit them. It's amazing how fast the needle drops once it gets past 50!

What kind of pressure do the 3.5's read on the reg? I was speaking to my father in law the other night who sells welding gear and he was saying that a standard bottle would blow the reg? due to the pressure in the larger bottle. He's going to see what reg he can get for me but was going on about heated regs so I'm not sure what he will turn up with

I'm reading about 40psi, at a little over 1 1/4bar the bottle is about 3/4 full.
I was warned my the gas man who collects the bottles, he said to release the pressure in the bottle by open the valve before its connected, its the initial burst of pressure that dose the damage.

 

[Ste_J]

Cheers - that sets my mind at ease

I'll go out this week to get a bottle - how low was your JBL before you replaced it?

 

[jkc]

I read most of this thread last night and found it extremely useful reading. I am currently in the process of setting up a pressurised CO2 system on my tank. I have finally got everything together but dont want to do anything until I feel I am completely ready. The tank is already stocked with discus and I dont want to risk anything so want to take things very very slowly.

I have a JBL bottle, solenoid & bubble counter & an Aqua medic regulator.

My first question is, I notice that your solenoid isnt connected straight to the regulator! Is there a reason for this? I assumed this was how it was meant to be connected!?

My second question, how do you measure the CO2 levels in your tank?? I know there is a spreadsheet which you can see what the CO2 level in your tank is by the PH & KH, I assume this is meant for when you are injecting CO2? but you have stated some precise measurements.

Currently my KH is still down at 2 even though I have been trying to bring it up to 5 with water changes. For some reason over the last month it still hasnt shifted. Im not gonna start injecting until I get it there!

Keep up with the good work on the journal, you are definately making us CO2 virgins think before we act!!

 

[Ste_J]

I have a JBL bottle, solenoid & bubble counter & an Aqua medic regulator.

My first question is, I notice that your solenoid isnt connected straight to the regulator! Is there a reason for this? I assumed this was how it was meant to be connected!?

I think that the JBL reg requires an additional convertor to allow for the solenoid to be fitted to the reg direct. Not sure about the Aqua medic fitting but if you have the solenoid and reg fitting together nicely then all the better.

My second question, how do you measure the CO2 levels in your tank?? I know there is a spreadsheet which you can see what the CO2 level in your tank is by the PH & KH, I assume this is meant for when you are injecting CO2? but you have stated some precise measurements.

The calculator from chucks page HERE gives a good indication when using PH - KH values although just recently I have started to guage by watching the plants and fish. If the fish look like they want to climb out of the tank then it's too high but if the fish are happy and the plants are pearling like crazy then all is well. I'd suggest going by the calc though when starting out

Currently my KH is still down at 2 even though I have been trying to bring it up to 5 with water changes. For some reason over the last month it still hasnt shifted. Im not gonna start injecting until I get it there!

What are you using to buffer the KH? My tap starts off with KH3 so I buffer with Bicarb 1/2 tsp at a time to get the KH up to around 4.5 - Had a little accident over weekend and added far too much bicarb to the point where my KH was 7 - 8. This in itself was no great deal but threw my logic off somewhat when dealing with CO2

Ste

 

[jkc]

Thanks for your reply Ste. The solenoid does fit directly onto the regulator so I think ill leave it as it is.

I am currently on the work computer so I best not download the calculator now probably get in trouble if I do!!

I presume that this caluculator assumes that you are injecting CO2??

I dont buffer the water as it is very hard in this area. I use a mixture of RO & carbon filtered water.

The only thing I can think of is that when I do a water change I dont heat the water first as the tank is at 30c and only drops to about 27 - 28. When I measured the KH etc the water was room temp. Do you think I need to heat etc then do the tests??