Bubble counter setting

[Tim_Koles]

Hi all,

Just curious if you use a bubble counter for CO2, how many bubbles per minutes do you set it at? Looking to see what people are doing out there. I assume it depends on the size of the tank as well. I have a 90 and I currently have it set at 120bpM (bubbles per minute). I'm thinking that is too low but wanted to see what y'all think.

Tim

[Cristy Keister]

Different bubble counters make different bubble sizes, so it's not an accurate comparison. Plus, there are dozens of other factors that affect the amount if gas you need to inject. Using a drop checker or test kits will tell you if you have a good amount of co2 in the water. Or you can test pH and kh to find your co2 level: http://www.barrreport.com/forum/barr-re ... h-kh-table

[swmnwdafishes]

BPS is only a relative indication for you to know how much CO2 you're putting into the tank. There's no correct number or exact amount of BPS you should use. It varies greatly depending on several factors: the counter itself as Christie has mentioned, size of the tank, efficiency of the method of CO2 delivery into the water, water hardness, amount of plants.

Most sources say to aim for 30 ppm CO2, which can be calculated with the pH and KH. Drop checkers can be a helpful indicator of CO2 levels, but they have a lot of drawbacks. Their response lags by several hours due to the necessity for disolved CO2 to equilibrate between the aquarium water, the drop checker airspace and the fluid in the drop checker. This equilibrium is affected by depth of the checker in the tank. Also, the ability for CO2 to disolve is affected by water hardness, which will slightly change when your drop checker turns green. There are various arguments for using either your aquarium water in the drop checker or standardized 4deg KH water. Or you can use multiple drop checkers that go green in succession at various CO2 levels.

But from my experience and from talking with a bunch of people: just turn it up gradually until your aquatic fauna show signs of stress, then back it down a little and note your BPS for reference.

P.S.- The special drop checker indicator solution (bromophenol blue) is the same thing as the pH indication solution in most test kits.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[Tim_Koles]

Thanks guys but you are complicating the question. Im aware that different bubble counters make different size bubbles which would correspondingly make the amount of CO2 injected different. I am also aware of the relationship between CO2, pH and carbonate hardness. I have the Barr chart and I'm currently off it with a pH about 6.5 and a KH of 0. Also the idea of asphyxiating my fish to determine the correct level of CO2 injection is a bit sadistic for my blood. I was really just looking for a random survey of people going "yeah mine produces a steady stream more than an amount you can actually count". Im not actually looking to set it at a particular C02 concentration.

[sns26]

When everything is going right in my tank, it can eat 5 bps no problem - 55gallon tank.

I got tired of little bubble counters and just rebuilt my pvc reactor with an 8" hunk of clear pvc in it. Now I count the bubbles by turning on the work light under my tank and just looking at it. It's a lot easier now that I need bifocals for everything.

[Tim_Koles]

Thanks. I think mine needs to be increased but I'm doing it slowly as my pH is already low and I don't want to really drop it. Right now it's set about 2bps and I'm increasing it while monitoring pH.