# Got screwed on CO2 Drop Checkers



## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

Found this seller on ebay and inquire about getting 2 - CO2 DC. We both agreed to a special deal if we do it off Ebay. Bad move on my part.

Receive the kits but missing the solution. How the h*&% am I suppose to perform the test without the solution???? Contacted the seller and he wanted me to pay "extra" for the solution. What a scam !!!!  On the other auction, he selling the same item for the same price with the solution.

So just be aware out there especially for newbies like me. Seller is harlook88 on Ebay and Harlook on Aquabid.

Live and learn.


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## kunerd (Jul 19, 2005)

Why not just get one from someone here instead of ebay. I got mine from blacksunshine and its great.


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## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

> Why not just get one from someone here instead of ebay. I got mine from blacksunshine and its great.


My fault.....I should have.


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## fredyk (Jan 2, 2004)

you have to get your own solution. I got a crop checker and I got solution, but I'm not using it because it's too much trouble to get distilled water and calibrate with baking soda. I know it's a rant but that's the work that's involved
PH check solution should work.


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## EcoGeek (May 29, 2007)

Manolito,

Sorry you got taken, but thanks very much for sharing your experience. You saved me from making a mistake as well. So, while it sucks, some good did come from it. 

Deron
(looking for the bright side)


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## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

Yeah...I weny out to my LFS to get the PH test kit for the Bromothymol Blue.

Now I just need to find some 4 or 5 dKH solution. I found out that this solution can be made at home, but I just don't have the right tools/apparatus to do it.

Can anybody help me with this ???

Please...


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

All you need is pH reagent, distilled water, a KH test, baking soda and patience.

Someone on here may have a formula for adding the baking soda and water. I just add tiny amounts of baking soda to a bowl of water and test, then adjust. Takes about half and hour.

With the KH test, the more ml of water you use, the more accurate your results will be. For example, in 5 ml water, 1 drop of KH reagent represents 1dKH, in 10 ml of water, it represents .5 dKH


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

You can try here:

http://liquidarthome.net/khstandard


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## saint27 (Apr 27, 2006)

I think you are going to have a hard time finding it premade ready to buy. You can buy a electronic scale at wally world for cheaper to weigh out your baking soda. That is all you really need. 0.38g of Baking Soda, 1 gallon of distilled water, and a scale to measure out the baking soda. That gallon will last you forever. 

The scale can be used for a lot of other thing as well. Food prep, mailing stuff for swap and shop, mixing your own ferts are just a few.


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## outcast (Jul 4, 2007)

any people in canada care to hook me up with a drop checker


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

I got mine from Black Sunshine. I don't think you'll be able to get anything in Canada, unless you find a petshop that carries them, but from what I've seen, Black Sunshine's are much nicer and easier to use.


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## Algenco (May 10, 2007)

another vote for Blacksunshine, mine works great


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## Blacksunshine (Oct 11, 2006)

saint27 said:


> I think you are going to have a hard time finding it premade ready to buy. You can buy a electronic scale at wally world for cheaper to weigh out your baking soda. That is all you really need. 0.38g of Baking Soda, 1 gallon of distilled water, and a scale to measure out the baking soda. That gallon will last you forever.
> 
> The scale can be used for a lot of other thing as well. Food prep, mailing stuff for swap and shop, mixing your own ferts are just a few.


Its not that hard to find it premade. 

Its more of a pain to mix up that much regent. most digi scales unless you drop $100+ aren't accurate down to 0.01 grams. you can get a scale that is 0.1 accurate for around 20 bucks. then you have to mix up an amount that would need an amount of baking soda that can be weighed out at and even 0.1 gr otherwise you will have to do a bunch of tweaking to get it nailed down and could easily way overshoot your intended kH. then you would have a gallon of way high kH and have to get another gallon of distilled to mix it down. 
in the end to get a couple ounces of regent you will wind up tossing out a bunch of water. If you do wind up getting a .01 accurate scale you will have invested about 110 bucks to get a couple ounces of regent. Since a 1/2 oz will last roughly 10mo to a year. it doesn't make sense to mix up that much regent for personal use. 

I sell an oz of ready to use regent for 3.50, shipped.


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## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

OK....I got my solution from Blacksunshine yesterday. Thanks Blacksunshine for helping.

Put in my dropcheckers. I put 2 in - one on each end in a 150 gal - 60" long tank. 

How come it never turn to lime green eventhough I think I crank up my CO2 pretty high (I can't count the bubble rate - too fast)? It only turns to bluish-green.


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## Blacksunshine (Oct 11, 2006)

how big is your tank? how is your CO2 going into the tank? It sounds like its not getting fully disursed to the water. perhaps too much surface agitation. instead of cranking it up further see if there are other variables that you can address that might help that the situation.


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## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

Here is my tank.

The tank is 150 gal - 60 x 24 x 24. As you can see, I have a spray bar coming down on the right side and running across (end to end) the back bottom side of the tank - about 50" long. No surface agigation at all. 
I have DIY CO2 diffusor. Measurement is 3" diameter at the bottom and tapered off at the top to 2.5" diameter and 30" tall. I will take some pics of my diffusor later when I get home.

I think it works very well because I can see those little tiny bubbles all one the tank and the plants are pearling like champagne.

I will try to play with the CO2 level when I have enough time to monitor it.


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## Manolito (Jul 5, 2007)

Here is my CO2 diffusor.










And this the my drop checkers. One on each side of the tank. You can see the color........Are these the right color ?


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## Blacksunshine (Oct 11, 2006)

kinda hard to tell. But it looks like they are in between blue/green


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

The blue background is interfering with reading the colour. What does it look like when you put a piece of white cardboard behind it.

As an aside, the device you have there is more commonly called a reactor. A diffuser would be inside the tank and working kind of like an airstone.


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## if_fishes_were_wishes (Jul 29, 2007)

I put my white algae magnet behind my drop checker. It does make it easier to read.


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## UnusualSuspect (May 25, 2007)

I gotta jump in here. I bought that same drop checker from the same seller on eBay. The transaction went real smooth and the drop checker arrived today. It's quality merchandise, and I feel I got exactly what I paid for. I make up my own reference solution, so no problem there.

As you pointed out, he's running a couple of auctions - drop-checker-only, and drop-checker-plus-solution. You should've gone for the other one.

I don't know this seller from Adam, but I don't think it's fair to say he's a "scammer" or is screwing people.

JM2¢
Mike


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## if_fishes_were_wishes (Jul 29, 2007)

In all honesty, I won the wrong auction from the eBay guy mentioned above, one for the drop checker alone, and man was I PO'ed when I received it without the solution. The, I reread the auction and sure enough it was for the drop checker itself. Doh.


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

EcoGeek said:


> Manolito,
> 
> Sorry you got taken, but thanks very much for sharing your experience. You saved me from making a mistake as well. So, while it sucks, some good did come from it.
> 
> ...


Well at the very minimum, you helped save EcoGeek, so some good came from your post.


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## Geobelle (Feb 28, 2004)

Manolito,

I think you don't get the exact solution inside your drop checker, 1 drop of pH reagent + 2-4 drops of 4dKH water and submerge it around 2 inches below the water level. It should be blue at first, not sky blue, light blue, opaque blue, etc.

If you are getting a correct dosage of CO2, the color should be green, again no dark green, no light or blue green but a simple color green. Please check it again.

I am using an ADA pH reagent + my own set up of dKH water and it works perfectly.


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## Glouglou (Feb 14, 2006)

*For Outcast, Drop checker in Canada*

Big Al’s have some:
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp18056/si1317851/cl0/redseaco2indicator

and some petshop get the Sera indicator (this is the one I get)










You can use low PH Hagen PH indicator work very good as indicator and it’s cheap


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