# Drop checker not turning green



## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

Drop checker not changing color despite co2 on full blast. 

Using glass inline co2 diffuser and Cal aqua drop checker solution.

I can see the microbubbles in water column but drop checker always blue.

75 gallon tank. 
Cascade canister filter 300 gph

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## nilocg (Jul 12, 2010)

Does the solution that you are using contain 4dkh fluid and bromothymol blue?


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

skipcharlie said:


> Drop checker not changing color despite co2 on full blast.
> 
> Using glass inline co2 diffuser and Cal aqua drop checker solution.
> 
> ...


Where is the drop checker in the tank? Closest or furthest from diffuser? I suspect bad solution. You can make your own there is many tutorials on how to and just add a few drops of api ph test kit(bromothymol blue). Also you can do a ph/kh test and that will give you a pretty good idea what your co2 level is. Also keep in mind the drop checker will take a couple hours before it shows the actual level of co2 in the tank. What is your ph/kh level during the day say after 4 hours of running co2?


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

nilocg said:


> Does the solution that you are using contain 4dkh fluid and bromothymol blue?


Yes. I use same solution in all my tanks and works very well. It's from Green leaf solutions. Cal aqua brand

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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

skipcharlie said:


> Yes. I use same solution in all my tanks and works very well. It's from Green leaf solutions. Cal aqua brand
> 
> Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk




So have you tested your ph and kh levels during the middle of the photoperiod day?


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

Yes. Texted today

pH about 6.5/6.8
KH: about 5-6

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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

skipcharlie said:


> Yes. Texted today
> 
> pH about 6.5/6.8
> KH: about 5-6
> ...




Can you do a full tank shot showing the color of the drop checker. Either your testing is wrong or you regent is wrong. 


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

That's a fairly high KH to fight with for CO2 injection. Is that any different than your other tanks?


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

I have KH of 10 in my 20g. Most plants thriving.

This new tank is at an office. I might go down there later tonight and run more tests.

Was running co2 full blast. Moved drop checker to side closer to diffuser. Still blue.

I'll take pictures and show.

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So just showed up at the office and did quick test. 

Co2 rate plummeted accidentally since last test and levels have drastically changed.

KH about 3-4
pH about 7.4











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## EDLITE (Jul 31, 2016)

I had same problem and my water parameters were same as yours. I ended up increasing co2 some more and Ph finally dropped from 7.3 to 6.5. Since your Ph is under 7 I would suspect co2 drop checker solutions,


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

skipcharlie said:


> I have KH of 10 in my 20g. Most plants thriving.
> 
> This new tank is at an office. I might go down there later tonight and run more tests.
> 
> ...


This puts you at 3-4ppm of co2 which is the level you will just about have anyway without injecting co2. This would show a blue drop checker.


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

clownplanted said:


> This puts you at 3-4ppm of co2 which is the level you will just about have anyway without injecting co2. This would show a blue drop checker.


Yeah like I said these levels were measured with co2 off all day.

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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

skipcharlie said:


> Yeah like I said these levels were measured with co2 off all day.
> 
> Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk




Should take a measurement exactly the same way with co2 on middle of day. 


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

Took new measurements today. 

pH: hard to tell. Looks neutral

KH: 2-3, keeps dropping

Co2 actually been running all night. 1 bubble per second.

Drop checker still showing blue.

Pics




























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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

1 BPS is just not going to do anything in a 75 gallon tank. You should start at 4bps and go from there. You are at less than 10ppm of co2 with a ph of about 7 and kh between 2-3. Makes sense that the drop checker is blue. Will not get to a dark green till about 20ppm. 

Also it looks like that powerhead is causing surface agitation. You will need to run even more co2 to account for the off gassing due to that. If I was running 1bps and had my surface movement on like you do which I do then I would also not be even at 10ppm of co2. I am currently running about 8bps going into my reactor with a powerhead doing surface movement similar to yours. And to be honest the bps is a bit too fast to count but I am guessing about 8.

To give you an idea of what 1bps does I am currently running 1bps in my 20 gallon tank that is giving me about 15ppm of co2 using an atomizer.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

clownplanted said:


> 1 BPS is just not going to do anything in a 75 gallon tank.


This^ Literally nothing.

All tanks/bubbles/diffusion methods behave a little differently, but 1 bps per 10 gallons is a general good place to start.

Obviously though, you should be around to watch the livestock if you make a very large increase.

Best thing probably go to 4-5 bps first and see what that does. Just dont be surprised if you need even more.


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

Thank you guys. I was still waiting on a timer and was worried about too high of levels if left on over night.

I will crank up bubble rate and see what happens.

Was thinking I might even put inline diffuser on the intake instead of output pipe. That way it might work more as a reactor. Just worried about effect on filter motor.

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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

skipcharlie said:


> Thank you guys. I was still waiting on a timer and was worried about too high of levels if left on over night.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Are you running it overnight only because you have no timer to turn it off? Why not turn it off manually till your timer gets here or do what I did and buy a cheap timer at walmart like $3. You typically want to turn on co2 about an hour or so before lights come on and turn off about an hour before lights go off. This way the co2 has time to build up for the plants to use as soon as lights turn on and so the plants can use the last bit before lights go off. Not following why you are running pressurized co2 at night? You are just wasting co2.


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

clownplanted said:


> Are you running it overnight only because you have no timer to turn it off? Why not turn it off manually till your timer gets here or do what I did and buy a cheap timer at walmart like $3. You typically want to turn on co2 about an hour or so before lights come on and turn off about an hour before lights go off. This way the co2 has time to build up for the plants to use as soon as lights turn on and so the plants can use the last bit before lights go off. Not following why you are running pressurized co2 at night? You are just wasting co2.



Lol I use the exact same cheap timers.

Dan


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

Dman911 said:


> Lol I use the exact same cheap timers.
> 
> 
> 
> Dan




Lol hey they work great. Have had no issues and I use 4 different ones of the same kind for different purposes. One is co2 and works great 


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

clownplanted said:


> Lol hey they work great. Have had no issues and I use 4 different one for different purposes. One is co2 and works great [emoji16]
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I have 3 no complaints either.

Dan


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

clownplanted said:


> Are you running it overnight only because you have no timer to turn it off? Why not turn it off manually till your timer gets here or do what I did and buy a cheap timer at walmart like $3. You typically want to turn on co2 about an hour or so before lights come on and turn off about an hour before lights go off. This way the co2 has time to build up for the plants to use as soon as lights turn on and so the plants can use the last bit before lights go off. Not following why you are running pressurized co2 at night? You are just wasting co2.


Yes, overnight because I didn't have a timer. Just received day/night timer today from Amazon. Will quickly be setting up soon.

The tank is in an office and it's for a friend of mine who isn't always comfortable messing around with it and can't be trusted to reliably turn equipment on/off at regular hours. So I left co2 on overnight. I've seen ADU aquascaping use that technique so I wanted to experiment.



















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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

Quick Update

I've narrowed the whole problem down to faulty regent.

Cranked CO2 up today.

Pics taken just a few seconds ago.

Original drop checker










Second drop checker added










pH less than 6.4










Weird thing is I used same exact solution in both drop checkers. Original must have had some unknown contaminate.

Here is solution












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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

skipcharlie said:


> Quick Update
> 
> I've narrowed the whole problem down to faulty regent.
> 
> ...


It needs replaced from time to time... how long exactly I can't answer

Dan


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## skipcharlie (Dec 17, 2016)

Dman911 said:


> It needs replaced from time to time... how long exactly I can't answer
> 
> Dan


Yeah makes sense. This one that wouldnt change was just setup though. Maybe 1-2 weeks ago. Contaminated some how, strange.

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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

skipcharlie said:


> Yeah makes sense. This one that wouldnt change was just setup though. Maybe 1-2 weeks ago. Contaminated some how, strange.
> 
> Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk


Yes that is odd.

Dan


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