I started injecting CO2 with a DIY kit i made using a 2liter and 1gal bottle combined.

Since then my catfish jumped out of the tank. He's now medicating in a seperate tank. And since then both my Angelfish seem to be slowly dying. One of them I found today at the bottom of the tank, laying there... still breathing but definatly dying. The other Angelfish has not come off the surface of the water in two days... it appears he is trying to breath air... not water. And he has not been eating.

My PH has definatly been effected by the Co2. Last tested my PH was at 6.2 where its normally in the 7.0 range.

What are some things I can do, other than removing CO2 all together?

__________________

Do you have a drop checker?Have you seen the fish at the top gasping for air?Have you been leaving it go night and day?Its best to shut it off during the night.A DIY can be done by popping off a piece of the tubing.Just plug it back up in the morning.
'
I dont think unless the PH dropped rapidly,that that would effect the fish.How are you diffusing it?

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Yeah the angelfish (both) hadn't left the surface of the water and i do notice my gourami staying closer to the top of the tank. And now that I look at it, 2 of my 3 tetra are at the top of the tank as well.

I dont have a drop checker, and yeah i leave it run day & night. I didnt know I should have it in cycles. I have disconnected the bottles, but i hate the idea of letting all this CO2 go to waste. Better than all my fish dying I suppose

I am difusing it by using a air stone that is about 4" long. its making some pretty fine bubbles that travel 30" from the bottom of the tank up... where it gets blown around by the exhaust from my canister filter.

__________________

yeah gas it out with the airstone.The fish should be fine if you get it pretty fast.

Plants use the CO2 all day,but use oxygen at night.I did leave mine going as well, but depending on the mix,if its too strong,then it will add too much CO2 and the fish wont be able to handle that.Whats more,the plants actually use oxygen at night.So this also takes it out of the water.

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

You're injecting CO2 via DIY with both a 2L and 1g bottle? How big is your tank? Is this the 88g in your signature? If so, I will guarantee that the CO2 is not your issue.

Yeah its the 88gal.

__________________

I would say the same. I look at the amount of CO2 that comes out in my 75g and it is probably 3 bubbles per second.....but it is only on for about 7hrs. Do you know how many bubbles you are producing in a minute?

If you wanted to rule the chance out, just set up a bubbler to come on when your light goes out. It will gas out the CO2 when it really isn't needed.

i have ALOT of co2 comming out. Its a constant stream out of this 4" airstone. I have a small mayonaise jar that both the 2 liter & 1 gal T into, and that is my pre-filter.... i constantly see bubbles going into that jar. If I had to count, i'd say 90 to 100 bubbles a minute.

When I disconnected the tube leading from the filter to the tank this morning (to disable the CO2) that mayonaise jar and both 2liter & 1gallon released all the pressure. It was quite a bit of pressure built up in all 3 containers. Now that there is no backpressure on the filter... i am watching it produce even more bubbles. quicker.

__________________

Oh and I just performed an Ammonia test on the tank, and it came back 0.25ppm

I also did a PH test, and I couldnt determine the results. It appears it maybe lower than 6.0, as thats as low as my test will go. I performed two tests, and neither my wife nor I could figure out the results. So Im going to say its under 6.0... which is a drop from Monday when I tested it at 6.2

I tested my 36gal and its always been at 7.0-7.2 The water out of my tap comes at 7.4.

__________________

So maybe 2 bubbles per second then....that definitely shouldn't cause an issue. Even if you hit 3, same. Your system isn't under any real pressure like most systems, so your CO2 bubbles are not as concentrated as a pressurized system. For example, I operate most of my systems at 35psi. This higher pressure as compared to near zero pressure, forces a much higher concentration of CO2 in the bubble. The bubbles are actually larger also.

Like I said, get the bubbler to play it safe.

Well what can I do to help the fish out? I want to try to keep my PH as close to 7 as possible.

__________________

Sounds like removing the co2 would be the first thing to do.
You're definately increasing co2 by large amounts with that pH drop.
In my planted tank I have a pH of 8.4-8.8 (api high range test kit) Because the plants are consuming the co2.

my .02

__________________
fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

You need some type of surface agitation and you can disconnect it at night....if you didn't want to add a bubble bar or something. You should get a drop checker when you get a chance. It will tell you where you are.

Thanks Guys. Yeah I will leave the CO2 disconnected for the rest of today, then connect it tonight, disconnect it tomorrow and so on.

Here is a picture of the bubble-bar i am using right now to diffuse the CO2:


The bubbles are very tiny when they come out... and they get pushed around quite a bit by my filter. I do have a nozzle I was going to connect to the filters output, and point towards the surface to create a wake. I am sure that will help to agitate the surface.

What really sucks is I need to perform a water change, and dont want to be using 7.2ph treated water in a tank that has close to 6.0 in it.

__________________

Yeah, I would disconnect one of the two CO2 bottles or the entire system for a bit, and add a bubbler that you run at night. I've got a 1L yeast fermentation CO2 bottle injecting through a reactor into my 10 gallon, and I have to gas off with a bubbler at night since I can't turn off the CO2.

__________________
Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

The water change will not hurt anything even if there is a big difference in ph.

I think you have it backwards, it needs on during the day and off at night. I just can't see how a diy system is causing so much problem on a tank that size. Most people will tell you that diy co2 does not help that much on anything larger than a 50 gal.

I would say something else is causing your problem and the co2 is just aggrevating it.

__________________
SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

can i get more info on these bubblers you guys are talkin about?

__________________

I didnt realize it was on such a big tank.Yeah definatly should not be having this issue.

__________________
http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

The same bar you are using can be used (one like it), but hooked up to a air pump instead of your CO2.