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Too much CO2?
I've been lurking on the list since mid February, and using up all the time
on my ISP account going through the archives. My wife looks worried. My kids
are whispering behind my back. My dog dosn't seem to recognize me anymore.
Such are the hazards I suppose, of an obsessive compulsion. "But I have
truly struck gold!", I try to explain to them, but I receive only blank
stares and pitiful shakes of the head...
In all honesty, the archives have been a "motherload" of information, for
which I'm truly thankful, especially that I live a little off the beaten
aquarium path. After moving here several years ago and building a house, I'm
finally getting around to setting up some tanks again, and am looking
forward to making a serious effort with plants.
To the point of this post; our well, 118' into the Canadian Sheild, produces
water with a pH of 6.5, 14 dKH, 21 dGH and nitrates 10ppm. This hard, acid
water puzzled me for days, until I figured that the low pH could be the
result of a high CO2 content from the well. Sure enough, after letting the
water off gas overnight, the pH was 8.2. I've set up a 10g to "experiment"
with before setting up the 100g, and have set up a yeast CO2 generator,
which provides 1 bubble of CO2 every 1.2 to 1.6 seconds. The tank is full of
plants, and gets direct sun (I know, but it's working so far) for about 7
hours a day, temperature ranging from 73 to 78 degrees. O2 streams from the
plants all day, and so far they are growing nicely, though planted only in
straight 2mm gravel, with no supplemental fertilization or fish added yet.
Which brings me to my question: the CO2 is bringing the pH down to around
6.4-6.6, which according to my charts and calculations, means the CO2 is up
around 165ppm! I assume this would be deadly to the Ottos I was planning to
add next? If so, what's the easiest way to handle the CO2 from the
generator? I originally had the bubbles feeding into a reactor I cobbled
together, but I removed it and currently have it running into a submerged
power head, where the bubbles are churned up and rather quickly dispersed.
Should I try simply allowing the bubbles to play from an airstone and freely
dissapate, or skip the airstone altogether? The tank has a glass cover,
which I'd prefer to leave on, but I'm sure it helps to contain the CO2 that
reaches the surface.
Apologies for the long post, please correct me where I'm wrong.
With thanks,
Ron Barter,
Perth, Ontario
P.S. Anyone in the Ottawa area know where I can eventually find some Ottos?