Re: [APD] CO2 drop checker -- Or -- The gas is always greener in the other guy's tester

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Hmm, if there are other acids, they will reduce the KH by reacting with the carbonates and the pH/KH/CO2 table won't be affected at all. I don't think other alkalinity factors  (magnesium) will create a significant problem eithe, which is as it should be. There are some other kinds of compounds that one can purposely add that might throw things off by goofing up the tests themselve, but whether, in general, the effect is significantly beyond the margin of error of pH and KH tests, or the pH tester you're talking, about is another matter. I think it's actually unlikley to make a diff that matters to an aquatic gardening. Is the tank running at about 5pm higher or lower than tests indicate? Won't matter worth a damn in most cases. In any event, the fine-tuning prescription would be, if the plants show too little CO2, slightly increase the CO2. Reduce it slightly if the animates seem stressed.

What I mean is, these tests and indicators, they're just fingers in the wind -- the goal, the objective, is the growth of the plants and health of the fish, so that's always the final arbiter of action, the counselor of conditions.

For myself, I'd just as soon have an electronic pH tester as a chemical kit. But those that can't afford them, or don't want to, and can use them, they're certainly adequate if one watches the plants.

This in-the-tank device certainly would work too, but I doubt it has any substantial efficacy beyond other methods. My biggest complaint is that it's another device in the tank and maybe that it reports changes in CO2 levels very slowly -- small complaints all and ones that not all would have.

sh


----- Original Message ----
From: Vaughn Hopkins <hoppycalif at yahoo_com>
To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 12:22:38 PM
Subject: Re: [APD] CO2 drop checker


The problem is that measuring the pH and KH of the tank water doesn't  
tell you how much CO2 is in the tank water.  That water almost always  
contains some other sources of alkalinity and acidity besides CO2, so  
the equation relating pH/KH/CO2 isn't applicable.  The "drop checker"  
lets us get around that problem by using distilled water with just  
sodium bicarbonate in it as a test solution.   I have no idea how  
well the Phenol Red would work in this device, or how easy it is to  
discriminate between orange and yellow orange or reddish orange.   
But, trying it out wouldn't be terribly expensive.  I suspect that  
the "high range" pH test kits may use Phenol Red and would be a good  
thing to experiment with too.

Vaughn H.

On Oct 17, 2006, at 6:06 AM, S. Hieber wrote:

> The diff between 30ppm and 65ppm could be total and permanent loss  
> of animation of the animate inhabitants. For those who weakly  
> perceive color diffs in the yell-blue-green range. the best bet  
> might be to save up for an inexpensive electronic pH meter. One  
> portable meter will work for a great many aquaria.
>
> sh
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Vaughn Hopkins <hoppycalif at yahoo_com>
> To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 9:15:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [APD] CO2 drop checker
>
>
> Jerry,
> If you can see a clear difference between yellow, orange, and red,
> this can be used with a different indicator solution.  Phenol Red
> would work fine for this purpose, and ebay now has someone selling
> Phenol Red for less than $20 for ten lifetimes supply.  This would
> require setting the KH of the water in the bulb to 20 degrees.  Then
> orange would indicate 30 ppm, yellow orange would be about 65 ppm,
> and red orange would be about 15 ppm.  I haven't tried it, of course,
> but theoretically it would work, if the differences in color were
> easy enough to see.  I haven't found any other indicator that would
> work, that isn't yellow/green/blue.  Why don't you try this??
>
> Vaughn H.
> On Oct 16, 2006, at 1:57 PM, Jerry Baker wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Just curious to hear from anyone who actually has this. Is the green
>> color a dark green, or a bright green (i.e., is there a noticeable
>> contrast difference)? I ask because the difference between bright
>> green
>> and yellow is non-existent for about 10% of us males. Thanks.
>>
>> -- 
>> Jerry Baker
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>
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