Mahawka Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Quick Question for you guys. After 1 month of dry start and 2 months of cycling I am planning on adding some swimmers in to the tank. Currently I am running a system with the Co2 blasting (For my HC to transition from Dry to submerged). I have my photo period on for 6 hours/ day and achieve pearling one hour after the light turns on. I am using both a drop checker and KH/PH method to measure Co2, however, I don’t trust them!!! I am worried that I will gas out my fish since I don’t really know the Co2 level in my tank. 1) To my understanding when plants pearl it mean that my water is fully saturated with O2. Wouldn’t that mean that Oxygen level in my tank is very high and I should not worry about gassing my fish? Or am I wrong?2) Is there other method for me to check my Co2 level with confidence prior to adding 75$ worth of swimmers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Pearling does mean that the water is saturated with O2; however, I have never seen that to be a toxic level. I've run CO2 at a rate of 7-10 bubbles/sec in a 135gal full of fish, and they did quite well (had a few 'tough breeders' spawning regularly). IME, happy plants equal happy fish. That being said, I have killed a tank of discus b/c a CO2 bottle dumped on me. I would back it off to the 5 bubble/sec range, and leave the lights on longer (10-12hrs) - that'll keep O2 levels higher for longer periods of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 As said above it'll take a lot to kill anything with the co2. Keep it around 3-4 bbs and your fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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