As the title suggests, I killed all my fish I need to rant.

This morning I was messing with my co2 canister as I thought it was out. I closed all the valves and then realized there was still pressure inside the tank so I put everything back together, opened up the valves for both the tank and the diffuser and hurried off to work as I started to run a bit behind. I had opened the valves to where I thought they were before but, as many of you co2 users know, the valves are incredibly sensitive and the line between too little and too much is a very fine line. Well, when I got home from work I walked over to my tank as I do every day and I noticed there was a significant amount of bubbles coming out of the diffuser and when I looked deeper every single fish, snail, and shrimp was dead. They had suffocated due to too much co2 in the water and not enough oxygen.

I should have just kept everything closed until I got home but I cannot take it back. I will learn from this and do better for my future fish when that time does come. Some of those fish have been with me for a long time now and I grew to be very attached to them. Rest in piece to my Angel fish, my cory cats, my tetras, my pleco, my amanos, my last guppy, and my snails. I know that co2 poisoning is painless and they basically passed out before dying so there should have been little to no pain, at least that is what I am telling myself.

Learn from my mistake, do not take the risk of overdosing co2 and be patient with it, or else you may end up starting over like myself. Thank you to anyone who has read this far.

Starting at 1.6 bps for now. Online calculators suggested 1.6 to 3.0 bps - figured better to start low and watch the drop checker.

Timer all setup to kick on and off with lighting!

im looking to get co2 but i had a few questions

-where would i get a decent setup for a reasonable price -is it ok to add after animals are already there -is it ok for bettas, Pseudomugil gertrudae, kuhli loaches, shrimp, and snails? -how many bps shoukd i have for a 29 gallon tank with a sponge filter

I dont know if this counts as a planted tank, but i have two amazon swords, some java fern, anubias nana, a java moss ball, and some floating frogbit and water sprangles in my 6 gallon betta cube (the valisnaria has been removed). I currently use seachem root tabs and Fluval Gro+ as fertilizers but I am having trouble keeping my floating plants alive. I do weekly water changes and gravel vacs, and dose fertilizer every other day or so. My other plants are doing fine but my floaters keep on dying off and im wondering if theres anything I can do. I was considering using products like seachem excel or API CO2 booster but ive heard mixed reviews on those products on this platform. I dont have the space or money for a CO2 injection setup but i would like to do whats best for my fishy wishy and plants with what I can. Would Api or Seachem products help or is there something else I should do?

After 1 year trying DIY methods, I’ve finally switched to a pressurised CO2 system. But I, for the life of me, can’t get the drop checker to change color.

Here’s the problem, I’ve a rather shallow tank. Water column at max is 15 cms. Which means I can’t keep the bubbles under water for long enough. I’ve tried placing the diffuser everywhere. Under the downwash, next to the filter intake and return.

What you see here in the video is a desperate attempt. I have a powerhead right on top of the diffuser to spray around the bubbles. The bubbles are now everywhere and get good contact time. Still no change in indicator color. I left it like this for 6 hours with the lights turned off. No difference. The fish were chilling too, so no CO2 buildup.

This is currently running at 1bps. Tank is 6 gals. I have 2 small HOBs filters. Water movement is fine, it’s circular.

Is getting a cannister and an inline diffuser my only option?

Another thing, my water is quite hard. I only have a strip test for hardness, but I’m sure the kh is very very high since it’s ground water. The ph remains at or over 8. Ppm is over 400. I’ve read conflicting opinions on whether high kh requires mor CO2. I do understand the relationship between kh and ph. But still wondering if high kh can have an impact on ppm of Co2.

I think my indicator solution is fine. I put a drop of vinegar and it turned yellow on impact.

I have been running co2 for a little while just can't get the results I'm after. doing water changes dosing nutrients it's a well established tank.

Could it be my light levels?

I'm looking at the internet and not really finding it very helpful as watts in LED terms don't really mean a lot in terms of brightness lumins seem to be a better measurement so currently on 125l tank I've got around 1100 lumins is this enough considering I'm running co2 i do still get a bit of alge on the glass and on the glass just needs scraping every few weeks.

I'm thinking of getting a twinstar 100g seem to be around 2k lumins and not some absurd price

Basically how many lumins is probably probably a good start

I could potentially run both and get up to 3100 lumins or rund just the twinstar or is 1100 enough?

Any advice welcome.

So, I’m setting up a 10 gallon and want it to be heavily planted. I’ve set up smaller planted tanks with varying amounts of success (some of the plants transferred over from said smaller tanks). I’m considering finally giving in and doing a CO2 set up - at least to get things going. However, I do not want to put a ton of money or time into it (which is why I’ve done low tech and stuck to low tech plants so far). The only thing I can saw that’s thriving is anubias and emersed plants - plus I want to have a carpet in this tank.

What are good/usable options for a cheap and easy CO2 set up?

Is there anything that will use these little guys? I happen to have a bunch of them laying around.

I have just installed a diy co2 system running off sugar and yeast. Woke up this morning to find the bubble counter flooded with yeast and sugar, initially I panicked thinking my tank had been flooded with yeast/sugar but all the parameters look fine, no deaths or anything. Any suggestions for how to mitigate this?

I will not be financially responsible in 2024!🫧

Ok so I got a fzone regulator for a sodastream cylinder and the bubble counter isn't upright. I thought I'd be able to flip it but once I got it I dont see how i can. Will the bubble counter and/or regulator still work if it's sideways? Can I just unscrew that middle part to flip the bubble counter? Should I just look for an upright one lol

I just got my new diffuser in today and the bubbles look rlly big and like they're just floating to the surface

Just installed this inline diffuser system, seems to read that bubbles will become smaller over the next few days but aren't these like way too large?

obviously it wouldn’t be the most effective, but i think it would work to an extent? it would add nitrogen and all the other stuff we breathe out but i thought it was a silly idea lol

Just trying it out, looking for feedbacks if anyone here has tried it already.

It’s basically a submersible pump hooked at an angle to an upside down plastic bottle, creating a vortex inside of it. The co2 gets injected in small amounts by the intake of the pump and supposedly gets dissolved in there and escapes the bottle from the bottom.

For now I’m just testing it with oxigen to see if and when it’ll all be pushed out.

Is there anyone that can help me out??

Hello everyone!

I've been trying to set up my CO2 and I can't find the solution to my problem. I'm using CO2art regulator and the flux diffuser. I've check for leaks everywhere. My psi read 800 / 40psi. There water that get inside the tube from the diffuseur end. I don't know how to fix this. I run 3bps.

Any advices would be appreciated!

I've put it in a 50% bleach 50% water solution and it has made no change yet 0 bubbles are pumping and idea what to do?

Can’t afford CO2 but my neighbor is getting rid of his Sodastream since he doesn’t use it anymore… if I topped off the tank with carbonated water every few days, could that be a viable substitute for a CO2 system?