Originally Posted by Tom Barr

I'd think the pH is fine.

My friend has 13 Discus in his 90 gallon and no controller and never has any algae or fish issues.

You can run an air stone at night if you want.
I don't and have never needed to do so even with high bioloads.

What you do at night is your business, you do not need CO2 at night certainly for any good reason really, when the lights are on, crank the CO2.

Some argue that they cannot ppull down their CO2 enough in time when they turn the lights on, well, then you have an underpowered CO2 system and are trying to compensate for that by having toi buld back up all night long to get a good CO2 ppm level.


Why does this stink?

Because what occurs when the lights are on?

The plants remove the CO2 quickly.

Then the CO2 is not replaced rapidly and you get algae.
When you measure the CO2 later, the ppms are back up.

That's not the method's issue, that's your fault for having a wimply underpowered CO2 method for delievry and mixing.

99% of the issues we have are our own fault.
We assume that a dinky little DIY system + ladder will supply enough CO2 for a big tank, or that the low flow from the reactor is enough to mix well in a large tank etc.........

Good current/good flow through from the CO2 method helps a great deal.
You can run lots of current through a reactor, or blast the CO2 mist around the tank all over.

These are good current and very direct methods.

If you have really big tanks, you see these issues much more. Therefore adding a reactor or diffusers every few feet helps.



Regards,
Tom Barr