I have a Milwaukee Ph controller hooked up to a Reactor 1000. The controller has gone bad (fluttering relay) and I need to send it in for warranty. I will be without a controller for awhile and need some idea as to how many BPS to set the CO2 at. It's a 150 gallon tank with a KH of 5. Thanks!

You don't need the controller. Just set about 2 bubbles per second, using the needle valve and regulator pressure control knob. Then watch how the fish react. If they don't seem distressed, raise the rate to about 3 bubbles per second and again watch the fish, this time for at least a day. If no distress, raise the bubble rate a bit more and repeat until the fish look distressed. Then back down about a half bubble per second or until the fish seem normal again, and leave it set at that.

2-3 bubbles a sec is what I'd suggest as well.

Manual pH measurement.
Shut the gas off at night.



Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks all. I'm surprised it's so few BPS. You'd think with thw larger tank you'd need more, but the larger reactor must compensate. I usually have it cranked up behind the controller so it gets to the desired saturation point as fast as possible. 3 bps looks soooooo slooooow.

Hard to count more than 3-4 a second.

A well run large tank will take longer in general to respond and accumulate CO2 as well as dissapate, say a 20 gal vs a 200 gallon.

That's why ADA suggest multiple diffusers rather than one big one on larger tanks, you can do the same for a small set of internal; reactors and externals as well taking water in/out of a larger tank.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks all! 2-3 bps drops my Ph from 7.6 to 6.9. Not a hugh amount of CO2, but enough at a safe rate while I wait to get my controller back. The tank has 8 adult discus (2 spawning pairs) that I raised from half dollar size. They are really nice specimens and though I generally defer to plant haelth first, in this tank, I have to be careful to protect the discus. None of my other tanks has a controller. I really am surprised that 2-3 bps adds that much CO2....

Sounds about right, how are the plants looking?

If they are pearling about the same, you can bump the CO2 up a tad.
Drop the pH down by 0.1 pH unit.

See how the tank does.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Without a controller/monitor you're going to need a better than average needle valve(s) to hold the rate.

-Russ

Thanks for the support guys, but my controller will be back from Milwaukee by Thursday. I don't think going light a little on the CO2 for 3-4 days will mess me up too much. BTW, The folks at Milwaukee are FANTASTIC! Randy is turning my controller in 24 hours and sending me a new one. I am one of those people who ABSOLUTELY build brand loyalty on after sales support and I have to tell you I think Milwaukee does a GREAT job!

Well, that will keep folks coming back.

Careful when you turn the lighting on, make sure the pH does not drop due to stray current and ballast.

IMT,

I think you may not realize this, when the plants need the CO2, you can add a lot more than a pre set pH 24/7 can.

I can add CO2 only when it's needed and only in conjunction with plant's producing lots of O2 at that same time.

This allow me to add lots of CO2 during the day. Plants do not use nor need CO2 when the lights are "off".

This also gives the fish a break, they get a degased tank all night. I run CO2 10 hours a day. So 14 are CO2 free and a lot of the time(60-90%) the O2 is above 100%.

You can set the pH controller to wail when the lights are "on" and then shut it off at night also if you so chose, it does not need to run 24/7...........

But it's up to you.

The off at night is more forgiving, folks that have trouble getting enough to begin with tend to not like off at night, but that's not the method's fault either........


Regards,
Tom Barr