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Club - Would a lender CO2 meter be a good addition?

I've been reading up on CO2 scrubbers and it seems like a good CO2 monitor/meter would be a handy thing to have while setting it up, or even to diagnose if CO2 is an issue around your tank. I looked up CO2 meters and they are typically over $100, which seems a lot for something you'll not really use a lot.

So I'm wondering if the club would consider purchasing a good quality, accurate CO2 meter for lending out to members.

Thoughts?

V
 
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Cool, I was looking at that exact model (others seem more expensive, and the cheaper one has bad reviews, plus the price is low enough to be suspicious, funny enough).

Someone on the CO2 Scrubber thread said 400 ppm is now standard outside air.

V
 
It's pretty amazing. When I leave the room for a little bit, it drops down to the 500s. When I come back, it gets up to 600. Use the stove and we get to 700-800. I'm now convinced that I should run an airline outside. I was certain that with us leaving doors and windows open so often, the concentration would not be that great.
 
We have been adding house plants around the tank to catch the overflow light. Just a few plants but I wonder how they contribute to keeping things stable? I dont even know if it could be making a measurable change but the girlfriend is enjoying adding the plants and I have been liking it too.
 
We have been adding house plants around the tank to catch the overflow light. Just a few plants but I wonder how they contribute to keeping things stable? I dont even know if it could be making a measurable change but the girlfriend is enjoying adding the plants and I have been liking it too.

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If the meter is added to the club's equipment list, borrow it and see!
 
We have been adding house plants around the tank to catch the overflow light. Just a few plants but I wonder how they contribute to keeping things stable? I dont even know if it could be making a measurable change but the girlfriend is enjoying adding the plants and I have been liking it too.
I’m doing the same thing. my goal is to have lower co2 without having to have the windows open all the time. Im also trying out some propagation, so far just pothos but if that is successful I want to try it with my snake plant and Zanzibar
 
It really would be neat to see how much of a difference, or not, that plants make!

However, does anyone know at what point it makes a difference? I mean if your tank is in a room and the CO2 is 400, then you sit in the room for an hour and it's not 800 ... does that matter?
Or if indoor air is 600 and outdoors it's 400 ... is that enough to make a difference to the tank ph?

I'm guessing it' discussed in CO2 scrubber threads. I wish I had an easy way to get a line outside without poking holes in walls or floors! I mean I'd do it, but it would give Wifebane a much greater meaning.

V
 
I saw this thread on R2R about house plants. Supposedly it’s a myth. Apparently you would need wall to wall plants to make any difference.

 
It really would be neat to see how much of a difference, or not, that plants make!

However, does anyone know at what point it makes a difference? I mean if your tank is in a room and the CO2 is 400, then you sit in the room for an hour and it's not 800 ... does that matter?
Or if indoor air is 600 and outdoors it's 400 ... is that enough to make a difference to the tank ph?

I'm guessing it' discussed in CO2 scrubber threads. I wish I had an easy way to get a line outside without poking holes in walls or floors! I mean I'd do it, but it would give Wifebane a much greater meaning.

V
Sure.....it's just math... ;)
 
I like this idea of a borrowable CO2 meter for the club a lot.

CO2 concentration in the air around the tank is by far the most important determinant of pH in the tank, especially if you have good air exchange. I have pretty good pH but I’ve always been curious about how CO2 level (and pH) changes with various factors. What I’ve done to get a poor-man’s estimate of this is to run an air stone in a cup of water in the location I want to test for 15 min, then check the pH of the water. But if I could test CO2 directly, even better.

@svreef If you want to have the one you bought be a club borrow item that would be great, we or you could just make a thread with some basic rules like we have for other equipment. I can bring it up with the rest of the Board if you are interested in reimbursement (which I would completely support), you can PM me. If you are considering donating it, in my opinion it doesn’t need Board approval, just implementation. If you change your mind and would like to hang on to it, no biggie, just say so and I’ll support a proposal to buy another one for the club.
 
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