# Shrimp and Co2



## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Do you guys run Co2 on your shrimp tanks? I hear of some using it to purposely lower the PH for specific shrimp and I also hear it slows down breeding. I started a new 6g tank with a HC carpet and plan on running co2 once filed.. Will I have any issue with shrimp in the tank?


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Has anyone had any issues with running co2 in a shrimp tank? If so are they still breading fine?


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Another question.... with shrimp. is it better to turn on the CO2 with the light... or leave the co2 on 24/7 to keep a stable PH?


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

^I am sorry, I am not able to answer your first 2 questions, but for your third question- leaving the CO2 on 24/7 actually causes the pH to shift dramatically during the night as plants are not absorbing it, causing the pH to drop over night and increase in the day. It would be my assumption that turning it off at night would be best.

Disclaimer: Have kept shrimp and DiY CO2, so know basics but not up to a "high-tech" level.


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

You should be able to run co2 without much effect at all on your shrimp *as long as you keep it stable!!* Im currently keeping red rubies blue bolts king kongs, golden bee's cbs and crs all breeding while running high levels of co2. This was seriously terrifying setting up as I really didn't want to loose a single shrimp so I spent the extra money on pressurized and bought a Ph probe/shutoff. If you don't have co2 mastered like myself I would spend the extra money on the pH probe so that you don't risk a Ph spike. With that said I would now completely recommend using Co2 as it lets you maintain a perfect pH and allows you to fluctuate it slowly if needed. Originally I was keeping my tank at about 6.4 pH and with the Co2 and Ph probe I was able to lower my Ph safely(over a time span which you can choose) to about 5.6 *without a single chemical* which the shrimp love.

IMO if you don't run pressurized with a Ph probe and you don't know what your doing you a ticking time bomb. This isn't to say people havnt done it but I know personally I would never risk it in my aquariums. Obviously make sure you get a drop counter and make sure your not over doing it but the best thing about the Ph probe is once everything set up it keeps it that way. Other refilling the CO2 tank months or years down the road (dependant on tank size) your set and you don't need to touch anything. One thing to keep in mind though is with proper co2 levels you really shouldn't be getting any algae. With this you might have to feed your shrimp just a little bit more when you feed. Shouldn't be exponential however just something to keep in mind if you are just keeping a few shrimp or a community set up where you don't add any shrimp food 

Check out ebay, you can get pretty decent deals for all the regulators/ph probes and meters; if you can't find someone on the forum selling one. Usually there is someone on the forum selling the pressurized tanks so you should be able to get the complete set-up for under 400. I know sounds steep but again IMO is much better than running "risky" Co2 and waking up to all your shrimp dead; 4 of which were berried females two days away from hatching. I've read terrible stories about that sort of thing and with the addition of how much the co2 helps you stabilize all your parameters. I can't recommend pressurized co2 with a ph probe /shutoff more


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Which controller do you have? They seem to be about $99 on ebay.. so they are really just to eliminate the risk of gasing the tank when the co2 runs low?

Do they actually control the pH? (turn it on and off to get it to a certain level?)


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## dwarf_puffer (Apr 25, 2010)

I use the Milwaukee MC122 pH Controller. I also use the standard Milwaukee regulator that are common on ebay. You'll read a bunch of terrible reviews but I am currently running two complete set ups with these and have absolutely no issues. Lots of people run them for years without any issues as well but if your super paranoid like myself you can simply use Teflon tape and just tape all the treads/adaptors. It takes maybe extra 5 minutes and costs >$5 and at this point whats another 2 bucks. I've never had any issues with it leaking without it but its a good thing to do. There are instructions that come with the regulators as well and I would definitely follow them closely. A lot of people just figure you tighting up the main connector and crank all your dials but this is how the damage is done. Make sure especially you open the tank before hand to "spray" off any dust as I have had a friend who had issues with clogging his regulator by skipping that step.

The ph meter does control you pH. Maybe not technically but ill try my best to explain.

How the Ph control works (without getting into the electronics of it send me a pm if your curious) essentially is by taking a reading from the probe (inserted in the aquarium) reading it, and sending a signal to the solenoid (connected regulator) turning the co2 on or off. The pH will be displayed on a little digital screen on the controller and then you choose at what level you want the co2 to turn on at with a switch.

example..If you wanted a pH of 6.0 
keeping in mind when your co2 is on its going drop the pH (how quickly will completely depend on BPS and mainly your kH)

You would flip the activating switch to turn co2 off when pH is below 6.0. There are dials for this on the controller. This will keep the co2 on as long as the pH is above 6.0 and if it drops... the co2 instantly turns off and allows it to come back to 6.0. With this, your pH will never drop below about 5.91 dependant on the controllers accuracy.

From there you get to work with the wonderfully terrible math or trial and error of getting your hardness kH and BPS (bubbles per second) all to a level where the co2 will stay on constantly (until lights are turned off usually) and not drop the pH rapidly. This become rather frustrating at times especially if your keeping shrimp that like a kH of 0-2 as with these levels co2 effects the pH much quicker. Keep this in mind when originally setting this up and set your desired pH just a few decimal places under what your current aquarium is. Otherwise if your tanks at 7 but your desired pH is 5 ( just an example) you set everything up see that the co2 is on and think ok im done its working and walk away *but* since your kH is so low it drops 2 full points in an hour and boom everything is dead. So just move a couple of decimal places every day and go slow and you should be fine.

Hope this helps. Sorry its really un-organized Im just living in New York right now for some school and been staring at a computer screen for way to long my thoughts are starting to wonder  Let me know if you have anymore questions and ill try my best to answer them  Once you get the controller set up it becomes more difficult and by no means am I an expert. Im just speaking from my own personal experience

-Cheers

Josh


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Thank josh. That's exactly how I expected it to work. I built my own arduino bases doser not to long so I may even attempt a ph controller


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