Low CO2 in pond??

[Bonkers]

I have been usin Tetra 6 in 1 pond stick test for a while now to ensure the nitrate, nitrite, hardness, pH and chlorine levels are all within acceptable levels. All seemed ok, despite problems with UV keep blowing and therefore not working( there is another post asking for help with this.
I recently downloaded an App, it appears that you need an app to help you breathe these days. I was dubious and not surprisingly they told me my pond needs aquasafe but as chlorine levels were fine and 90% of the water is rain water I’m not buying that product as I used correct Chlorine Klear when add3d tap water. My biggest surprise is to find that if using the app to get the readings there is a 7th reading… pretty good for a 6 in 1 I thought….. CO2 levels. It says my co2 levels are low, reading was taken mid afternoon so it wouldn’t surprise me that they are lower than if I had taken them at 04:00 before the sun was up but they said that this was a potential issue. Plants look fine, the water can’t be 100% oxygen which may I agree cause a problem for fish but why would I be worried about low CO2

 

[Mmathis]

IDK what are acceptable CO2 levels, but I would be more concerned with O2 levels.

 

[Bonkers]

Thanks for your response, apparently optimum levels of CO2 are between 5 and 15 mg per litre and mine are low, no indication of how little there is and this was only given when I did the digital test, there is no coloured box that changes colour so just wondering how they have arrived at a figure, .
all my plants are healthy…. Thriving and growing rapidly.
yes I’m with you O2 would be more of a cocern but there is no value for this.

 

[Jhn]

Never have checked the CO2 levels, really any thing in my pond and never will, unless there is a reason too. Use the health of your pond denizens, plants, etc. as an indicator of issues. Just an fyi, whether your uv light works or not, isnt going to have any effect on your ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Also, as you mentioned being wary of the app, I would be as well, hard to trust something if the one giving you the results has something to gain monetarily from said results, as they sell products that can “fix” the issue. Dumping chemicals in our ponds to fix issues should be a LAST resort, as many times this approach creates more issues than it solves. Especially if one doesn’t completely understand what they are trying to accomplish.

 

[Bonkers]

Yes, yes and yes and maybe another yes. Totally agree with you on all counts. I’m partially sighted and normally get someone to do the strip test every now and then as they would see the different shades of colour but I thought I would see if the digital test allowed me to be independent. TBH I thought I would be told I had a problem with all values… thus selling me all their products, yes I don’t add anything to ponds, we just had and are having serious lack of rain and I have gone through 1500 litres of rain water so had to add tap water to pond… I’m not happy or proud but I had to use a dechlorinator as my water company uses chloramphenicol which doesn’t dissipate if left in a bucket for few days. Yes the UV IS solely to help the barley straw combat algae/ green waterCheers again

 

[Beercan31]

The only time I have heard of co2 injection is in a salt water reef tanks. I didn't see that you are having other problems with your setup other than the uv failure. Uv lights are a sterilizer it kills good and bad bacteria and also algae, Your plants will also use the nutrients that algae feed on so your plant in itself are controlling algae bloom. No insult intended but test dip stick are for dipsticks. Their accuracy are only marginal at best.

 

[Bonkers]

Hi Beercan31
thanks for reply. I’m not concerning myself too much as readings will always show low co2 during day and high at night as the plants use and produce at different times. I guess my thoughts were how the tests can show this and Tetra have said is a combination of Kh and pH which isn’t available when you manually look at readings it’s obviously a clever mathematicalequation not given to ascertain the co2. Strangely when you look at the test it is for Gh not kh . Hmmm oh well.like you say dipsticks for dipsticks, it’s pretty obvious by looking at health of plants and fish, clarity of water lack of smell etc that my pond is healthy. I do like dip sticks just an added way of checking once or twice a year, only really did it as I’ve had to put tap water in pond as we have no rain and I’ve used up all 1400 litres of rain water. Thanks again