Quote:
Originally Posted by Bblinks
It would be really interesting to see what the actual DO is reading. I think we should get canreef to sponsor one.... I mean if indeed this is the case that caused a pair of well fed fish into their untimely demise then we might be onto something here. This could potentially save a lot of heartache for a lot of us in this hobby.
Sam, you think you will be able to get your hands on one of them meters?
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Meters can be rented from Hoskins Lab I think. A monitor that does 24/7 charting would be more useful than a meter because the data can be logged and one can go back to look at the levels from the logs when a fish dies unexpectedly at night. Those go for $2,000 though so not many people will own those.
Below is a chart of what I think is a typical a tank. The night bottom value might look low but that is probably typical for an aerated tank. I have no doubt that anyone running a skimmer in their system has enough DO. For those with tanks that are not aerated properly to begin with (using only powerheads or hang on back filters for example), the Idol could be fine for months but over time as algae grew or had a bloom, or the bioload increased, or there was lots of uneatened food one day causing decay and bacteria bloom, or summer came and the temp went up; then one night for whatever the reason, the DO drops just past the point needed for this particular fish and while it was fine for months, it unexpectedly dies (while everything else in the tank was ok). For tanks that have proper aeration (like a skimmer), DO wouldn't be an issue. The problem then is only turning it off and forgetting to turn it back on or turning off the return pump one night.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/10/review
If a tank has lots of algae, expect the range to be higher. Algae produces O2 during the day and consumes it at night. My results support this. When I had lots of algae, my DO range was large 50%-125%. When I had no algae, my DO range was small 80%-100%.
In this graph below (I think measurements from the Adriatic Sea), the spikes are due to algae growing near the sensor before they fixed it.
http://buoy.mbss.org/portal/index.ph...mid=58&lang=en
