Is this co2 detector ok?

jda · Jan 5, 2024

The one that I showed in post 12 has NDIR sensor and has never reset to 400. This unit appears rebranded by several companies, including InkBird, MOES and others.

My only gripe with it is that the battery sucks, so get one with a cord.

In any case, you can type "co2 detector NDIR" into amazon and find some units.

besskurz · Jan 5, 2024

Inkbird IAM-T1

I was able to buy for $99 on amz in a limited offer. So far its been very good and I reach a conclusion.
For who is still thinking about buying, hold up your money andhere are my two cents:

- Co2 was high in the room I have my tank and no device was needed for conclusion. Doing the water cup and air stone pH test indoors and outdoors you are able to reach same conclusion.

- using the device i understood that if you have high quality windows and there is no leak of air from outside to inside and they are closed all the time, perhaps in your living room, office or bedroom, there is no miracle. Co2 will be almost certainly high over 1000ppm. Maybe you are lucky to have a mini-rainforest indoors and things will be different.

- in the graph below, from midnight to 7am the co2 meter as In my bedroom. Nothing relevant to aquarium stuff but doors closed, windows closed and a couple sleeping and the air quality gets terrible around 1500ppm. This is called "sick building sindrome".

- during winter is tuff, but you open the windows and doors and everything gets way better. Why this is relevant? If you are breathing bad air, your aquarium and stuff are surely suffering the effects too - accumulating co2 and dropping the PH.

- I did a test, sleeping night with one window slightly open and the readings were close to 700ppm. I could feel the effects while waking up, air is fresh, you feel more energized.

So, I say you dont need a $100+ device to understand:
- Windows open, low co2, better PH.
- Windows closed, high co2, PH will suffer.

Again, my mother was right when I was a kid and she was rushing to open the windows saying the air was so heavy thar we couldn't even think well.

but what to do during the winter? Or if I simply cant open the windows?

Probably plants will be the ultimate help reduce the Co2 and improve a bit your water PH.

NASA made an study which is mentioned in several websites, but they were testing absorption of benzene and others gases by plants and I see that some plants are better for some gases than others.
So I believe there will be somewhere a high performing plant for CO2 absorption.

Once I have a conclusion - and not the first Google link - I make an update here.

And probably... The more I know, the more I realize I know nothing. So if you have a different opinion feel free diverge from my words.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 6, 2024

besskurz said:
So I believe there will be somewhere a high performing plant for CO2 absorption.

There are not any plants that grow fast enough to be useful for indoor CO2 removal, unless the tank is in a greenhouse like setting.

Studies demonstrate this, but it is also easy to understand. If you sit in a closed room 24/7, then most of the carbon in the food you eat ends up as CO2.

In order for plants to offset that exhaled CO2, the plants need to add a mass equivalent to the mass of food you eat.

That's highly oversimplified, but I think it makes it clear that one needs a lot of plants to offset one person.

Jono667 · May 1, 2024

Check this one out.

3 in 1 Carbon Dioxide Detector, Abiaopure Air Quality Monitor Indoor Lightweight Portable CO2 Detector(Pack 1) (AIR03) https://a.co/d/993zrAh.

There is a video review that dissected the machine to ensure it was a true sensor and not a VOC converter. It seems to work properly and it looks like my house is almost airtight . Level creeps up over the day to about 1500 then plummets as soon as it it taken outside. Rockets to 4999 in 5 seconds if a breathe on it and returns to ambient in about 60 seconds. $16 too!

drolmaeye · May 3, 2024

For the makers out there, you can get what looks to be a reliable CO2 sensor from Adafruit (SCD-30) and get temperature, humidity, and CO2 through an Arduino board (or likely just about any other microcontroller). The total cost is about $90. In my case I used Arduino's cloud App to make a little dashboard for my phone. Below are some pics of board testing and the little dashboard I put together.