Wet/Dry filter with CO2 fertilization?

[hatton3]

Hi, I'm new to the board. :) I've got a 55 gal. that I want to seriously start to grow plants in. The tank is about 6 months old and currently has:

10 Neons
3 Gold Tetras
1 Blue dwarf Gourami
1 Pleco
2 Corys
2 Kuli loaches

That is all of the fish that I plan on ever having.
I have two 48" VHO URI Aquasun bulbs powered by an IceCap ballast that is in a wooden hood directly over the water.

Parameters:
pH 8.0 - It's high, but I hope the CO2 will lower it
KH - 4
GH - 16
I plan on dosing with Kent Freshwater plant
I'll be providing C02 via the yeast method for now.
Substrate per articles on TheKrib.com
No troubles with algae

My BIG question:
I have two filters running right now; a wet/dry trickle filter from a LifeReef overflow box running ~200 gph and a Fluval 304. These were bought primarily for the fish 6 months ago. Now that I want to get into plants and dose C02, will I need to stop using the wet/dry trickle filter? It would seem that the trickle filter would exchange all of the C02 I'll be putting into the water. I'm not a biologist/biochemist so you will have to pardon my ignorance. Is the gas exchange enough that a trickle filter is contra-indicated when dosing C02?
Thanks - I've really enjoyed reading this board.
H3

[Sumpin'fishy]

I asked that question about a week ago, and our leading experts on this forumn (Plantbrain, Richer, etc.) said that there should be no problems and that some of them were doing that with some of their setups. I'd go ahead and do it. I'd also dose into the sump to keep things out of sight and give it a chance to get into the tank first. Make sure your spray bar/ return nozzle is below the surface and that you don't have too much surface agitation, and you should be fine. I'm looking to convert my 55 over to planted after a while:) Also, do pressurized ASAP with that size tank. I hear it's gonna be a hassle to keep up with.

I also see that you have a few tetras. These fish are extremely sensitive to water chemistry changes. With the yiest/DIY CO2 method, you will have to deal with pH going up and down as CO2 levels raise and diminish. I'd not risk it and just go CO2 and start to slowly raise the levels over time to about 20ppm. But you don't have to listen to me, I've never had a single live plant in an aquarium, just been listening real good;)

[plantbrain]

Often there are places where a protein skimmer would be places in wet/drys.
Place PVC tube filled with bioballs in there for the CO2 reactor and feed the output into the return pump's intake.
CO2 reactors are easy to make. The gas enters best by using a powerhead and letting it bubble into the intake where the bubble will be chopped up and then the water /CO2 froth will travel up to the 2"PVC tube crash over the bioballs in the seal tube and exit out the bottom with CO2 rich water.

Should only cost you less than 10$ to make. 12" tall is plenty and most small powerheads have enough flow.

Some folks add the CO2 into the Wet/dry chamber if it has an air itake for that. This works well also. The incoming water has high O2 levels(from the plants), and the wet/dry chamber will also have high CO2 levels, these act independently of eachother. Don't think they are like a see saw or one replaces the other.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[125gJoe]

I prefer my 2 canisters with CO2 injection. There is no 'air exchange' to 'gas off' the CO2.....

[hatton3]

Thanks for all of the replies! I think I'm just going to wait and measure the trends in Co2 for my tank for a while. If things don't work out well, I might get another canister filter and replace the wet/dry.

Also, I'm going out of the country in a few months and the last thing I need is for the person who is taking care of the tank for me to pull out the siphon tube in the overflow. :( So I might make the change anyway considering that.

The plants that I bought last week are sending out new shoots and leaves. Everything has gotten a lot greener and more healthy looking. I'm pretty excited! :cool:

[plantbrain]

Sell the reef filter then.
Fluval 304.
Fill with an extra sponge or bio balls/beads etc and remove the carbon/floss.
This will be easier for a person to deal with it. But cleaning it needs to be address before you leave, show the person how to do this.

Plant tanks are not easy to leave to others to care for generally.
To lessen the issue and to help this person, I'd use 110watts of light light, one bulb, 220 watts will be way too much for the person unless they are really into it and like plants alot and plan on spending some time on this.

110w will slow growth and keep the nutrient demand low so that dosing is not so much an issue.
A weekly water change and dosing is all that's needed and the monthly trim if you pick good slower growing plants.

Hopefully you have high pressure gas tanks for a CO2 source. DIY + high light is trouble and DIY unless you plan on really keeping on top of things always leads to trouble at some point. Folks forget.

Substrate: 2 handfuls of ground peat moss, some old dirty mulm from the gravel that's there now, and 4 bags of flourite. That's about the best mix and will be plenty good enough substrate to have an Amano style quality tank with any plant. Nothing else is ever needed.

So if you have good substrate, decent filter, good CO2, all they need to do is water change and dose once a week. Trim when it gets overgrown.

Any problems scrub off, trim off any algae, do the water change/vacuum net up any mulm/detritus etc. Add nutrients back, repeat.

For a 55 gallon with 110w:

Weekly 50% water change lightly vacuum up mulm, don't pull up gravel.
Dechlorinator.
K2SO4 add 1/2 teaspoon
KNO3: add 1/2 teaspoon
KH2PO4 add 3 rice grain's worth.
Traces, add 12 mls

You should get a decent CO2 system, that will make everyone's life much easier and less problematic.

Regards,
Tom Barr