Aeration in a planted tank at night.

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

Hank

AC Members
Mar 9, 2007
68
0
6
82
I was reading Tropical fish Hobbyist Magazine and I went directly to Takashi Amano section to look at his aquascapes. I noticed in his data of his set-ups, he adds aeration for 14 hrs after lights are out. I would like to know for any other reason besides off gassing CO2 and creating more O2?
 

GraphicGr8s

AC Members
Nov 29, 2010
329
11
18
Tampa, FL
Real Name
George
Adding an airstone doesn't really add more O2 to the water in and of itself. What it does is create more surface area for the water/atmosphere interface. It also decreases the surface tension at the water's surface allowing more offgassing.
 

rockhoe14er

AC Members
Jul 19, 2010
2,043
0
0
37
Richmond VA
Real Name
Sean
Because plants and animals both use oxygen at night and low oxygen levels are one cause of algae. During the time the lights are on the plants provide oxygen.
I've never heard this before. Can i ask where you got this?

I always thought the reason for an air stone at night was to cause surface agitation to help off gas the co2 and increase the O2 concentrations to atmospheric levels so that it's less stressful on the fish.

I don't need an air stone because i have high surface current 24/7 to make co2 dosing less stressful on my inverts. (this also allows you to run higher co2 ppm because you can increase o2 levels by doing this.)
 

Hank

AC Members
Mar 9, 2007
68
0
6
82
Can we get back to the original thread! Pleaseee! Why does Amano use aeration at night besides creating O2! Are there other reasons?
 

gt1009

AC Members
Jan 8, 2009
189
0
0
33
He adds the airstone to increase O2. This is because at night your plants go into a different state of respiration where instead of using CO2 for photosynthesis, they use 02 for another chemical process (glycolysis or something I can't quite remember, it's been a while since I took plant bio). If you CO2 systems run at night, the airstone allows your fish to get some oxygen instead of saturating the water completely with CO2. If you have a solenoid on your pressurized CO2 system, then it is not needed as bad as with a DIY or pressurized system without a solenoid, but still is useful in a high light setup where your CO2 levels will rise rapidly after the lights turn off and the plants stop producing O2. Hope this helped.
 

plantbrain

AC Members
Apr 27, 2001
1,988
2
0
Davis, CA
www.BarrReport.com
I was reading Tropical fish Hobbyist Magazine and I went directly to Takashi Amano section to look at his aquascapes. I noticed in his data of his set-ups, he adds aeration for 14 hrs after lights are out. I would like to know for any other reason besides off gassing CO2 and creating more O2?
With canister filters, the CO2 stays higher than say with a wet/dry sealed filter(another thread on how to correctly set one up for a planted tank) at night time.
Some use a powerhead or a airstone at night to help add O2 for the fish, this does not help the plants however(got nothing to do/help for them one bit).
If you use a wet/dry, then you can have a high fish load and healthy system without doing this.

ADA tanks tend to have VERY sparse fish populations, and low current.
If you have higher current, then enough O2 comes in 24/7 to avoid this altogether.
Some folks do not like higher current.

I do.

Since the O2 is also higher during the day(I've used a calibrated O2 meter to measure it over the day at 15 min intervals), I have more flexibility to add more CO2 since there's les sO2 stress to the fish.
Fish also get more exercise in higher current. A good rule is to have enough surface movement to just not quite break the surface.
If you really aerate and break the surface, you will degas the CO2 too rapidly.

A sealed(eg duct tape the top edge and air vents) wet/dry chamber(not the down stream sump) will redissolve any degassed CO2, but since O2 and CO2 are independent, it still adds more O2 as the water coming down the stand pipe still enters the chamber and the added O2 dissolves, just like the CO2 does.
Aeration at night is not needed for such systems, even with 5x more fish loading than the ADA tanks.
Also allows a lot more wiggle room dosing CO2 without stressing fish as much.

Since improper CO2 gas usage is the no1# killer of fish in planted tanks.........not a bad idea to work on.
 

plantbrain

AC Members
Apr 27, 2001
1,988
2
0
Davis, CA
www.BarrReport.com
He adds the airstone to increase O2. This is because at night your plants go into a different state of respiration where instead of using CO2 for photosynthesis, they use 02 for another chemical process (glycolysis or something I can't quite remember, it's been a while since I took plant bio). If you CO2 systems run at night, the airstone allows your fish to get some oxygen instead of saturating the water completely with CO2. If you have a solenoid on your pressurized CO2 system, then it is not needed as bad as with a DIY or pressurized system without a solenoid, but still is useful in a high light setup where your CO2 levels will rise rapidly after the lights turn off and the plants stop producing O2. Hope this helped.
This is NOT for the plants, the O2 concentration would have to be extremely low, e a 100% lethal level for virtually any fish before the plants are limited in any way in terms of respiration.
Plants just do not need much O2 in other words to carry on respiration.
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store