Death, CO2 and Sand. What a combination. Need your $.02

G

Gatorguy

AC Members
Jul 31, 2006
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Central Fl
Here is my main question:

Does anybody know if injecting CO2 before the canister filter will have a negative effect (i.e. kill it) on the good bacteria that should be growing in the filter? Do you have any online sources that I can read that says yea or nea??

I have had massive deaths in the last few days. My ammonia levels are through the roof.

I have a 110g planted tank with Estes Ultra Reef Marine Sand substrate (non-buffering; like play sand). No undergravel filter. I have a 1800gph magdrive pump in line with an Ocean Clear canister filter with media only (like a big pool/spa filter). I have pressurized CO2 at the rate of 2 bubbles/second.

My water flow goes from the aquarium, to the pump, to the canister, back to the aquarium. I had the CO2 injecting after the canister before the aquarium. I moved it about a week ago to inject before the pump. The idea is that the impeller will help chop up the CO2 and make it more dissolved, which it did nicely.

I also removed the sponge that I had over the intake of the water. Maybe I removed some bacteria at that time.

I also have started the EI fertilizing method using fertilizers from Greg Watson. Surely this hasn't contributed to a massive ammonia bloom, right?

I'm trying to figure out what in the world is going on. I think that I am just lacking in biological filtration. I am considering either adding bio-balls to the center of the "pool filter", or better yet, buying another cansiter to go in line with the other that is solely for biological filtration.

Any suggestions??
 
What are the inhabitants of the tank, what are the other tank parameters (nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH), how long has the tank been running and what is your water change schedule? Its possible that either through a lack of water changes or not enough buffering capacity (KH), your pH has dropped far enough to kill the bacteria in your filter, which would cause an ammonia buildup. Ammonia doesn't "bloom", it builds up due to a lack of biological filtration. If you have a good sized canister that was cycled beforehand, something has contributed to killing off the bacteria. With the CO2 injection, it could be a drop in pH, it could be OTS (old tank syndrome). Have you been treating the tank with any antibiotics? These also have the ability to kill off a bacteria colony. If the ammonia is building up that quickly, the tank probably isn't that heavily planted, correct?
 
Inhabitants are various tetras, loaches, bala sharks, flounders, frogs, ottos, mollies, etc. Many have died in the last few days, so I don't have an accurate list.

The tank has been set up at my house for 6-8 weeks. It was previously established as was the canister filter. The bacteria colonies should have been okay.

Water changes weekly. Nitrites 0, Nitrates 20-30ppm, pH 6.8, KH 5°.

I did have ick starting about a week ago or so and added 2 teaspoons of salt per gallon of water, but no other chemicals for the ick. Ick is not an issue now and have since done water changes trying to get rid of the ammonia.

What pH level will kill the bacteria? It might have gotten as low as 6.6, MAYBE 6.4 when I was playing with the CO2 level recently, but I don't remember it ever getting that low.

I have probably 60+ plants in my tank. Any plant you see that is not part of the background is live. Here is a recent picture (1 week old) pre-disaster.

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So, does anybody know the answer to my question? Will CO2 directly hurt the bacteria colony if injected into it, or is the pH drop associated with the CO2 more likely to be the problem?

I have changed the water 3 times in the last 4 days and the ammonia is still through the roof. I do not understand it. I was even using AmmoLock to try and keep it lower, but I ran out and haven't been back to the store.
 
I know that people have injected CO2 before the canister without serious problems before, so I doubt thats the problem. However, a pH drop to 6.4 doesn't seem like it would be enough to kill the baceria either, I would imagine it would have to get at least below 6 before that happened.

you say that the tank has been set up at your place for about 2 months, but it was established before that. Did you move it from another place? If so, did you keep the same biomedia in the filter, and how long was the filter down for? Also, after you moved it did you add a large number of fish all at once or anything like that?
 
I added some Freshwater "Biozyme" in the little yellow container. I bought it at PetCo. I didn't have any reason to buy it really; just thought it could only help things. Do you think that that may have attacked my bacteria or something? The main reason I'm asking is that I also have a 35g hex tank that has been established for YEARS that only has 6 guppies, 3 cory cats and 2 ottos in it. The ammonia has all of a sudden sky rocketed in that tank also. I put some of my magical Biozyme powder in that tank, too. Hmmmm...

I'm wondering if I need to go buy some of that Bio-Spira stuff to help matters. Any suggestions on that?
 
I doubt the problem is a disease. I don't know of any disease that spreads that quickly and causes massive deaths in a short span of time. I also do not think it is the CO2 injection. Many people inject CO2 into their filter intakes with no adverse effects. Whenever I hear of massive deaths, I immediately suspect toxic poisoning of some sort. Some foreign substance entered the water and killed your fish off. I would suspect the Biozyme. You probably bought a really bad batch that killed off your beneficial bacteria, causing the ammonia spike. But it could also have been ammonia glass cleaner used nearby that accidently entered your water or something similar.
 
I am really suspecting the Biozyme at this time. Mainly because of my ammonia problem in the 35g hex also. It's a dad-gome shame because I didn't have a good reason to use it other than "it can't hurt anything". No glass cleaner has been used.

I went out and bought 6 oz of Bio-Spira for $54. I dosed 3oz to my 110g and 1.5 oz. to my 35g hex. I also added some Fluval brand bio-media to my Ocean Clear canister filter downstream of the main media on the 110g. We'll see what happens.
 
Gatorguy said:
So, does anybody know the answer to my question? Will CO2 directly hurt the bacteria colony if injected into it, or is the pH drop associated with the CO2 more likely to be the problem?
Click to expand...
CO2 by itself can suffocate living organisms that respire (need to take in oxygen and exhale CO2). But remember: the point of injecting the CO2 is to benefit the plants, which will in turn produce more oxygen. So if you just injected CO2 without any plants (or unhealthy plants that aren't photosynthesizing much), then you are at risk for suffocating your fish and good bacteria. That is why CO2 injection can be tricky. You want to do just enough to stimulate photosynthesis to get MORE O2, but not too much so as you asphyxiate your animals (and bacteria).
 
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