C02/Bubbler Question

[brookelyn]

I recently purchased a C02 system (see here) for my aquarium. It's been running now for a few days, but I am wondering if I should have my bubble wand/air pump running 24/7, or if I should only have it on once the lights (lights are on for 12 hours - 11am to 11pm) are off at night.

Would leaving the bubbler on during the daytime affect the C02? I do have gang valve on the air pump, so there isn't much surface movement from the bubbles, or from the power filter for that matter.

Also, I have heard there can be adverse effects from using C02. Right now I have a KH of 3dkh, and a PH of 7.2. Are these safe ranges to be using C02 with? So far my PH has been stable.

 

[Quartermain]

I've read that O2 and CO2 are completely independent of one another. I don't believe one affects the other.

As for alkalinity, you will be fine with a KH of 3+ or higher. It'll take more CO2 than you've got to crash the pH. But keep an eye on it just the same.

I don't believe I've ever read of CO2 having an adverse effect on plants.. but then I'm quite new at this myself. CO2 may not benefit plants as greatly as you'd like and may serve to energize unwanted algae. How well CO2 works depends upon your lighting. CO2 injection generally works better with lots of light. The plants metabolize more quickly and CO2 injection becomes a necessity.

Just as an aside, I have a similar setup as yours. Only difference is I use a DIY power reactor to diffuse the CO2. I use Seachem buffer products to maintain alkalinity around 5.0 and lower the pH to just below 7.0. But with only 2.8W/gal in a 10 gal aquarium I'm at the very threashold of whether or not it's doing any good. It's hard to tell sometimes. More light would definitely allow my plants to use the excess CO2 more efficiently.

 

[ashdavid]

I recently purchased a C02 system (see here) for my aquarium. It's been running now for a few days, but I am wondering if I should have my bubble wand/air pump running 24/7, or if I should only have it on once the lights (lights are on for 12 hours - 11am to 11pm) are off at night.

Would leaving the bubbler on during the daytime affect the C02? I do have gang valve on the air pump, so there isn't much surface movement from the bubbles, or from the power filter for that matter.

Also, I have heard there can be adverse effects from using C02. Right now I have a KH of 3dkh, and a PH of 7.2. Are these safe ranges to be using C02 with? So far my PH has been stable.

If you use a bubbler it will affect the Co2 levels , any suraface ajitation will will effectively remove the Co2 you just put in. As to how much will depend on how much surface ajitation there is.I usually use a bubbler at night only, when the lights are turned off. I suppose if you had too much Co2 in the water and it became very very acidic plants may have a problem, but then your fish would all be dead long ago. Maybe what they were refering to was that when there is an unbalance in a system,eg, too little light or insufficient nutrients, then I believe Co2 could have a negative effect.
As for your Co2 level, with those numbers you have a Co2 level of about 5.6ppm and the recomended safe range for a high light tank is about 25ppm,
with your kh you could safely go down to a ph of 6.6.
here is a good site.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

 

[anonapersona]

I love those things for small tanks

I really like the Hagen/Nutrafin Co2 system for small tanks, perfect for a 10 gallon, OK for a 20.

Ok, lets start at the beginning. First, to grow plants you need light. What light do you have?

Next, even with a low light tank Co2 is helpful, according to studies I have seen. So, you need to add the CO2 and then try to be sure you do not lose it to surface agitation. That means, turn off the airpump, completely. Next, raise the water level so that your filter hardly makes a ripple on the surface (assuming a HOB-type filter).

We also want to know what your pH is before you started CO2 and first thing in the morning before the lights come on. There are CO2 charts that will graph KH vs pH to tell you the CO2 level, you want to get near 25 ppm, not above maybe 30 ppm, so you need to know what pH that will be at your KH level. That is your target pH, at 25ppm CO2.

 

[raymondevil]

your question does pop up in my mind previously. i'm using DIY CO2 coz' i get quite some review from user's experience on Hagen CO2 which you're having now not doing quite a good job, so i make myself a diy co2 tank myself with 1.5 litre bottle. it's roughly 1 bubble per second.

i connect the co2 outlet to powerfilter so it will turn on the pf once the light is on by connecting to the timer socket. somehow or rather i don't quite like this approach coz, more and more co2 gathered in the reactor and causing lots of burping when the light is off.

then i decided to put the pf on 24/7 along with co2. as far as i read from forums, many said too much of co2 concentration in water will harm the fish, therefore i put an airstone in the tank and connect an airline to pf's outlet. so that the airline will provide o2 and oxigenate the water. in summary, my pf output co2 and o2 the same time. somehow it works.. my plants still stay green and growing (have to trim every 3 days)!

this is just my personal thoughts and experience...

 

[brookelyn]

I believe I have around 30 watts; which is pretty poor in a 16H aquarium. Really I should have invested in a better hood, but I thought the Eclipse I would be alright.

As for my PH before the C02, it was 7.2. Doesn't appear to have changed, unless I misread the initial test. Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to tell the difference between two shades of blue/green. :huh: