UGF + plants
- Thread starter Asthrou
- Start date
you mean forcing co2 into the UG and having the entire tank bubble with co2? i can't say that's a good idea at all
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
Not sure what you mean. In order to get reverse flow you need a pump to push water down. I dont see how you could run a RUGF on co2. Did you mean run a UGF on co2?
either way, that is a huge waste of co2, possibly even to a toxic level in the water. when it comes to co2 injections, people talk about several bubbles a second, which is definitely not enough to create an airlift. and like i said, if you run enough co2 to create that airlift, that is way too much in your tank, and most of it will be wasted into the atmosphere.
Actually basic chemistry at work here...Water can only hold a fraction on CO2 as air can. That is why many force it into the water column. The atmosphere can hold several hundred PPM compared to waters few PPM. In a non CO2 injected tank the very few CO2 is created by the fish, and surface agitation will gas out those out too.
Many people don't use UGF with plants because the plants get intangled in the filter and the filter loses effectiveness. Also plants can become stunted, so I've heard, due to a shallow substrate that is replaced with a UGF. I believe with proper gravel vacuumings and water changes, along with a HOB or can filter, there is no reason anyone should still be using a UGF, unless they haven't torn down their tank in the last 10 or 15 years.
Many people don't use UGF with plants because the plants get intangled in the filter and the filter loses effectiveness. Also plants can become stunted, so I've heard, due to a shallow substrate that is replaced with a UGF. I believe with proper gravel vacuumings and water changes, along with a HOB or can filter, there is no reason anyone should still be using a UGF, unless they haven't torn down their tank in the last 10 or 15 years.
Not sure what your point is about 'basic chemistry'... it is quite easy to gas your fish to death with co2 even at rates well under 10 bubbles/sec (depending on the tank size of course) but to actually use co2 bubbles to create lift would probably require much larger bubbles (I'm guessing co2 mist wont create the same lift) so not sure how much co2 would actually have time to dissolve. I am sure it wouldnt work too well. But UGF isnt a good solution anyway, however there are still a few plant gurus that swear by RUGF and it does have some advantages over other forms of filtration, though a lot of the evidence is anecdotal.
Sorry was referring to ThePBM's post about using surface agitation to increase CO2 levels. Point was increasing surface agitation will not increase CO2 in a unpressurized tank due to the air being much more acceptable to CO2 particles then water.
Ahh, IC. But along those lines wouldnt the same then apply ot oxygen? I dont really know just wondering. A few (like Tom) have injected pure oxygen in there tank and its been said its as difficult to dissolve, if not more difficult, than co2. Yet it seems to be a long held belief that surface agitation will help o2 pass from air to water, then why not co2 if co2 dissolves more readily into tank water?
