aeration in planted tanks
- Thread starter gabrie30
- Start date
Most people don't run air stones in their planted tanks, especially if injecting CO2. IMO, they really aren't necessary in any tank with good filtration and water movement.
it wont hurt anything. though Slappy*McFish is right about the co2. when you add a air pump to a tank your adding co2 your just gassing it off.
Folks:
I do not use CO2 injection but I do have 24 hour/day aeration.
My theory here is that when the tank is dark plants are O2 consumers so why not provide the plants (as well as the fish) oxygen saturated water when the tank is dark?
TR
I do not use CO2 injection but I do have 24 hour/day aeration.
My theory here is that when the tank is dark plants are O2 consumers so why not provide the plants (as well as the fish) oxygen saturated water when the tank is dark?
TR
Well, it really doesn't matter if you aren't adding CO2. If you use an aerator when you aren't injecting CO2, you are actually helping to bring CO2 into the water, as well as O2. The aerator increases the amount of diffusion of both gases between the atmosphere and your tank water. The gasses are looking to achieve equilibrium. So when you put an aerator on a tank with injected CO2 the amount of CO2 in the water is greater than the CO2 in the air. Since the gas wants to reach equilibrium, it leaves the water and goes into the air. This is the same principle when you aren't injecting CO2. The Co2 content of the water is less than the air because the plants are using the CO2. That means the aerator will encourage CO2 to go into the water, because it increases the rate of diffusion.That's why using aerators on Co2 injected tanks is usually discouraged. Did that make sense?
Also...CO2 diffuses in and out of water much more easily than O2. This can be demonstrated by looking at a Hagen ladder. If you look at the ladder when it is first set up and starts producing bubbles you will see that the bubbles don't dissolve. This is because there are still O2 bubbles still left in the tubing that need to be pushed out before the CO2 bubbles come along. After the O2 bubbles get pushed out you will start to see the CO2 bubbles dissolve as they go along the ladder rungs.
The plants should make enough O2 in the day to sustain the tank for the night...I know mine do. This definitely shouldn't be a problem if one chooses to not add CO2. Plants use O2 at all times not just during the night.Hope that helps.
I have always thought about using air when my lights are off. I have always had great filtration and C02 levels. But while reading a post about an Amano designed tank, I saw something that sparked my interest. At the bottom of the article under the specs it mentions aeration.
http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/stemplants.html
Currently I have had aeration in my tank, hooked to a 12 hour timer, for 3 days. My C02 levels are the exact same, my tank water is visibly cleaner and my plants "look" healthier. I think we as planties guard our CO2 so much by watching the surface agitation, that sometimes we forget how important oxygen really is. Everyone has seen a stagnant pond. Eevn if the nutrient levels are high, it still stinks and looks dirty. All of Amano's tanks are pristine and immaculate. That's how I want mine too.
These are just my opinions.
http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/stemplants.html
Currently I have had aeration in my tank, hooked to a 12 hour timer, for 3 days. My C02 levels are the exact same, my tank water is visibly cleaner and my plants "look" healthier. I think we as planties guard our CO2 so much by watching the surface agitation, that sometimes we forget how important oxygen really is. Everyone has seen a stagnant pond. Eevn if the nutrient levels are high, it still stinks and looks dirty. All of Amano's tanks are pristine and immaculate. That's how I want mine too.
These are just my opinions.
I run injected CO2 with a decent plant load and I had to do emergency aeration in the morning twice due to lack of oxygen. I now run injected CO2 when the lights are on on the same timer, then run a secound timer that goes on about 2 hours after lights/co2 off and runs til a half hour before lights on. yes, it wastes some co2, but its much better then gasping fish. Plants after lights out will use a decent amount of Oxygen as well, so its easy to deplete the levels, especially at warmer temps. I have the line to the diffusor T'ed, one leg runs from Co2 through a check valve tot he the T, the other is an airpump through a check valve to the T. The CO2 dissolves easily, but the air pump produces a decent amount of surface agitation. not as much as a direct airstone or HOB filter by any means, but enough to do the job and keep the oxygen level up through the night.