Should I turn off my air pump during the day?

Crat

Crat

AC Members
Apr 19, 2009
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I'm running a 125 gal with 160 watts of light, fert tabs in the gravel near the roots of the plants and no co2. I was just wondering if I should turn off the air pump during the day to help keep what little carbon put off by the fish in the water longer? Or should I buy some seachem flourish carbon? is it worth the $?

I tryed a diy yeast setup but I must have fubar'd that one couse it didn't produce as far as I could tell. Left it overnight and the air tube was still full of water up to tank level in the morning. Don't think my jug was sealed too well eather. I guess I'll give that another shot.

Is a diy co2 setup even going to help in this large a tank?

I'm new to planted tanks so any advice to help my plants is welcome.

Thanks AC!

Caleb
 
I don't think turnng off the pump is going to have any meaningfull effect on carbon. And DYI CO2 is not going to help much in such a large tank. You would have to put in several bottles I believe.
What kind of plants do you have? You should be able to grow low light and maybe some medium light plants in your tank without resorting to buying a CO2 unit.
You can always go with Flourish Excell but that would be expensive in such a large tank.
 
With that sized tank and the lighting you indicated above I am not sure you would even need co2 yet. Low light plants should do very well though. As for turning off the air pump I don't think it would have any effect. I am curious though, what are you using the airpump for? Is it to add oxygen to the water? Or is it driving an ugf?
 
Handy, I had a plant list made out for planning the tank.

Tiger Lotus, Red (Nymphaea zenkeri)
Wendtii, Red (Cryptocoryne wendtii)
Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)
Crypt, Walkerii (Cryptocoryne lutea)
Green Temple (Hygrophilia corymbosa)
Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
Nana (Anubias barteri v. ‘Nana’)
7 Subulata, Dwarf (Sagittaria subulata)
Java Moss (Vesicularia Dubyana)

The tiger lotus in in my 55 cause it's just a bulb with a few leaves and I'm afraid my pleco would destroy it right now. And I had to move the crypt until I rehome the gourami. In the end they will all be in the 125 though.
 
"I am curious though, what are you using the airpump for? Is it to add oxygen to the water? Or is it driving an ugf? "


Just air. I'm running a single hob It's small for the tank but it's lightly stocked and I'm planning on upgrading to a canister when I have the funds.
 
Water movement tends to move CO2 towards the equilibrium concentration; it doesn't necessarily remove it. If you have actively growing plants they may be using all the CO2 expired by the fish, so that the water's concentration is actually below equilibrium. Consequently, running the air pump will tend to cause CO2 to rise towards equilibrium.

The only way to test is to check pH with and without the air pump running, and go with whichever shows the lower reading.
 
air pumps do absolutely nothing as far as airating the water in the first place

they are just for looks.... hardly any oxygen gets diffused into the water with an average airstone

so it doesnt really matter...
 
This is not so. They cause water circulation, bringing water up from the bottom of the tank to the surface, facilitating gas exchange.
 
KarlTh said:
This is not so. They cause water circulation, bringing water up from the bottom of the tank to the surface, facilitating gas exchange.
Click to expand...

a hearty hear hear to that :dance:

personally I would leave them running but thats just me
 
Also- fish do love playing in air-stone bubbles... gotta give them some entertainment! ;)
 
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