CO2 in a Wet-Dry?

[olivesaxer]

The System:

135 gal Main Tank
100 gal Aux Tank
37 gal W/D between them
- 120 gph pump to each tank
- 400 gph uv sterilizer for the sump
- 2 airstone

The Stock (all currently in the main tank, the 100 is just cycling with everything empty):

38 Pristella Tetras (To be reduced to 20 on friday)
14 Lemon Tetras
8 Clown Loaches
5 Torpedo Barbs
4 small black cats
1 bushynose placo
1 asian placo

The Question:
Want to heavily plant the 100 side tank, would love to throw some CO2 in the mix, but really like the look of just having the overflow box and the output being the only things on the back of my tank. Can I add CO2 to the W/D? Will this disolve correctly? Blow off before reaching my planted tank? Does it matter?


Thanks!

-P

 

[Mgamer20o0]

you could but wet dry its going to gas out a lot. you might be able to seal it in so its not all gassed out. if not you will be pumping in a lot of co2. people who do have wet dry have it going to the out put of it.

you can have a nice planted tank with out co2.

 

[TEL]

I put my co2 in the sump right next too the return pump and had the spray bar pointing towards the bottom on the other end of the tank and it did a very good job.

 

[vidiots]

I have pressurized CO2 on my 180gal tank. And I disolve it by power head in my sump. The only problem with this is that you will have to refill your CO2 bottle several times more often than those that dont use a sump. Much of the CO2 you add is lost due to mixing with the air as the water goes thru the overflow and down to the sump. You can reduce the loss slightly by modifying your plumbing to get the water to the sump as gently as possible keeping the churning of the water to a minimum, but you cannot eliminate the large loss. This also keeps the noise of running water down a little.

I've considered experimenting with injecting the CO2 into the air intake of the overflow, to help reduce this, but haven't had the time to play with it yet and fear that it will probably fail. This is because if the air intake doesn't get enough air the water level inside the overflow around the stand pipe will "bounce" because a temporary syphon is formed in the overflow plumbing until the water level drops to the level of water intake of the stand pipe so that it can suck in some air an break the syphon. I've seen this refered to as the continuous flushing toilet noise. Each time it sucked in air the CO2 would in the plumbing would be lost.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

George Booth has this to say on his site

I've been told that I can't use CO2 injection because my trickle filter will strip it from the water.
Hogwash! Trickle filters work just fine with CO2 injection. The only change you may need to make is to not inject air into the media chamber. The slight pressure caused by an air pump will tend to push CO2 out of the chamber and cause some loss. The bacteria will get plenty of oxygen from the air being pulled down the inlet tube (that's the rushing noise you hear).

As a matter of fact, a trickle filter is the perfect place to put your CO2 reactor!

http://users.frii.com/gbooth/AquaticConcepts/index.htm

 

[olivesaxer]

thanks for all of the advice. I haven't gotten to planting the second tank yet (it actually doesn't even have substrate at this point), it is just an added bunch of water for my main tank.

I will post pics to let you know how i end up doing it.

-P

 

[Mgamer20o0]

well better to find out now then later....

 

[Star_Rider]

loss of the CO2 depends on how the sump is designed.

there are sumps being designed to trap the CO2 in the sump housing. in essence creating a saturation of the CO2 so water that falls thru is exposed to higher concentrations of CO2 in essence being putback in to the water.
again..it depends on the sump set up. if the water falls thru a section that can be sealed.

my sump is designed so that CO2 is trapped in the section where water falls thru the bio balls. rthe CO2 cannot escape as there is water below the bioballs the water then goes thru a baffle to the return secion of the sump.
I use injected CO2 and have actually decreased the injection..I use Paintball tanks and now the tanks average 4 weeks before they need refills.


but if the sump is not set up to trap CO2 you may lose more thru gas exchange.

 

[olivesaxer]

mine is just a 37 tall-tank that is housing all my equipment. no special sections, etc.

 

[vidiots]

loss of the CO2 depends on how the sump is designed.
there are sumps being designed to trap the CO2 in the sump housing. in essence creating a saturation of the CO2 so water that falls thru is exposed to higher concentrations of CO2 in essence being putback in to the water.
again..it depends on the sump set up. if the water falls thru a section that can be sealed.
my sump is designed so that CO2 is trapped in the section where water falls thru the bio balls. rthe CO2 cannot escape as there is water below the bioballs the water then goes thru a baffle to the return secion of the sump.
I use injected CO2 and have actually decreased the injection..I use Paintball tanks and now the tanks average 4 weeks before they need refills.
but if the sump is not set up to trap CO2 you may lose more thru gas exchange.

Any chance you can post a pic of yours? Not tring to hijack the thread however I plan to make some modifications to my DIY sump in the future to make the CO2 more effecient and would like to get more ideas.