DIY CO2 questions

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s_lionheart_13

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Dec 30, 2002
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DIY CO2 questions....(PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!!!)

I recently hooked up a DIY CO2 injection system and I was wondering if anyone might be able to answer some of my questions:

1. Should I turn off my airstone?

2. Can I just put the CO2 injection tube directly into my outside carbon filter? Will this filter the CO2 out? Will it efficiently dissolve it into my tank?

3. Will it harm tetras, guppies, or catfish?

4. I have somewhat hard water. Will this affect the effectiveness of the system?

Thanks in advance for answering any of these questions; but as they say, the worst questions are the ones that aren't asked !
 
Erm... you're using CO2 injection, so presumably this is a planted tank.

But you're also using carbon in your filter.

I'd junk the carbon. You'll get no benefit from the CO2 if the plants don't have the trace nutrients which carbon will adsorb.

No, CO2 will not harm your fish. Hard water will reduce the effectiveness inasmuch as a greater amount of CO2 is required. However, you will benefit from a reduced risk of your pH plummetting.

I think you should turn off your airstone. Surface turbulence will cause the CO2 to leave the water into the atmosphere at a faster rate.
 
Actually, the plant section probably has better ppl for CO2 =). Will be moving this thread there.

To answer your questions.

1.) Yes, turn off your air pump. Many ppl consider airpumps to be a bad thing in plant tanks. It will cause excessive surface aggitation, and thus faster CO2 dissipation. Counter-productive if you are injecting CO2.
2.) Your carbon filter? Can you elaborate more? I will assume its some sort of powerfilter. If so, yes, you can inject the CO2 through your filter. There are also other methods you can look into. More info here. As for carbon if your carbon has been in your filter for more than a week, don't bother removing it. Just never replace it. Some people believe that carbon removes some essential elements that plants need. I don't use carbon because its expensive. I can't afford a new carbon pack every week.
3.) No, DIY CO2 generators usually don't produce enough CO2 to be deadly to fish.
4.) It shouldn't affect your system too much. If anything, it will provide more stability. Only experimenting will tell you if you need to add more CO2 generating bottles. Check this table out for more info on figuring out your CO2 concentrations. You usually want to hit a CO2 level of about 15-20ppm (mg/l).

How large is your tank? One CO2 generator is usually effective for tanks under 30 gallons (imho, 20 gallons). For larger tanks, you will need to add more bottles in order to get enough CO2 produced to be effective.

HTH
-Richer
 
I didn't mean to over elaborate, I just put what I thought it was...(a filter that uses carbon registers in my brain as a carbon filter;))

P.S. It is a 30 gallon tank and I decided to use 2 bottles of it...
 
Is this carbon filter a "Hang On the Tank" type filter that spills the water back into the tank from above? If so, it may be causing more water surface disruption that allows your CO2 to escape. Consider a canister filter if this is the case.
 
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