Getting CO2 this week! Journal of tank's evolution

[FishBR]

So why the move to CO2?. I'm interested in knowing what that is going to give you that you don't already have.

As usual, CO2 is introduced to promote plant growth and coloration. Some of the plants in the tank will not develop to their potential without CO2. For example, the more colorful ones (Alternanthera Reineckii, Ludwigia Repens, Nasea Golden, Rotala Macrandra, and Rotala Wallichi) will fade away and will not develop intense and diverse colors without CO2.

 

[FishBR]

Looking incredible. Is that a sponge filter you're using?
You may want to move to an internal or external if so.
Planted tanks, especially with co2 require good circulation. Also, the bubbles from the sponge filter will mess around with your co2 levels. Air stones can be used but most co2 planted tank folk use them at night on a timer.

Yes, that is a sponge filter. Thank you for calling my attention to its relation to CO2. I am a big fan of sponge filters. Having one running in the main tank means that you always have a seeded filter if you need to set up a hospital tank or a quarantine tank. Also, since I live in hurricane prone area, sponge filters are great during power outages. You can attach them to a battery-operated air pump and keep oxygenation and biological filtration going in the tank.

So I am planning to keep the sponge filter. One possibility is to attach it to a powerhead. Would that solve the issue? Also, please note that I have a canister filter, which will operate an inline CO2 diffuser. I assume this setup facilitates the CO2 diffusion in the tank. So what would you all recommend? Should I operate the sponge filter with a powerhead instead of an airpump? Would the canister flow provide enough Oxygen exchange in the surface to prevent fish asphyxiation?

 

[FishBR]

Looking great.

This is going to look really good once everything has grown in.

There is actually a really good guide to using a drop checker on this site:

Drop Checkers - How They Work

Drop checkers – How they work A lot of people have been asking various questions on Drop checkers, and it is quite hard to write up about them in a short answer, so here is a complete guide to the Drop checker. A drop checker (or a permanent CO2 test) gives us a constant reading of the CO2...

www.fishforums.net

Thank you for the complement and for the article recommendation!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

So I am planning to keep the sponge filter. One possibility is to attach it to a powerhead. Would that solve the issue? Also, please note that I have a canister filter, which will operate an inline CO2 diffuser. I assume this setup facilitates the CO2 diffusion in the tank. So what would you all recommend? Should I operate the sponge filter with a powerhead instead of an airpump? Would the canister flow provide enough Oxygen exchange in the surface to prevent fish asphyxiation?

Yeah a powerhead would work IMO. The airstone might not be too much of an issue to be honest, will just mean you waste a bit of CO2. Only way to know for sure is to try it with and without and see how it effects your CO2 usage.

In your position I would run the canister into a spraybar that is central in the tank. I like to put them near the bottom of the tank facing up/forward as this gives water movement around the roots and substrate and stops dead leaves and stuff building up. A spray bar will help distribute the CO2 evenly around the tank as well.

If you put a power head on the sponge filter I would run the output of that to a Lily pipe. This gives enough surface movement to stop biofilms forming but wont off gas your CO2 excessively.

Regarding fish asphyxiation. Honestly I have never had this issue. I switch my CO2 off 1-2 hours before the lights go off, this gives it time to ramp down a bit. I also don't run super high CO2 anyway, slightly light green on a drop checker with 4dhk solution base, going to a very dark green by the time the lights go off. I never run into the "almost yellow" colour if there is livestock in the tank.

If you are monitoring your CO2 properly and slowly adjusting as you go, in my experience, it doesn't cause any issues. The key is going slow though. You need to make sure that your CO2 is burning off before the lights go out. How quickly this happens is going to change as your get more plant mass. I have never noticed any breathing issues with any fish I have kept with injected CO2 and I never used any kind of extra surface agitation for overnight.

All the being said though there is no harm at all in having an airstone or surface level pump come on overnight with a timer.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Yeah a powerhead would work IMO. The airstone might not be too much of an issue to be honest, will just mean you waste a bit of CO2. Only way to know for sure is to try it with and without and see how it effects your CO2 usage.

In your position I would run the canister into a spraybar that is central in the tank. I like to put them near the bottom of the tank facing up/forward as this gives water movement around the roots and substrate and stops dead leaves and stuff building up. A spray bar will help distribute the CO2 evenly around the tank as well.

If you put a power head on the sponge filter I would run the output of that to a Lily pipe. This gives enough surface movement to stop biofilms forming but wont off gas your CO2 excessively.

Regarding fish asphyxiation. Honestly I have never had this issue. I switch my CO2 off 1-2 hours before the lights go off, this gives it time to ramp down a bit. I also don't run super high CO2 anyway, slightly light green on a drop checker with 4dhk solution base, going to a very dark green by the time the lights go off. I never run into the "almost yellow" colour if there is livestock in the tank.

If you are monitoring your CO2 properly and slowly adjusting as you go, in my experience, it doesn't cause any issues. The key is going slow though. You need to make sure that your CO2 is burning off before the lights go out. How quickly this happens is going to change as your get more plant mass. I have never noticed any breathing issues with any fish I have kept with injected CO2 and I never used any kind of extra surface agitation for overnight.

All the being said though there is no harm at all in having an airstone or surface level pump come on overnight with a timer.

What he said! Fish asphyxiation shouldn't be an issue as the more co2 the plants get, the more o2 they produce. If you're adding more co2 than your plant mass can process then yeh, you might have problems with too much co2 on your fish

 

[FishBR]

Yeah a powerhead would work IMO. The airstone might not be too much of an issue to be honest, will just mean you waste a bit of CO2. Only way to know for sure is to try it with and without and see how it effects your CO2 usage.

In your position I would run the canister into a spraybar that is central in the tank. I like to put them near the bottom of the tank facing up/forward as this gives water movement around the roots and substrate and stops dead leaves and stuff building up. A spray bar will help distribute the CO2 evenly around the tank as well.

If you put a power head on the sponge filter I would run the output of that to a Lily pipe. This gives enough surface movement to stop biofilms forming but wont off gas your CO2 excessively.

Regarding fish asphyxiation. Honestly I have never had this issue. I switch my CO2 off 1-2 hours before the lights go off, this gives it time to ramp down a bit. I also don't run super high CO2 anyway, slightly light green on a drop checker with 4dhk solution base, going to a very dark green by the time the lights go off. I never run into the "almost yellow" colour if there is livestock in the tank.

If you are monitoring your CO2 properly and slowly adjusting as you go, in my experience, it doesn't cause any issues. The key is going slow though. You need to make sure that your CO2 is burning off before the lights go out. How quickly this happens is going to change as your get more plant mass. I have never noticed any breathing issues with any fish I have kept with injected CO2 and I never used any kind of extra surface agitation for overnight.

All the being said though there is no harm at all in having an airstone or surface level pump come on overnight with a timer.

I got a powerhead for the sponge filter. I will direct its flow parallel to the surface to create some water movement and prevent the formation of biofilms.

In terms of the canister's spraybar, the design I have does not allow me to place it near the bottom, facing up. It has to be near the surface. I plan to direct the spraybar downwards, to distribute the CO2 well.

Thanks for all the great information.

 

[FishBR]

What he said! Fish asphyxiation shouldn't be an issue as the more co2 the plants get, the more o2 they produce. If you're adding more co2 than your plant mass can process then yeh, you might have problems with too much co2 on your fish

Got it. I now have a better understanding of the CO2 x oxygen dynamics, thank you.

 

[FishBR]

I got the CO2 generator today! Looks intimidating

Extras: the inline diffuser that will be attached to the canister:

And the drop checker:

Looks like I am ready to go. I will try to install everything tomorrow.

 

[itiwhetu]

As usual, CO2 is introduced to promote plant growth and coloration. Some of the plants in the tank will not develop to their potential without CO2. For example, the more colorful ones (Alternanthera Reineckii, Ludwigia Repens, Nasea Golden, Rotala Macrandra, and Rotala Wallichi) will fade away and will not develop intense and diverse colors without CO2.

I always grow Ludwigia repens and the Rotala's with no CO2, It will be interesting to see if all the effort is worth it. I tried it and decided it was a waste of time, in a fully planted tank. In a tank that you want it to look pretty and have it planted to around 25% of volume then I can see some benefit. In a tank planted to 50% by volume, no advantage, as far as I can see.

 

[FishBR]

I always grow Ludwigia repens and the Rotala's with no CO2, It will be interesting to see if all the effort is worth it. I tried it and decided it was a waste of time, in a fully planted tank. In a tank that you want it to look pretty and have it planted to around 25% of volume then I can see some benefit. In a tank planted to 50% by volume, no advantage, as far as I can see.

I thought that the benefits of CO2 injection for aquarium plants were well established. It does not mean that you can't grow beautiful plants without CO2, but it is supposed to mean that they grow faster and with stronger and more vibrant colors with CO2. Will see how the tank evolves.

 

[FishBR]

The system is up and running:

The inline diffuser has been attached to the Eheim canister's tubing:

Here is a video of the bubble counter. Does this speed look good?

 

[fishyfun&fans]

I can’t suggest what plants
I can suggest Lots of plants

As for co2 I have beginner plants I don’t give them anything at all not even tabs or fert.

Not sure how important it is to other plants as there should already be co2 created by the airation and breathing from the fish in the tank?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

The system is up and running:

View attachment 144850

The inline diffuser has been attached to the Eheim canister's tubing:

View attachment 144851

Here is a video of the bubble counter. Does this speed look good?

Outstanding!
Now...go and be a good person and go and buy yourself some of those nice silk plants.

 

[robmcd]

You will not regret the shift to C02. To me the difference is night and day.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Here is a video of the bubble counter. Does this speed look good?

That is going to depend entirely on your CO2 uptake and diffusion %.

Personally I would turn it allllll the way down to a bit less than 1 bubble a second. Leave it 2-3 hours and check your drop checker. If it isn't where you want it at then turn it up or down a bit, give it another 2-3 hours and check again. This may need adjusting several times over the life of the tank as you get more or less plant mass/growth.

Its a slow process and needs to ideally be done in the middle of your light cycle.

Also just making sure are you using 4dhk or 5dhk solution in your drop checker with the regent and not tank water?