Pressurized Co2 system for dummies

[sfranqui_29gallon]

Just got a co2 reactor from Plantguild.com (great spot) and I have two questions

1. What is a better way to regulate co2?

a. put air stone on at night with lights off
​

b. turn of powerhead on reactor
​

c. close valve on co2 cylinder
​

2. is 8psi (2 bubbles per second) enough?

55 gallon, moderately planted. Next stage is better fertilizer. Any recommendations?and UV sterilizer. I had some parasite issues.

 

[chonhzilla]

The best way to regulate your co2 is through a needle valve and a bubble counter (besides your actual regulator). Remember the co2 should be off about an hour before your lights turn off. You can use an airstone too, but its optional. For the reactor, you shouldn't have to worry about shutting it off, I'm sure some thing in the tank can appreciate some extra flow. As for the co2 shutting off you regulator should have a solenoid that shuts on and off. But before you take the big leap into pressurized co2 consider your lighting before you start to buy anything for a pressurized setup. Your bubble rate will be determined who many bubbles you need per second.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

from reading all the planted specififc sites, you get alot of mixed reveiws on whether or not co2 should be turned off at night or not.

I researched this for many many weeks before hooking up my set up and here is the pro's and cons of each

Pro- to turn off at night

• plants dont use co2 at night
• it saves co2
• in extreme circumstances with ultra high bubble rates leaving it on will bottom out the ph and oxygen content it the water column

Cons

• After it gets turned off the ph starts to rise thru the night as it gases off into the atmosphere. (ph swing)
• When it comes back on the ph starts to lower again. (ph swing)
• ph swing's are very stressful for fish
• There has been no data supporting that any harm is done to plants leaving it on thru the night. And haveing a rock solid ph.
• added cost and equipment to accomplish the on/off cycle -IE electronic solenoids

There have been some very amazing set ups built with no co2 and diy co2 that can not be turned on and off.

There has also been many many veery nice high tech tanks builts using pressure co2 set ups that stay on all night.

I used diy for years with great results on all night and now use pressureized that stays on all night and everything has been fantastic.

 

[jcardona1]

if youre using pressurized co2, the regulator should have a solenoid which turns the flow of co2 on and off. set up with a timer to coincide with your lights and youre done. if it doesnt have a solenoid, you should really consider a new regulator.

dont worry about the ph swings overnight. ph fluctuations caused by injecting co2 do NOT affect the TDS (total dissolved solids) in the water and therefore do not affect the fish. the only way co2 is bad for fish is if you poison them with so much co2 and choke out the oxygen, which is even more of a reason to have it turn off at night

 

[boudreaua]

I know I probably made a lot of mistakes in setting up my 225 gallon freshwater tank. The major issue was dealing with algae I had a huge fuzz algae bloom that basically took over my tank – what a mess – blacked out the tank for 4 days with a 50% water change each day. Then I basically took all of the plants out and washed them and this was about 3 weeks ago. I still have fuzz algae along with hair and a green algae problem and it just will not go away – I have a lot of nitrate snails that do a great job and about 30 or so shrimp that are trying to clean up the mess. I regularly test the water, I check the phosphate (between .5 and 1)a and nitrates (around 5) and KH and GH (KH=3 and GH=5) any suggestions on how to deal with the algae it is becoming a tremendous chore every night I have to mess with it and very little time left to enjoy the fish. I know I am doing something wrong but do not know what!!


I have also been struggling with my automatic CO2 system and cannot figure how much or how many bubbles to adjust the regulator to. I seem to have a PH swing 6.5 to 7.0 on my Milwaukie PH sensor. I also have a CO2 indicator and it always shows not enough CO2 can this be fixed by increasing the bubbles for CO2. I have angles and Discus in the tank so I’m striving for a 6.8 PH.and if I adjust the PH down to 6,5 the CO2 will just run longer . Any suggestions on how to fix this also Wow first time with a big tank and the problems arte bigger – I thought I would have a stable tank – no so yet please help. Dr. Armand BoudreauI

 

[FSM]

You need to increase the flow rate of CO2. There should be a needle valve which regulates this.

What method are you using to diffuse the CO2?

Just got a co2 reactor from Plantguild.com (great spot) and I have two questions

1. What is a better way to regulate co2?

a. put air stone on at night with lights off
​

b. turn of powerhead on reactor
​

c. close valve on co2 cylinder
​

2. is 8psi (2 bubbles per second) enough?

55 gallon, moderately planted. Next stage is better fertilizer. Any recommendations?and UV sterilizer. I had some parasite issues.

Bubble rate should be regulated by a needle valve, not the regulator output pressure.

 

[MattyV]

if youre using pressurized co2, the regulator should have a solenoid which turns the flow of co2 on and off. set up with a timer to coincide with your lights and youre done. if it doesnt have a solenoid, you should really consider a new regulator.

dont worry about the ph swings overnight. ph fluctuations caused by injecting co2 do NOT affect the TDS (total dissolved solids) in the water and therefore do not affect the fish. the only way co2 is bad for fish is if you poison them with so much co2 and choke out the oxygen, which is even more of a reason to have it turn off at night

So your saying run the Co2 off the same timer as the lights, or second timer to come on before lights and turn off after lights. or is this all really just personal preferance on the timing.

Thanks

 

[jcardona1]

So your saying run the Co2 off the same timer as the lights, or second timer to come on before lights and turn off after lights. or is this all really just personal preferance on the timing.

Thanks

I use seperate timers. CO2 comes on 1.5hrs before the lights do. This is so that the water colum is saturated with co2 before the lights come on. that way, the plants can begin photosynthesis right away.

I then turn co2 off 1hr before the lights go out so that any left over co2 is consumed/gassed off, because after the lights go out the plants start taking in o2 and giving off co2

 

[JasonG75]

ALL your cons are controlled by the pH controller. Done..now NO cons

 

[jcardona1]

ALL your cons are controlled by the pH controller. Done..now NO cons