Question about CO²
 

I´ve made a CO² reactor for my largest Aquarium and now i´m wondering abit about it´s functionality.
I´ve read that CO² is 100% dissolvable in water, yet the CO² bubbles that are transfered from my reactor into the water just rise up and pop.
How much CO² is actually trapped in the water, or am i doing something wrong ?

You need to add a carton of Pop Rocks to it. :)

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Yes, it will disolve in water and form, IIRC, carbonic acid.
However, how much will disolve will depend on how much gas (basically atmoshperic) is already disolved in the water, temperature and how much time is available to the gas to disolve.

If you have fish or other animals in the water, it would be a bad idea to increase the CO2 in the water as it will have exactly the same affect as atmoshperic CO2 has on us.

I tested my water and found out that the CO² levels (as well as carbonate hardness kH) are far to low which explains why my plants always keep dying.
There are tons of CO² Aquarium products on the market for exactly that reason.
I don´t think i´ll be damaging the fish. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/wink1.gif

Just checking.
Do you have anything to diffuse the CO2, I mean, is it just coming directly out of the hose end or have you got something to difuse it - make smaller bubbles, as the smaller ones have a much greater surface to volume ratio and will disolve easier.?
If not, can you pick up some permeable material from the aquarium supplier, perhaps some coral that can be placed over the outlet?

Another option may be to run a long hose around the bottom, under the stones with the end plugged up and a lot of pin pricks in the hose to let the gas out in small bubbles?

Can you give us a pic of how it looks now Golem?
I never worked with CO² with aquarium use.. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/blush1.gif

Hmm actually no i don´t have a diffuser,
I´m using a little workaround now by leading the CO² hose into the main outage of my Filter, through the current the bubbles are diffused a bit (pic below)
btw thanks for the ideas !

sure

This is the AQ

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6599/026fh.jpg

On the left side you can see my Ghetto CO² reactor

@ Gordo, this is the workaround http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/wacko1.gif

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/4115/031g.jpg

As long as the diffuser is placed low in th tank and close to the filter intake, the CO² will diffues efficiently. However, its a bad practice to let the reactor go all the time. It should only be run with the lights are on. Plants reverse their CO² intake at night and this can kill your fish if it's run continuiously. And I would only run this every 2 to 3 days. Also, at night when your lights are off, run an airstone to prevent pH swings that can also kill off your fish. Oh, and be sure to shake up the reactor every few days too.

Good luck!


EDIT: Just read you do not have a diffuser. You need to get one.

Thanks for the Tips HomebrewPCiq,

pH, GH, NO² and NO³ values are o.k and have been stable for the last 4 years (this isn´t a new AQ setup)
like said only problem i´ve been having is that my plants always kept dying on me. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/sad1.gif
I´ll be taking the CO² tube out in an hour (when the lights go out :)

I've also read where it says to keep the surface of the water in motion while using the set up, it helps with the displacement of the CO². Perhaps that may be the problem with your plants, the CO² is simply not leaving the water quickly enough.