Air Stones And Co2

[MewMew42]

Ive been hearing around the internet that if you use co2 then you shouldnt be using an air stone or aggitate the water surfac too much or you will lose co2

is this true?

i have a sponge filter [as well as 2 u3s] which lets off a lot of bubbles and disturbs the surface a fair amount

im planning on getting a yeast based system but dont want it all going to waste!

on an other note as my plants arent very well could the surface aggitation be affecting the plants? too much oxygen?

 

[ian]

the bubbles from an airstones drives c02 out of the water. Obviously aggitation is needed in a fish tank, and flow around the plants is also very important, I try and keep good aggitation, but not have waves, just ripples. Its not all about c02 though, you need to be looking at lighting, ferts and how many plants in your tank.

 

[RadaR]

As stated already, it's the airpumps/sponge filter's large bubbles rising to the surface that causes surface agitation which in turn drives off CO2. So if you are injecting it, then you're wasting your CO2 supply.
Some surface movement is good though because it promotes good gas exchange (oxygen). ianho is right, aim for ripples but nothing large enough to "break" the surface.

 

[MewMew42]

well the lighting is for a roma 125 using Fluval GLO lighting, one of each 20watt PowerGlo & AquaGlo, i dose daily with ferropol 24 and i have pond soil underneath my gravel

this is the tank and the plants

they are going a little yellow and there are bits missing out of some of them...

Im also having a little troubl with some algae growing on my anubias

 

[RadaR]

Either lack of nutrients and/or lack of Co2.
Personally I'd be dosing Tropica Plant Nutrition+ and Easycarbo everyday.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

So if I understand this correctly...when I aquascape I should remove any running airstones and rely on my power filter pouring into the tank and the powerhead pushing from below the surface? Won't the fish just be sitting at the water surface needing O2?

 

[RadaR]

So if I understand this correctly...when I aquascape I should remove any running airstones and rely on my power filter pouring into the tank and the powerhead pushing from below the surface?

Correct. Idealy we want 10 times the volume of the tank pumped round the tank every hour. E.g. 60litre would have 600litres of flow an hour.

Won't the fish just be sitting at the water surface needing O2?

No. Why would they?
As I said earlier "Some surface movement is good though because it promotes good gas exchange (oxygen). ianho is right, aim for ripples but nothing large enough to "break" the surface."

See any gasping fish?

It's also worth noting, that good levels of CO2 for your plants (30ppm) does not mean low oxygen levels. Good CO2 and good O2 levels can co-exist together in the aquarium and that is what we strive for.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

Ok then I really should look at the volume my powerfilter, canister filter, and powerhead are pumping. I know the filters alone weren't cutting it. Thank you for explaining that to me.

 

[RadaR]

Ok then I really should look at the volume my powerfilter, canister filter, and powerhead are pumping. I know the filters alone weren't cutting it. Thank you for explaining that to me.

No worries

 

[mtv8dmarine]

I looked up all the stats for my power filter, cannister filter and powerhead and it looks like I'm pushing 669 GPH according to the rated specs. I don't know what the real rates are but I'm going to say that on a 55 Gal tank it's good enough. I should probably look at HOW everything is flowing from here.

Sorry mew, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[RadaR]

I looked up all the stats for my power filter, cannister filter and powerhead and it looks like I'm pushing 669 GPH according to the rated specs. I don't know what the real rates are but I'm going to say that on a 55 Gal tank it's good enough. I should probably look at HOW everything is flowing from here.

Sorry mew, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Next step is to observe what circulation is being achieved with this flowrate. You don't want any deadspots.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

Gotcha. Well then before my live plants are introduced to my tank I will use a few of the plastic or silk ones and move it around the tank from location to location to observe any lack of movement. This should be a good test to see if there are any deadspots if the plants don't seem to move. Other than that the only thing I can go is wait and see because some plants will create deadspots naturally if I don't pay attention to where I have my circulation coming from.

The power filter circulates a lot downward on the tank below and in front of it. My canister filter does an ok job but creates less over a wide area. The power head creates a lot of movement.

Again thanks for the direction in paying attention to deadspots.

 

[FishyWishie]

Just to clarify airstones even on the lowest airflow i can select are still bad for planted tanks ? I think GF may be about to shout at me for wasting money if so lol

 

[mtv8dmarine]

Well sure enough...I removed my air rod and there's enough surface rippling going on that the fish are not coming up to the surface. I did go out and purchase another power head though. The Top Fin 50 was just rediculously noisy. It sounded like the impeller was clanging off the sealed enclosure. Plus the directional thing broke as soon as I was screwing the output into the body. I took it back and picked up an AquaClear 30 and it's totally silent.

 

[RadaR]

Just to clarify airstones even on the lowest airflow i can select are still bad for planted tanks ?

Generally speaking yes. If the lighting was seriously low then it wouldn't be so much of a problem (E.g. 20W over 60gallons).