C02 Injecting

[Incitic]

This will sound stupid, but why do people spend hundreds of dollars for C02 injectors when you can put C02 in the tank by blowing through a straw?

I know there is probably a good reason for this. I just cant seem to find it.

 

[Discomafia]

To dose CO2 successfully, you need to maintain a stable level of CO2 in the water. Usually 25/30ppm is what you should be aiming for. Any less than that, depending on your tank's PH, KH and GH, and your plants won't be getting enough CO2 to make a difference. Blowing air through a straw won't make a difference unless you hire a football team to do it for a few hours. Also, the level of CO2 in the air we breathe is low, around 20% or something if I'm not mistaken. Another thing is that surface agitation dispells CO2, another reason why it won't work I guess...

Oh yea, CO2 needs time to be diffused into the water, thus the search for a good diffusor. Usually, prolonged exposure to water means more CO2 is able to be diffused into the water. Plugging your CO2 output to your canister filter or powerhead work well too. Hope this clears some things up.

 

[akudewan]

Its a totally valid question. We exhale only 20% CO2, the rest is mostly nitrogen. In a pressurised system or a yeast system, we are using 99.9% CO2.

And there's the whole diffusion thing that Discomafia said

 

[zig]

Its a valid question if you have an hour a day to fill up some plastic bags with the air you exhale and then find a way of getting that to diffuse into your tankwater! believe it or not there is a very well known guy that is a moderator on APC that does this each day, it takes him about an hour, he fills the bags during exercise, he has some sort of step walker in his house and as he walks up and down the steps he fills the bags.........crazy huh.......thats Americans for you........could only happen in America

 

[AndyTaylor]

??? ! I was going to ask 'Is that for real' but noboby could make that up... now't so daft as folk, as they say!

 

[zig]

??? ! I was going to ask 'Is that for real' but noboby could make that up... now't so daft as folk, as they say!

Like i say Andy thats Americans for you..........its true lol