Circulation And Co2

[Rorie]

Hi folks,

I just added my new pump which has a 4000l/hour flow rate, which ups my 360l to have a combined filtration and flow rate of 5200 l/hour which is just short of 15x turn over.

I can already see a much higher flow in the tank which is good - the plants are all moving etc. I have a couple questions though

1) i have tall grass, which is not being 'blown' over slightly at areas (strangely at the opposite end of the tank to that which the pump is!) and is now leaning on the bogwood. Will this effect the growth? Is this normal? The grass which is right in front of the pump is waving back and forth, but nothing which looks to severe.

2) my CO2. How to i make sure it gets spread throughout the tank? I have put the pump next to the diffuser, so it 'sucks' up the co2 as its diffused and 'blows' it out into the motion of the water....or there is the theory, but i am not convinced as it still seems to be diffusing vertically upwards

Thanks!

 

[pauld]

Hi folks,

I just added my new pump which has a 4000l/hour flow rate, which ups my 360l to have a combined filtration and flow rate of 5200 l/hour which is just short of 15x turn over.

I can already see a much higher flow in the tank which is good - the plants are all moving etc. I have a couple questions though

1) i have tall grass, which is not being 'blown' over slightly at areas (strangely at the opposite end of the tank to that which the pump is!) and is now leaning on the bogwood. Will this effect the growth? Is this normal? The grass which is right in front of the pump is waving back and forth, but nothing which looks to severe.

2) my CO2. How to i make sure it gets spread throughout the tank? I have put the pump next to the diffuser, so it 'sucks' up the co2 as its diffused and 'blows' it out into the motion of the water....or there is the theory, but i am not convinced as it still seems to be diffusing vertically upwards

Thanks!

only way your going to be able to check is by moveing a drop checker round the tank a different posistion every day checking for dead spots , ive been experimenting with co2 distribution for the last 6 months on roughly same size tank , so far best results ive got is useing a upatomiser
conected to a full lenght spray bar 2 inches off the bottom of the tank , i also have two koralia a 2 and a 4 above the spray bar about 1/4 down the tankpointing forward and slightly down , seems to be keeping the co2 down for much longer and good distribution .

 

[Rorie]

[/quote]
only way your going to be able to check is by moveing a drop checker round the tank a different posistion every day checking for dead spots , ive been experimenting with co2 distribution for the last 6 months on roughly same size tank , so far best results ive got is useing a upatomiser
conected to a full lenght spray bar 2 inches off the bottom of the tank , i also have two koralia a 2 and a 4 above the spray bar about 1/4 down the tankpointing forward and slightly down , seems to be keeping the co2 down for much longer and good distribution .
[/quote]

What is an upatomiser?!

I have my drop checker at the extreme end of the tank - it is blue jsut now - how long does it take to change colour? Will it not change regularly when the CO2 switches off and on each mornign/night?

Just now i am just playing about with the CO2, as i have no idea how many bubbles per second i need in my bubble counter...

I have my spray bar at the top of the tank at one end. At the other end i have my intake, my diffuser and the Koralia 4. It seems to give me flow at all points (as i have the start of grass, and its all moving!) but as i say, my CO2 just goes straight up!

 

[pauld]

only way your going to be able to check is by moveing a drop checker round the tank a different posistion every day checking for dead spots , ive been experimenting with co2 distribution for the last 6 months on roughly same size tank , so far best results ive got is useing a upatomiser
conected to a full lenght spray bar 2 inches off the bottom of the tank , i also have two koralia a 2 and a 4 above the spray bar about 1/4 down the tankpointing forward and slightly down , seems to be keeping the co2 down for much longer and good distribution .
[/quote]

What is an upatomiser?!

I have my drop checker at the extreme end of the tank - it is blue jsut now - how long does it take to change colour? Will it not change regularly when the CO2 switches off and on each mornign/night?

Just now i am just playing about with the CO2, as i have no idea how many bubbles per second i need in my bubble counter...

I have my spray bar at the top of the tank at one end. At the other end i have my intake, my diffuser and the Koralia 4. It seems to give me flow at all points (as i have the start of grass, and its all moving!) but as i say, my CO2 just goes straight up!
[/quote]
ok the drop checker should be idealy lime green you should only use 4kdh solution and bromide blue in the drop checker to get a consistent result . flow and co2 distribution are 2 differnt things , yes all your grasses may be moveing in the FLOW but is your co2 getting round all your flow . it takes a few hrs for a drop checker to change colour so thats why im saying move it daily , going by what you said about where your spray bar is you will not achieve good co2 distribution ive tried that on my tank , a upatomiser goes on your outlet pipe of your filter and the spray bar should be full length of rear of tank , yes that will reduce the flow from the filter but your korallia 4 gives you the flow have a read of this .
http/www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ukaps.org%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D37%26t%3D9726%26start%3D10&ei=W79iTbDlJtWL4Abr2ODoCQ&usg=AFQjCNE_ulB36Cuh4K2kh3nzHGVFgJLHXQ

 

[Rorie]

Sure, i understand that flow is not the same, but i had hopped that the flow would move the CO2 along a bit.

This thing you suggest makes sense, i guess, but then why do so many people spend so much money on nice glassware etc (as i have just done haha) if it is not so ideal? Does this unit have downsides? I would have thought that the force out of te spray bar would have to be high to ensure the CO2 reaches the bottom of the tank, and hence, the plants? My diffuser just now is a couple inches off the base of the tank so it makes sense that it reaches the plants quicker....

Though i expect my theory is wrong haha.... maybe you can explain

 

[pauld]

Sure, i understand that flow is not the same, but i had hopped that the flow would move the CO2 along a bit.

This thing you suggest makes sense, i guess, but then why do so many people spend so much money on nice glassware etc (as i have just done haha) if it is not so ideal? Does this unit have downsides? I would have thought that the force out of te spray bar would have to be high to ensure the CO2 reaches the bottom of the tank, and hence, the plants? My diffuser just now is a couple inches off the base of the tank so it makes sense that it reaches the plants quicker....

Though i expect my theory is wrong haha.... maybe you can explain

pretty glassware looks great and , and works fine in a small cube but you have a large tank so pumping co2 from just one end wont work by the time the co2 gets to the other end it would have bubbled off by useing a full lenght spray bar posistioned near the bottom of the tank co2 only needs to travel width of tank , if the flow from your filter is to much increase the size of holes in the spray bar you wont probably have to do that by the size of your filter the extra lenght of spray bar and extra depth reduces the force of the spray if that makes any sense lol.

 

[Rorie]

hmm, putting the spray bar at the bottom of the tank?! Not sure how well that is going to work with tall grass at the back of the aquarium creating a wall, and grass over the substrate.... Suggestions?

So, you have a full length spray bar and then your pump at the top of the tank pointing down? Where is your intake to your filter if your spray bar is at the bottom of the tank?

 

[pauld]

intake and outlet are next to each other with the strainer of the intake just below spraybar . i dont know how you would get on with long grasses im growig stems crypts mosses , but you can see where im comeing from ,plants in a large tank is a lot harder then a small tank , getting the co2 ferts flow and lighting right on a big tank is really hard work , i havent cracked it yet but getting there slowly ive beaten hair algae now ive got a small outbreak of bba but im getting there .

 

[Rorie]

intake and outlet are next to each other with the strainer of the intake just below spraybar . i dont know how you would get on with long grasses im growig stems crypts mosses , but you can see where im comeing from ,plants in a large tank is a lot harder then a small tank , getting the co2 ferts flow and lighting right on a big tank is really hard work , i havent cracked it yet but getting there slowly ive beaten hair algae now ive got a small outbreak of bba but im getting there .

I guess the spay bar with CO2 pumping out makes sense, but i am unsure about how the CO2 will get to my plants if its getting put in from the top of my tank. HMM!
I just looked up the pipe spec of my filter, it says it has an inside diam of 15.2mm. That unit you linked me to on ebay says it is 16/22mm. Any idea if thats what i need?

I can get spares for my filter from Sea Pets, so i am thinking i can get the spray bar part which links together, and i can just extend the one i have out across the length of my tank. But i am unsure about the CO2 reaching the plants - its a good 18-22 inches from top to bottom of my tank!

 

[SuperColey1]

Put the diffuser at the opposite end of the tank to the pump. I mean directly opposite it.

The flow from the pump should hit the far glass and try and push downward and outward from the glass and therefore push the bubbles in the reverse motion along the bottom of the tank and upwards.

I never saw the point in putting it under a pump as the pump's flow is being pushed along at velocity and therefore if the CO2 is going into the pump and then pushed along then its running most along the surface anyway. At the opposite end of the tank the pump's water can't go up much

Andy

 

[Rorie]

Put the diffuser at the opposite end of the tank to the pump. I mean directly opposite it.

The flow from the pump should hit the far glass and try and push downward and outward from the glass and therefore push the bubbles in the reverse motion along the bottom of the tank and upwards.

I never saw the point in putting it under a pump as the pump's flow is being pushed along at velocity and therefore if the CO2 is going into the pump and then pushed along then its running most along the surface anyway. At the opposite end of the tank the pump's water can't go up much

Andy

I will give that a go tonight. Do you think one small difuser is good enough to supply CO2 to my whole tank though? Or should i look more into these atomizers?
Thanks

 

[pauld]

intake and outlet are next to each other with the strainer of the intake just below spraybar . i dont know how you would get on with long grasses im growig stems crypts mosses , but you can see where im comeing from ,plants in a large tank is a lot harder then a small tank , getting the co2 ferts flow and lighting right on a big tank is really hard work , i havent cracked it yet but getting there slowly ive beaten hair algae now ive got a small outbreak of bba but im getting there .

I guess the spay bar with CO2 pumping out makes sense, but i am unsure about how the CO2 will get to my plants if its getting put in from the top of my tank. HMM!
I just looked up the pipe spec of my filter, it says it has an inside diam of 15.2mm. That unit you linked me to on ebay says it is 16/22mm. Any idea if thats what i need?

I can get spares for my filter from Sea Pets, so i am thinking i can get the spray bar part which links together, and i can just extend the one i have out across the length of my tank. But i am unsure about the CO2 reaching the plants - its a good 18-22 inches from top to bottom of my tank!

how tall are the grasses at the back of the tank ?

 

[Rorie]

The grass is currently about 8-10 inches o guess. Should grow to the top of the tank

 

[pauld]

The grass is currently about 8-10 inches o guess. Should grow to the top of the tank

have you a pic of your tank ?

 

[Rorie]

The grass is currently about 8-10 inches o guess. Should grow to the top of the tank

have you a pic of your tank ?

Yup, have a look here
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