Co2 & Bubble Wall

[Barday]

Hi All,

I've recently put a whole new batch of plants in my aquarium so I thought i'd install a diy co2 unit (yeast based system). Anyway, my question should I turn off my bubble wall for it to work effectively? I assume that the bubble wall will diffuse any CO2 I'm injecting in there?

My filter outlet is bellow the water line so the bubble wall is giving me the only surface agitation in the tank, I dont want to choke my fish!

Any advice appreciated

Cheers!!

 

[smithrc]

turn it off - as you say, it will get rid of the CO2 your adding.

keep an eye on the fish, if they start gasping or hanging out at the top - start worrying.

However with DIY its quite unlikely that you will get the CO2 levels up high enough to cause problems to the fish.

 

[Barday]

Thanks smithrc........ but Just to make sure..... it is ok to turn it off even though I dont have any other kind of surface agitator......not even the filter?

 

[smithrc]

you should be ok... just keep an eye on the fish.

If you make the change on a saturday morning - you can keep an eye on them over the weekend - when it comes to CO2 dont make changes in a hurry just before going to work..

 

[Barday]

It's been 6 hours since i put on the CO2 and turned off the bubble wall. Now they are all at the top including the knife fish (which hardly ever comes out!)

Do they need time to adjust to the extra CO2 in the water or should I turn the bubbles back on ASAP

 

[smithrc]

not a good sign.

Quickly measure you KH and you PH and then you can work out your CO2 content.

Turn the air back on.

Then tomorrow point the filter output towards the surface and try again

 

[Barday]

Thanks again mate......

The CO2 is coming out at a rate of 24 bubbles per min.

PH is at 6.6

I don't have a KH tester but I live in london so I assume I have pretty hard water.

Am I right in assuming that aiming my filter output to the surface is the same as turning my buble wall back on?

 

[Snick]

you are right. if you really want your CO2 to work, then do not cause ANY surface agitation. its ok to have a little, but the smaller the better. Take in mind that the plants will supply the oxygen for the fish, so i dont think youll have much of a problem.