Co2 Off At Night?

[Evad]

Looking for opinions here. Have a 180gal planted tank and will be using CO2. Wondering if I should turn off CO2 at night.

Mind you I didn't do this the last time I had the tank and all was well - but I also had very hard water with high KH so it was harder to move.

Now my KH is 5 degrees. Not sure on GH yet but should be moderate. pH out of the Tap is 7.2.

Thoughts?

 

[Themuleous]

Never have, probably never will. IMHO its just another thing to buy and to go wrong. Some people like it, personally I don't think its necessary.

Sam

 

[Evad]

Never have, probably never will. IMHO its just another thing to buy and to go wrong. Some people like it, personally I don't think its necessary.

Sam

Is your water chemistry similar to mine by chance?

 

[Mikaila31]

Well I have a solenoid on my setup, I just plugged it into a timer so it turns on/off automatically. Its not nessesary to turn the co2 off, but it will make the Co2 last much longer. I only have mine turn off, cuz the tank is in my room and the the diffuser makes a lot of noise which annoys me when I'm trying to sleep .

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh it does make the CO2 last, would be useful on a big tank, which would waste quite a bit at night.

My water chem is very soft, KH 1 and GH 4/5 I think, but I rarely test so it could be even softer by now!

Sam

 

[Evad]

Yeh it does make the CO2 last, would be useful on a big tank, which would waste quite a bit at night.

My water chem is very soft, KH 1 and GH 4/5 I think, but I rarely test so it could be even softer by now!

Sam

I am curious why somebody would think its wasted? Does the gas escape? If it does, then why do people worry about build-up? If it doesn't escape and builds up, then wouldn't the plants use it all the next day?

I have 180 gal tank so maybe the solenoid thing is a good idea

 

[aaronnorth]

It's also incase the ph drops to low or gassing your fish.

 

[plantbrain]

The main reasons why:

Save CO2.
Reduce high chronic levels of CO2 on fish
Reduce the risk of overdosing, which is much higher if the CO2 is added 24/7 vs allowing it to off gassing most of the 24 cycle.
Plants do not need the CO2 at night, so why add it?

Many do add 24/7, I never have.

Then again, after many tanks, many decades of use, I've never lost a fish to CO2.

Regards,
Tom Barr