Pressurized Co2: On Or Off At Night?

[DBridges]

I have been doing a lot of reading in preparation for getting my tank going here in the near future (next week or two?). Originally, I was intending to have my CO2 system turn on about 2 hours before lights on, and then turn off about 2 hours prior to lights off. Now I'm not so sure. I have done some reading (in particular over at thekrib.com) that some people leave their CO2 on all night, even without a CO2 monitor.

This seems counter-intuitive to me, and I was wondering what other folks here do. What sort of typical morning and evening pH readings are you getting with your systems? Any advice would be helpful.

For what it's worth, I will be planting Ludwigia repens, Brazilian pennywort, some Echinodorus quad., Aponogeton crispus, and Glossostigma elatinoides. Over time, I plan to end up with about a dozen Zebra Danios and eight or so Corydoras, along with some shrimp and MTS. The tank is a 50 gallon measuring 36"Wx15"Dx20"H, 3wpg T-5 lighting, Eheim 2128, and a Seio prop pump powerhead.

Like I said, advice and help on what might be best for my set-up would be helpful. Of course, it's possible that I'm overthinking this issue. Just looking forward to finally getting my aquarium going, and I want to try and do it right as much as I can from the start.

Thanks!
David

 

[Truck]

2 hours before lights on and 2 hours before lights off is fine, you will more than likely poison your fish leaving it running all night!

 

[sjolliff]

+1
also the ph will drop more if left on through the night and the plants dont use CO2 during the night

 

[AdAndrews]

I use a solenoid and have it come on an hour before lights and then go off an hour before lights do again. I would try using all the time but i havnt got enough flow generated from the filter outlet to cause enough turbulence to oxgenate the water. I have heard an article about leaving it on all the time as it creates stability, but at night plants produce co2 anyways, so i couldnt quite see what they were getting at.

Adam

 

[Mr Bliss]

I have heard an article about leaving it on all the time as it creates stability, but at night plants produce co2 anyways, so i couldnt quite see what they were getting at.

If I've understood correctly, the amount of CO2 produced by plants at night is negligible given the co2 levels we maintain in our tanks.

 

[baron von bubba]

I have been doing a lot of reading in preparation for getting my tank going here in the near future (next week or two?). Originally, I was intending to have my CO2 system turn on about 2 hours before lights on, and then turn off about 2 hours prior to lights off. Now I'm not so sure. I have done some reading (in particular over at thekrib.com) that some people leave their CO2 on all night, even without a CO2 monitor.

This seems counter-intuitive to me, and I was wondering what other folks here do. What sort of typical morning and evening pH readings are you getting with your systems? Any advice would be helpful.

For what it's worth, I will be planting Ludwigia repens, Brazilian pennywort, some Echinodorus quad., Aponogeton crispus, and Glossostigma elatinoides. Over time, I plan to end up with about a dozen Zebra Danios and eight or so Corydoras, along with some shrimp and MTS. The tank is a 50 gallon measuring 36"Wx15"Dx20"H, 3wpg T-5 lighting, Eheim 2128, and a Seio prop pump powerhead.

Like I said, advice and help on what might be best for my set-up would be helpful. Of course, it's possible that I'm overthinking this issue. Just looking forward to finally getting my aquarium going, and I want to try and do it right as much as I can from the start.

Thanks!
David

as the others said, altho for me 2.5 hours before lights on and off 2 hours before lights out.
i use a PH controller, altho its mainly just a "safety cut off" for me, the controller is set lower than my desired PH, so it never actually "controls" the CO2.

my "degassed" tap water measures 7.8Ph, the tank at max CO2 is around 6.5 and around 7.2 @ CO2 on in the morn

one of the main things you'll want to watch for is evaporation, (especially if the tank is open) i use spray bars, so i will get more surface movement throughout the week if i dont top up as the evaporation happens, this will lower the CO2 levels as more will gas off.

 

[aaronnorth]

+1
also the ph will drop more if left on through the night and the plants dont use CO2 during the night

not necassarily, wether we leave it at 30ppm for 10hrs, or 30ppm for 24hrs it is still 30ppm and therefore only so much carbonic acid can be produced

I have heard an article about leaving it on all the time as it creates stability, but at night plants produce co2 anyways, so i couldnt quite see what they were getting at.

respiration doesnt happen quick enough for CO2 levels to rise and fluctuate.