What Really Is Co2

[JAY323]

i mean what is Co2 isnt it just like having a air pump?

 

[Tsi_User]

An air pump intakes the surrounding air and pumps it into the tank.

A Co2 system has to either generate or have a concentration of Co2 which it then pumps into the tank.

Although they sound the same (only because they are both injected into the tank) they are completely different.

 

[voo]

CO2 is Carbon dioxide, which is put into the tanks to help the plants grow. If you can remember your biology lessons, plants use carbon dioxide and light to give off oxygen. When you get this right, the plants give off a lot of oxygen that can be seen, which is called Pearling.

An air pump is used to agitate the water surface so that more oxygen gets absorbed.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

CO2 makes up approx 0.03% of the air we breath. An air pump, as said in the earlier answers just pumps air from the surrounding environment into the tank. As such you are effectively trying to inject a 0.03% CO2 into your tank. The diffence is that when you inject CO2 you are trying to inject 100% CO2 (pure). That's an increase of 3333% or 33 times. Also, when you inject CO2 you usually have some sort of device to keep the bubbles in contact with the water for as long as possible. By doing this you try to get as much CO2 to dissolve into the water as possible before the bubble gets to the water surface and goes back into the atmosphere.

One problem with CO2 in the tank is that water easily gives up it's CO2 content through the water's surface. As such, if you use an air pump you make the water's surface area bigger by agitating it. This allows the CO2 to escape more easily which is the exact opposite of what we want!

So, to summarise CO2 injection and the use of an air pump are very different!

WK