Question for you Co2ers

[Dominick]

Ok i have a small setup i think its by redsea not sure anyways
it uses Co2 tanks from paintball guns and to be honest im happy with it
only downfall to it is i cant find a solenoid to turn the Co2 off at night
and my fish are telling me i have to

anyways has anyone seen a solenoid that will accept the small airline tubing?
thats seems to be the only way you can hook one up.

TIA

 

[rich311k]

The alternative is to run an airstone at night on a timer. I have no idea about the solenoid, but the airpump at night method would probably be cheaper.

 

[Zezmo]

For solenoids, don't look at aquarium sources. Look at industrial sources.

Here from MSC industrial Supply (very reputable) is an A/C powered Normally Closed solenoid. This is an industrial quality unit. It has an NPT type thread so you can put a hose barb or a compression fitting to put it inline with your 1/4" CO2 line. ($38.68)

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=3429167&PMT4NO=12080952

 

[mr funktastic]

i would say run the air pump ona timer. a pump is like 10 bucks and a timer is like 5. easy and cheap and just as effective.

 

[wobbles]

Yeah an airstone I think is your best option. If you turn off your co2 at night your ph will rise too much.

 

[hashbaz]

In defense of Zezmo's solenoid - I think it would pay itself off quite quickly based on the cost and frequency of refilling paintball CO2 tanks.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yeah an airstone I think is your best option. If you turn off your co2 at night your ph will rise too much.

As for my preference, the solenoid would be best, as it will conserve the CO2 and you won't need to refill as often. Also, the ph change won't hurt the fish at all. It's only the ph change due to a kh change that will hurt the fish, not a CO2 change.

 

[wobbles]

Yeah an airstone I think is your best option. If you turn off your co2 at night your ph will rise too much.

As for my preference, the solenoid would be best, as it will conserve the CO2 and you won't need to refill as often. Also, the ph change won't hurt the fish at all. It's only the ph change due to a kh change that will hurt the fish, not a CO2 change.

Ok. My ph changed from 6.6 to 7.6 the only time i switched it off overnight. Perhaps im doing something wrong???

 

[Purrbox]

Yeah an airstone I think is your best option. If you turn off your co2 at night your ph will rise too much.

As for my preference, the solenoid would be best, as it will conserve the CO2 and you won't need to refill as often. Also, the ph change won't hurt the fish at all. It's only the ph change due to a kh change that will hurt the fish, not a CO2 change.

Ok. My ph changed from 6.6 to 7.6 the only time i switched it off overnight. Perhaps im doing something wrong???

You're not doing anything wrong. With changes in CO2 level, there will be a change in pH. Since you turned off the CO2 overnight, obviously a fair amount of CO2 gassed off causing your pH to rise by 1.0. The point is that this change was caused by a change in CO2 which will not harm your fish. It's only when pH changes as a result of changes in other things like KH that it is harmful to fish. More people test for pH than the other things like KH so most associate the harm as coming from the pH itself rather than the change in KH which caused the change in pH.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yeah an airstone I think is your best option. If you turn off your co2 at night your ph will rise too much.

As for my preference, the solenoid would be best, as it will conserve the CO2 and you won't need to refill as often. Also, the ph change won't hurt the fish at all. It's only the ph change due to a kh change that will hurt the fish, not a CO2 change.

Ok. My ph changed from 6.6 to 7.6 the only time i switched it off overnight. Perhaps im doing something wrong???

Nope, you didn't do anything wrong. With the CO2 off, the excess CO2 will gas off and your ph will rise back to it's initial levels. This will not hurt the fish because you did not add anything to the tank to change the kh, such as ph up and ph down, and other chemicals. The only thing you are changing is CO2 levels, which will not affect the fish.

 

[MiamiE]

Ok I have this Red Sea system on the way also. I need to buy an air stone to run it at night right. I dont understand the concept though.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The concept of the ph or the CO2 levels and ph? If it's the CO2, to try and make it easy, if kh remains the same and you increase CO2 levels, the ph will go down. If kh remains the same and CO2 levels decrease, the ph will rise.

If it's the airstone, at night when running an airstone, there will be lots of surface aggitation, which will allow the CO2 to gas off much faster, as the plants are not using CO2 at night. So you don't want the CO2 levels to get too high.

I personally run surface aggitation all the time, 24/7. And I have my CO2 turning on in the morning and off at night. It's just better for the fish. And some say you shouldn't run surface aggitation while injecting CO2. Well, I noticed that I didn't have to up my CO2 much at all to maintain the same CO2 levels with the aggitation as I did with no aggitation.

 

[MiamiE]

Ok what do you mean by surface agitation? My filter cant agitate the water enough on its own?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

It depends on the filter. If it's a HOB, then you will have some surface aggitation, yes. But depending on which HOB, might not be enough unless you lower the water level to create more splashing.

Surface aggitation is anything that disturbs the surface of the water and creates ripples and waves, and even bubbles. It's the disturbance that counts.

 

[MiamiE]

Ok so I should invest in a pump and air rock then. Good to know because I would have never done that had I not been informed today!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Another option is a small powerhead and have the output directed up at the surface at a slight angle, to create a slight rooster tail effect on the surface and waves going out from it. I have that on my 29G. And for my 75G I have an airstone.

 

[Dominick]

This is the one i bought

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18478/si1431675/cl0/redseaco2prosystempaintball

its the one with out the Solenoid boy oh boy am i kicking myself for that one
now i need a standalone Solenoid dose come with a reactor that i am quite pleased with

here are my otos hard at work or hardly working not sure