Another CO2 Injection Question

[ASpec]

I'm setting up another 58 gallon reef ready tank to try my hand with a planted tank. Got a great deal on another 58 RR I could not pass up.

I'm going to do pressurized CO2 injection. Still buying all the necessary equipment so I wanted to ask now before I finish buying.

I'm going to utilize the fact the tank is reef ready (hide all my equipment under the tank). How do you recommend I inject the CO2 into my tank? I'm going to put a wet/dry under the tank, drain from the tank overflow and return it with a Mag 5 pump. Heaters will be located in the wet/dry (again, to keep equipment out of sight).

I was thinking about purchasing an AquaMedic Reactor 1000 and using a MJ1200 in the wet/dry to feed water to the reactor/mix the CO2 and return it directly to the tank. Since the overflow box has 2 "knock outs" I was going to return the wet/dry (filtered) water though 1 and the CO2 injected water though the other.

As for lighting, I have a 36" 192 watt PC Coralife fixture. 10K bulb and a 6700 bulb.

I realize using a wet/dry I'll lose some of my CO2, but I really like the look of my aquariums when all the filtration/equipment is out of sight and figure since I am using pressurized CO2 I may be able to make up for some of this loss?

Anyone want to chime in here and give me your thoughts/suggestions on my plan? Or even throw your own ideas out there.

 

[czcz]

Heres a thread that may help: http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=51865&highlight=wet+dry+co2

If you seal the wet/dry you'll minimize gassed off CO2, but you'll limit O2 exchange too, so wet/dry becomes pretty pointless. How about submerging the drain output but keeping the sump? Keeps your goals and is a little more efficient.

 

[ASpec]

Thanks for the link to the other thread. Very good information in that thread.
However, there seems to be no hard fast rule which states a wet/dry is not a good idea, at least not in the mentioned thread or by other threads I've read.

Question though... What do you mean by "submerging" the drain pipe? I'm not following you on this. The overflow kit which came with the tank uses the newer, dorso type drain pipe.

 

[czcz]

Yeah, as vinnymac has shown you can just crank the CO2 and keep wet dry. At your wpg with CF you'll need to keep all the CO2 you can get, but as long as you reach your target (~30ppm), how you got there isn't important. Also keep in mind that a healthy high light tank reaches O2 saturation easily, as shown by pearling. Wet/dry isn't wrong, its just that much of what it does (O2 saturation, great nitrification) is already done by plants, and so a simpler sump is more efficient for high light planted. Cheaper, too. Just my two cents.

Was suggesting you extend the drain pipe until the output is under water. Instead of a wet dry, biomedia would also be under water. I use a Durso standpipe too and did it this way for several months, btw. I now run it with no cap on the top of the T and have no noise and high flow rate, fwiw. If interested, I inject CO2 immediately after my Mag and use the return pipe as a reactor chamber: works great.