Wet/Dry filters a no-no for a CO2 injected tank?

[Abemas]

Since there is a lot of agitation created in a wet/dry filter as the water trickles into the unit (and therefore gas exchange)...are Wet/Dry filters avoided if a tank is planted and has C02 injection? If this is the case, is it better to use canister filters?

 

[squealor]

I have a wet/dry and I co2 inject. I try to keep the water levels high enough so that there is less agitation at the top. I think that canister may be better, but mine is doing great. My plants are doing really well and co2 levels are fine.[/i]

 

[TomK2]

Wet/dry filters let the water trickle over a surface so that there is really good gas exchange between the thin film of water and where the nitrifying bacteria live. The fact that there is biomedia that is not always submerged but is trickled upon is where the wet/dry moniker comes from? There usually are some biomedia completely submerged too. I would think that CO2 loss would be enhanced by wet dry. But what kind of wet/dry system are we talking about? A bio-wheel might not lower CO2, but I would think water cascading over a sump compartment filled with bio-balls would.

 

[jsoong]

It depends on how your wet-dry is set up. The biowheel & other open systems are prob worse for CO2 loss. If you have an enclosed sump & wet/dry, any CO2 outgassing would be trapped in the sump. The increased CO2 level in the sump would retard any CO2 outgassing. If your wet/dry/sump is totally air tight, It would prob work as a CO2 reactor & drive the CO2 into the water (but then you would also need to figure out a way to get O2 into your air tight sump also.)

I have not tried CO2 with my sump, but there are several web sites where the authors says it works.

 

[TomK2]

An airtight sump? Who would have thought?