Has anyone ever used passive CO2?

[dcutl002]

Greetings, I have a Low-tech 10 gallon planted Betta tank and am looking for a way to boost CO2. I have read a lot pertaining to using CO2 bells and realize that this will not be as good as a pressurized system. Basically, it is a inverted plastic bell stuck on the glass with suction cups. Some say it works and some say it does not, but they usually have bigger tanks. I just want a little CO2 supplement for the plants and am not really interested in going 30 ppm.

So, has anyone ever used passive CO2 before? What was your experience?

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Greetings, I have a Low-tech 10 gallon planted Betta tank and am looking for a way to boost CO2. I have read a lot pertaining to using CO2 bells and realize that this will not be as good as a pressurized system. Basically, it is a inverted plastic bell stuck on the glass with suction cups. Some say it works and some say it does not, but they usually have bigger tanks. I just want a little CO2 supplement for the plants and am not really interested in going 30 ppm.

So, has anyone ever used passive CO2 before? What was your experience?

I have seen this method used before and it does work. Granted, you will not be getting the level of co2 diffusion that you would expect with a pressurized system with a ceramic diffuser. For a low tech 10 gallon you should be perfectly fine. I will say, in order to utilize this system you will need a co2 tank along with a simple regulator to refill the bell so I think that simply going for a co2 regulator with diffuser setup may be preferable just for the sake of limiting manual work.

 

[mattoid]

I used one in a 7.5 gallon years ago, it was a bit unsightly... I didn't notice any difference after about 3 or 4 months and ended changing to high tech anyway as I wanted to see change - I was probably a bit impatient. The draw back for the one I had is that I had to manually release the CO2 from the bell after the lights went out or the CO2 would continue to dissolve. Most likely not big issue with the amount it gave, but an air stone on a timer for lights out time would help the exchange. I didn't think of doing that at the time though... A smaller bell would look nicer, but then you would end up compromising on the CO2/water area for dissolution.