O2 vs CO2

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chenyi

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
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Based on my research, I want to have a calm surface to minimize CO2 escaping. But at the same time, I want to have a choppy surface to dissolve oxygen. How do I navigate that?

I have a HOB filter, so my water is always choppy. Could that be why my plants don't do well? Should I test the CO2? Does it even make sense to add a CO2 system or would it escape too quickly?
 
Based on my research, I want to have a calm surface to minimize CO2 escaping. But at the same time, I want to have a choppy surface to dissolve oxygen. How do I navigate that?

I have a HOB filter, so my water is always choppy. Could that be why my plants don't do well? Should I test the CO2? Does it even make sense to add a CO2 system or would it escape too quickly?
You need to have that choppy surface for the water to get oxygenated and your fish need that so you need to find a happy medium with your CO2 system and that means you need to test the CO2 level. Not all plants need the extra CO2. Whether that's the reason you are having plant issues will require a lot more information about your setup. There are a lot of plants that don't need added CO2. (y)
 
I have a 10 gallon tank. Just 2 small fish at the moment - a pleco and a rasbora. The other 2 rasboras died when I went on vacation because the house smart thermostat lowered my whole house to 56 degrees. I think the little aquarium heater didn't have the wattage to compensate. One big java ferns lace in the middle. Aqueon light. Gravel base. The pH is 6.4. Ammonia and nitrites are minimal. I have been adding nitrogen, so Nitrates are around 40, but that was zero too.
 
Dissolved gases in the water naturally find equilibrium with the gases in the atmosphere. Surface agitation promotes better gas exchange towards this equilibrium. If the dissolved gases are higher than this equilibrium they will offgas into the atmosphere. If dissolved gases are lower than this equilibrium then gases will be absorbed from the atmosphere. This works the same for both O2 and CO2. It isnt the case that O2 being absorbed into the water causes CO2 to offgas or vice versa. They will both find their equilibrium points more readily with good surface agitation.

If you are injecting CO2 into the water, surface agitation will cause it to offgas because the concentration is higher than the equilibrium. Poor surface agitation will trap dissolved gas, slowing down the offgassing. So you are right that filters that cause a lot of surface agitation arent the best with injected CO2. Canisters are good combinations with injected CO2. If you arent injecting CO2 then good surface agitation will promote gas exchange and O2 and CO2 will be absorbed into the water. With poor surface agitation, neither O2 or CO2 can be easily replenished as they get used up by fish and plant respiration.

With injected CO2 systems, you want low surface agitation when the lights and CO2 are on to prevent the CO2 from off gassing. Plant respiration will keep the water oxygenated, and the low surface agitation will prevent the O2 offgassing. When lights and CO2 are off, you want good surface agitation to keep the water oxygenated, so you turn on airstones at night.

If you arent injecting CO2 you want good surface agitation all the time, to keep O2 concentrations good for the fish, and CO2 good for any plants you might have.
 
I have a 10 gallon tank. Just 2 small fish at the moment - a pleco and a rasbora. The other 2 rasboras died when I went on vacation because the house smart thermostat lowered my whole house to 56 degrees. I think the little aquarium heater didn't have the wattage to compensate. One big java ferns lace in the middle. Aqueon light. Gravel base. The pH is 6.4. Ammonia and nitrites are minimal. I have been adding nitrogen, so Nitrates are around 40, but that was zero too.
One thing that might be causing an issue with your plants is carbon. Terrestrial plants get their carbon from atmospheric CO2. A lot of the commonly kept, low demand aquarium plants have 2 states of growth. When emersed rather than submerged, they too get their carbon from atmospheric CO2, but when fully submerged their growth changes to one that gets their carbon from carbonate hardness (KH). Your pH is low, which would also be a sign of low KH.
 
Oh yeah...remove that algae!
My question: did the Rasboras die due to temperatures or "overgassing" of CO2. As @Aiken Drum mentioned your pH is low (see chart). I inject CO2 according to the KH of the aquarium water. So, if my KH is 6.0 and my pH is 7.0, I am in the "safe" zone. Now, looking at your pH value of 6.4: if your KH is 2.5 or greater you may be injecting too much CO2.
 

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