A CO2 system for the planted aquarium has 3 main parts and includes a number of useful accessories. This is one area where it is better to spend on quality parts, than to solve issues arising from using cheaper quality parts later on (problems such as leaking tanks or inaccurate tuning of CO2 injection rates). […]
The relationship between light and CO2 The key question is, when there is no CO2 injection, and CO2 levels are low, does having higher light increase growth rates? The answer is yes, though the increase in growth is no where as much as when there is injected CO2. This is demonstrated in the experiment below […]
If my fish are gasping, it must mean that my tank has high CO2 levels right? If fish are gasping at the surface, it is a sign of too much CO2 in aquarium at that point due to CO2 buildup. Immediate actions that one can take are to aerate the tank, and do a large […]
Excessive CO2 levels are stressful towards livestock When adjusting CO2 in a new tank, CO2 should always be tuned while one is near the tank and able to watch livestock reaction, which can reveal if the levels are OK or too high. This assumes that you have had the opportunity to observe the livestock at length, […]
1. Testing for the change in pH as CO2 is injected How do we know how much CO2 to inject into planted tank? As gaseous CO2 is dissolved in water, a small portion of it turns into carbonic acid, lowering the acidity of the water (which will cause the pH level to drop). CO2 levels can […]
There is widespread belief that only high-light tanks require injected CO2, or conversely that injected CO2 requires a pairing with high light. But, what about CO2 for low light planted tank? Plants benefit tremendously from CO2 in both strong & low aquarium lighting. This was proved conclusively in controlled experiments that plotted plant growth […]
THE VALUE OF GASEOUS EXCHANGE Gaseous exchange restores a tank’s dissolved gas levels to match those of atmospheric levels in line with gas pressure physics. For aquarist purposes, this means matching replenishing depleted oxygen levels in the tank as well as off gassing CO2 from the tank water if it is at an elevated level […]
The pH/KH chart is often used to get a reading of CO2 levels in the tank. However, many folks go about this the wrong way. If you are estimating CO2 levels using only 1 pH reading – then chances are you are getting an incorrect estimation of CO2 levels. This is an incorrect approach because […]
Why inject CO2? How do natural lakes/rivers work? The question that many beginners in this craft ask ‘ Natural rivers/lakes do not have a device that constantly inject CO2 for plants to grow, why do we need to do so in our planted tanks?’ The truth is that equilibrium levels of dissolved Carbon dioxide in our […]