FishProfiles.com Message Forums

i've been a member for years but finally bought a house and im able to setup my tanks permanently. For my 30gal i want to have it heavily planted, i'm in the process of setting up my CF lights, and then adding flourite and then sand on top, but i've been reading a lot about Co2 injection and my question is why is it that we have airpumps that inject o2 for the fish and then turn that off and inject Co2 for the plants, how will the low o2 and high Co2 effect the fish?

i've been a member for years but finally bought a house and im able to setup my tanks permanently. For my 30gal i want to have it heavily planted, i'm in the process of setting up my CF lights, and then adding flourite and then sand on top, but i've been reading a lot about Co2 injection and my question is why is it that we have airpumps that inject o2 for the fish and then turn that off and inject Co2 for the plants, how will the low o2 and high Co2 effect the fish?

I don't think I would try to cap the flourite with sand. Once you start planting the tank or rescaping the two different substrates are going to become mixed. I would personally go with strait flourite.

Before you add flourite to your tank make sure you rinse it really really well. I add a few handfuls of flourite to a large fine mesh net and then run water over it until it runs clear. After that I will add it to the tank. Once you have it all rinsed you will need to fill the tank really slow. Use a small plate or plastic lid to let the water hit before it hits the substrate. These things will help prevent you from having a chocolate milk looking tank.

CO2 and O2 - The bad thing about air pumps when you are trying to get CO2 into your tank is that the surface agitation allows the CO2 to degas back into the atmosphere where your aquatic plants can't use it.

Just because you turn off your air pump doesn't mean you will have low O2. Plants, during the day produce O2. In fact sometimes they might produce so much that it can't dissolve into the water any more and you will see little air bubbles form on the leaves of the plants.

The biggest issue that I have seen with adding CO2 to an aquarium is making sure you don't crash your pH. As the mix of CO2 and water make a carbonic acid. If you stick with about 30ppm you will be fine. I have ran mine as high as around 70ppm and the fish were still fine.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

thanks, ya that might be put on the back burner if this deal with a 250gal goes through