mulita

I think this post has earned a Sticky position!..........Moderator!

ZooTycoonMaster

Great clip!

Although I took a look at your other videos and the very first one you posted was...strange

davemill

CO2 doesn't "build up" at night. If you measure the level every hour or two, you will see that it rises a few ppm at night, that's all. CO2 does not affect the level of O2 in the water, or vice versa. If you leave your pressurized C02 on all night, your pH stays a bit more constant, but that's not a big deal either. CO2 does not bother the fish at night.

Many people, myself included, have observed fish gasping at the surface at night or in the early morning in a plant tank with injected CO2. This usually occurs in a tank moderately or heavily stocked with fish. This is not caused by the CO2, but by the lack of surface agitation. Because most of us with injected CO2 also minimize the surface agitation to keep the CO2 in the water, we also lower the rate of O2 absorption into the water. During the night, plants absorb O2. The tank runs out of O2, even though it might have been supersaturated and pearling in the afternoon.

All of the following solutions cause some CO2 loss, but will quickly stop the fish from gasping at the surface:

1. Fewer fish. (like that's going to happen!)

2. Let your filter agitate the surface. My Eheim canister filter spray bar is vertical. If I let the top stream squirt over the top of the water, this is sufficient agitation to solve the problem. I don't like this solution, because it creates splatter in my open top tank. I also don't like the noise. The plant guru in our fish club loves this solution, and it works well for him.

3. Add a power head to agitate the surface. Use a timer to turn it on in the middle of the night and turn off when the lights come on. This is my current preferred solution, using a Maxi-Jet 600 power head.

FYI, I am only aware of two cases where CO2 built up in a tank causing harm: In the first case, a tightly fitting glass cover had been siliconed in place along the back to prevent jumpers, and was held down tightly in front by the weight of the light hood. Pressurized CO2 built up between the water and the glass, forcing preventing O2 from reaching the water surface. In the second case, a custom tank was fitted into a custom entertainment unit, which closed tightly. Same result.

stuckintexas

birthday party, what can i say? i didnt arrange it nor was i going to back out of it. sure, she wasnt the hottest thing ive ever laid eyes on but it was a good time. live a little.

btw, i really appreciate you notifying youtube of the content of the video. my first strike, ive never had any problems in the past with it...its not like i posted that video on these boards. you are the one who decided to go view my other videos. you saw the thumbnail and you chose to view it. i have a hard time understanding your problem.

niko

Oh c'mon!

This thread is meant to help cheap adults to enjoy the planted tank hobby. The link to StuckInTexas' video of his aquarium did not lead to anything questionable. And he surely didn't get into this hobby with the secret intent to lead unsuspecting people to view certain "video materials".

Let's keep this thread true to it's topic.

--Nikolay

epicfish

If it wasn't 14 pages long, I'd go through this thread and see if anyone made any modifications to your original design in the first post, Niko.

Otherwise...do you know if any other mods? I want to order anything I need to save on shipping.

Thanks.

epicfish

Nevermind. Just thread through the thread.

niko

Here it is, the legendary cheapskate reactor, in a planted tank designed by Takashi Amano himself. Except that he forgot to put the sponge over the outflow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA7lTBslmmw&fmt=18

Sorry, just had to post this after learning that adding "&fmt=18" at the end of the youtube URL results in a higher quality video.

--Nikolay

luckydud13

Hey, I know this is old, but when you modify it, does it still filter the water or not? THX

niko

Since we take the sponge from the intake and move it to the outtake there is still some filtration but:

1. The flow is much stronger and bacteria does not like that (has a hard time attaching)
2. CO2-rich water does not helpt the Oxygen loving bacteria.

Of course you can put another sponge in the inflow chamber.

--Nikolay