titan97

I haven't the $$ to invest in a pressurized CO2 system. Maybe Santa will be nice to me this X-mas. Anyway, I'm therefore using a DIY system compromised of 2x2L bottles connected to the intake of my Eheim. I went from 10ppm with my simple bell diffuser to way over 60ppm with the Eheim. Of course, now my fish hover near the surface of the tank. I have hooked up an air stone to a timer that turns on when the lights turn off at night, blowing off a large portion of the CO2. The air pump runs only for 2 hours, allowing the CO2 to build up for the remainder of the night and be near optimal conditions in the morning. My question is this:
What can I do to reduce the CO2 during the day, but still to a good amount for the plants? I thought of moving the spray bar output of the Eheim closer to the surface and/or pointing it in a direction to get more agitation? Or perhaps install a Tee in the airline for the air stone and use a valve to bleed off some of the air, reducing the amount that gets used to agitate the tank?
In the near future (2 to 3 weeks), I'll be finished with my DIY ODNO lighting system and go from 1.8WPG to over 4WPG. I hope this will increase the rate of photosynthesis in the plants, and use them to generate more O2 for the fish. Assuming that will help, what do I do until then?

Anyone, anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

-Dustin