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How long will 2kg last?

Sacha said:
Lee, based on that maths, your diffusion rate is very poor! You have the same size tank as me. 2 KG lasts me about 4 months. That is with a constant co2 concentration of 35 PPM (the upper limit before fish start struggling). Co2 is run for 11 hours daily. This is with a UP inline atomizer.
Are you using an in- tank diffuser? Do you have an surface agitation?
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Sacha! Dissolution of co2 in my tank is excellent, i'm dropping the pH by a full degree in the two hours before my lights on. Originally i did use an inline diffuser, which was very efficient. I eventually got sick of thousands of tiny bubbles floating around my tank though... So i built a DIY Co2 reactor, which is much more efficient, and no bubbles in the tank.

As sam says, surface agitation has a lot of benefits to flora and fauna. I do however have to inject slightly more Co2, but my fish are active and happy throughout the day.

Also Sacha, you said you are running co2 11 hours a day? That seems very excessive. Whats your photoperiod?
 
Sorry I doubted you mate- I guess the increased surface agitation would account for your using extra co2. I take it back!

My photo period is currently 11.30-22.30, and the co2 is on 10:00- 21:00.

I have recently increased the photo period by 1.5 hours in order to get more growth. So far I have not suffered any algae. I am doing this because I plan on add a carpet (Staurogyne Repens) in the next few days, and want it to get off to a good start.
 
Also, I too don't like the tiny Co2 bubbles floating around my tank.

How hard is it to make a DIY reactor? Do you think you could link me to a tutorial or something?

Cheers
 
Sacha said:
That is one theory, however I don't subscribe to it.

Yes, in the wild you will always have surface agitation.

This is not the wild. This is a controlled, contained, man- made environment.

The plants pump out loads of oxygen during the day, meaning the oxygen level in the tank is way more than in a non- planted tank. In a hi- tech co2 tank, the oxygen produced by the plants is more than enough, without additional oxygen from surface agitation.

That is my theory, and obviously this is all a matter of opinion. I guess we would have to measure oxygen to have more accurate information. Would be an interesting experiment...
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Many believe that a decent amount of surface agitation allows them to inject higher levels of co2, which makes for more healthy and faster growing plants.
Many also see a notable difference in livestock when surface is well agitated, as oppose to not.
 
Thanks Lee.

Nathaniel, I am trying my best to replicate the beautiful tanks I see from the likes of Tom Barr, George Farmer, and of course Amano. Even though Amano uses Lily Pipes, their setups usually minimize surface agitation, don't they?
 
Sacha said:
Thanks Lee.

Nathaniel, I am trying my best to replicate the beautiful tanks I see from the likes of Tom Barr, George Farmer, and of course Amano. Even though Amano uses Lily Pipes, their setups usually minimize surface agitation, don't they?
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Well Tom Barr runs a sump, so naturally that will be like having a lot of surface agitation alone.

Surface agitation obviously means more refills, but I think it's a good trade off.

People do different things for different reasons, some focus on livestock, which is normally why the surface agitation is increased. But as Long as your not breaking surface tension completely, you should still be able to maintain high co2 levels, even higher than normal. You'll probably get plants to pearl a lot easier too.

As for George, ask him what he does. I'm sure he will be more than happy to help you.
 
Since adding more surface agitation , my ph drop hasn't changed and my fish are more active during the photoperiod .


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I think Sacha has a point, the planted tank world has gone through many fads (like most hobbies) & obviously many methods give good results.
As far as I can work out via Tom Barr... adding extra oxygen allows more Co2 to be added without endangering the fish but, I don't really understand that?
Tom talks of 1.4 PH drop in his tanks!
Having no surface agitation certainly requires less Co2 to be injected & this was defiantly in vogue 20 years ago but the danger period was around lights off time when there were still high levels of Co2 & no oxygen being produced.
 
The thing is though we all know that every set up is 'different' and we all do similar or different things and get varied results , a method that works well on one set up may fail miserably on another and untill we all try each method for our selves then we can know for certain what works best .
As long as your plants and fish are healthy , does it really matter ..... No probably not .



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fz1ben said:
Hello people

I know it's like asking how long is a piece of string but if I give you a bit of tank info could you estimate a rough time a 2 kg fe will last.

My tank
125l
Hard water( May mix 50/50 ro)
I'll be switching co2 off at night
48w of lights
Hoping to plant heavily
I'll aim to keep around 30 ppm

If anyone could give me a rough idea or has a similar set up it would be great, just trying to work some costs out before I bite the bullet

Cheers
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this may be a useful thread :thumbup:
Just how much C02 do you use! | UK Aquatic Plant Society
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
I have a 3.5kg cylinder along with an up atomizer and Im pumping in as much CO2 as my fish can tolerate and its been running 22 months now :O !! Its got about a couple of weeks of CO2 left still. My fishy friends call it my magic co2 cylinder. I almost gave it for refilling last Christmas because I felt it had become very light and my CO2 filler was going to be shut for a week. Almost wasted a years worth of gas :D
 
Mortis said:
I have a 3.5kg cylinder along with an up atomizer and Im pumping in as much CO2 as my fish can tolerate and its been running 22 months now :O !! Its got about a couple of weeks of CO2 left still. My fishy friends call it my magic co2 cylinder. I almost gave it for refilling last Christmas because I felt it had become very light and my CO2 filler was going to be shut for a week. Almost wasted a years worth of gas :D
Click to expand...
How big is the tank


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I changed my first cyclinder last weekend. It was on for about 3 months. I think there was a little bit left but didn't want to risk it and one of my guages was dropping really low (although I think it was the working pressure one rather than the bottle guage, which hasn't moved from 40 lol)

I've quite a quick bubble rate!

 
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