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Oxygen in a planted tank.

andyh

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1 Jan 2009
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People of UKAPS! A question, wasnt sure where to post this?

Do i need oxygen in a tank overnight. I see from reading about Mr Amano, he raises his lilly pipe outlets to add O2 to the water for 14hrs overnight. I hear some people use a air pumps on a timer to come on once lights and co2 go off?

So my question is should i be doing it, is it worth it and why?

Don't go too techy on me either! :geek:
 
andyh said:
People of UKAPS! A question, wasnt sure where to post this?

Do i need oxygen in a tank overnight. I see from reading about Mr Amano, he raises his lilly pipe outlets to add O2 to the water for 14hrs overnight. I hear some people use a air pumps on a timer to come on once lights and co2 go off?

So my question is should i be doing it, is it worth it and why?

Don't go too techy on me either! :geek:

oxygen is always required within the tank - if not your fish will suffer. Raising the lily pipe at night will distrub the water surface allowing the residue Co2 to escape for the water. Co2 is not required during night time or hours of our darkness. If you tank is heavily stock then there may be a shortage of oxygen if the surface water has very limited movement - so yes it is worth doing. During tank light time the expelled gas from the fish is co2 is captured by the plant and they turn it into oxygen thus the fish use the oxygen and expelled gas is Co2 which is used by the plants.

Hope this answers your question.

There is a thread on here somewhere regarding this - I remember reading it as Andy (Coley1) had a lot to say about it.

Regards
paul
 
i read in PFK that plants at night take in 02 and give out co2 as a by product. so 02 levels will drop at night and co2 levels raise, so aireating at night is a good practice.
 
Yes it is good practice and one I would recommend, I dont think enough of us do it though as standard practice on all our tanks myself included.
 
zig said:
Yes it is good practice and one I would recommend, I don't think enough of us do it though as standard practice on all our tanks myself included.

i do it on autumn blush. have done from day one. thought I'd try it after seeing amano does it on every tank.

i've got the outlet in such a way, it pivots placing the angle bit of the head on the water line allowing the water to draw in air from the surface. it's the easiest thing in the world to do of a night and it keeps the surface like a mirror

_MG_2440-01.jpg
 
I keep mine raised 24/7 and turn up the CO2 a little more to compensate. If it were a case of raise/lower every day and the lily was under water in the day and a third above the water at night then I would either forget to lower it and lose the CO2 due to the injection being lower or forget to raise it anyway.

Doesn't do any harm by not raising it with a heavy fishload. I did that for a long time prior to raising it. I just found that water clarity improved visibly with more O in the water.

AC
 
SuperColey1 said:
I just found that water clarity improved visibly with more O in the water.

true. my co2 is on a solenoid also, so co2 off 1 hour before lights off....lights off, the add o2. the fish go mental when you add o2 :D

i'm not 100% sure if it helps, more than likely does, but this current tank of mine is the easiest i've kept in every sense, algae, growth....even with the high intensity lighting.

i just follow certain habits to the record and all things go good.
 
I use my powerheads to create a lot of surface disturbance 24/7. I have high CO2 and O2 with the lights on, and high O2 when they are off.

Dave.
 
saintly said:
zig said:
Yes it is good practice and one I would recommend, I don't think enough of us do it though as standard practice on all our tanks myself included.

i do it on autumn blush. have done from day one. thought I'd try it after seeing amano does it on every tank.

i've got the outlet in such a way, it pivots placing the angle bit of the head on the water line allowing the water to draw in air from the surface. it's the easiest thing in the world to do of a night and it keeps the surface like a mirror

We don't all use lily pipes though.

I bet not many people use or setup a seperate airpump for when the CO2 goes off at night thats really what I meant.

I think it should become standard practice for high light tanks in particular and included in all the "How to start a planted tank" manuals, I think its overlooked with all the focus on CO2, substrate, nutrients etc, we become blinded by the high tech science and get the basics wrong, just my opinion mind ;)
 
i just have my powerhead create a gentle ripple across the whole surface.

Glenn, plants are always respiring so they are always utilising O2, and releasing CO2 into the water, the amount they do utilise/ release is minimal so the fish arent affected.
Also remeber it is possible to have an enriched CO2/ O2 aquarium at the same time, so if plant health is good so will be the water quality :thumbup:
you will probably find CO2 gasses off quicker than the plants can raise the CO2 levels to deadly amounts.
 
I know it wastes a bit of CO2 but i have an airstone just under the intake to a powerhead on 24 hours a day.
 
Thanks guys, i have been away for a few days hence the delay in response. I am going to get an air pump on a timer. Was considering just lifting my return every night (but i will forget and travel a lot so automation is key.)

I will let you know how i get on. :thumbup:
 
I have often thought about doing it, but never have. I have never seen my fish struggle or upset by me not doing so, so its never been an issue. I think, if you really want your fish to be happy and do all you can for them, then I would say do it.
Some situations perhaps demand it, but thats up to the individual.

If I was to do it, I would use a nice glass diffuser, just because,lol

Andy, why not polish you air with one of these......ummmmm, nice aroma this air has..... :geek:

http://www.adana.co.jp/_e_product/46_index.html
 
Graeme Edwards said:
I have often thought about doing it, but never have. I have never seen my fish struggle or upset by me not doing so, so its never been an issue. I think, if you really want your fish to be happy and do all you can for them, then I would say do it.
Some situations perhaps demand it, but thats up to the individual.

If I was to do it, I would use a nice glass diffuser, just because,lol

Andy, why not polish you air with one of these......ummmmm, nice aroma this air has..... :geek:

http://www.adana.co.jp/_e_product/46_index.html

"Polish my air" Are you pulling my leg "Big G" It sounds very geeky! (right up my street!)

I have not seen any glass diffusers yet for O2 yet, as i believe that air pumps wont work with CO2 type diffusers (pressure not sufficient) I will see you guys at TGM sunday for the Oliver knott day!
 
andyh said:
I have not seen any glass diffusers yet for O2 yet, as i believe that air pumps wont work with CO2 type diffusers (pressure not sufficient) I will see you guys at TGM sunday for the Oliver knott day!
ADA do the o2 diffusers with bigger pores although ive also not seen any used on here
 
Mr Amano is correct but unfortunately there are few like him that have all day and all night to maintain our tanks, because of my unpredictable schedule all my tanks constantly have a koralia pump and lily pipe at the water surface with the koralia turned upwards to create a constant wave, this of course runs off a bit of the CO2 during the day but with roughly 2Bps for 100 Litres of water it is still plenty for the plants and at night it completely re-oxygenates the water.
 
Never use fragances. They have no testing done on any of them regarding both Human and Fish health over time.
In other words, they are exempt from toxicology testing(at least here in the USA :crazy: ).

If you stink or your tank does, clean it.

The phytocide is called high O2 :thumbup:

I think unless you measure O2 over the course of a day with a data logger, and say....CO2 at the same time, only then can you make some predictions about respiration of fish.

Here's an example from a mazzei driven Aquarium:
CO224.jpg


As you can clearly see, when you take the reading at one point in time does not tell you what is occuring really.
Same is true for O2.

Some aquariums likely have no such need for aeration at night or adjustment.
Amano's little bit about raising the lily pipe is reactionary......it is not about looking into why one aquarium vs another requires degassing, more O2 or understanding why fish gasp in one, but not the other/fish respiration etc.

This is why know why and looking into that, is important.
Very important if you ask me, it allows us to add more CO2, better O2 levels for fish etc.
CO2 kills more fish than any other single thing.

Amano has killed plenty of fish with CO2, ask him.
Read Book 1, he has an example and mentioned it.

In an ideal world, dosing daily, making adjustments daily sounds nice, but it's not realistic nor hardly everyone's goal.

Wiser to engineer things to account for human factors, errors and habits(all of which are different person to person).

Regards,
Tom Barr


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
I have taken the plunge and fitted an Air pump (eheim 200) and got it on a timer come on after lights out and goes off before the Co2 starts. Will give feedback on how its goes.

The ehiem air stone is a little different! Grey thing at the back.

web.jpg
 
Any feedback andyh after 1 year? :)

I didn't want to open another topic on this so I've posted here my questions:

What is the optimum oxygen level range in a high-tech planted tank? What is the best practice to keep that level? Does waste in external filters influences COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) or it's not relevant, if it is, how often should the canister be cleaned?

Cheers,
 
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