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Old school co2 method.

Marc Davis

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16 Jul 2018
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Devon
Saw a youtube vid from aquarium coop. Cory visits a shop/gallery that never does water changes (very thick substrate/sand). Also, the shop used upside down water bottles and injected co2 into them and just let it dissolve very slower into the water over the course of the day. Surely this is the most efficient way of saturating the water with co2??

I've been doing this on my tank as well and in 1 week, my plants have gone truly amazing from where they were. I have 2x 2litre diy yeast co2 bottles. I squeeze the bottles in the morning and it fills up the in tank bottle/reservoir for the whole day.

Am I missing something? Why are more people not doing this. The co2 bubble diffusers make the water look a mess and lots is lost at the water surface. Is it purely an aesthetic thing that people are not wanting the reservoir in the tank?

Here is what I'm talking about.
 
Am I missing something? Why are more people not doing this. The co2 bubble diffusers make the water look a mess and lots is lost at the water surface. Is it purely an aesthetic thing that people are not wanting the reservoir in the tank?

I guess next to the easthetic part it's about optimalization.. In case working with an in tank diffuser to get optimal co2 conditions you need to spoil a part degassing via the surface again. Provided that you aim for the optimal 30ppm you waste more, but this number is not what you absolutely need its the optimal theoretical average we aim for.. Depending on what you grow and how you like it to grow you could suffice with 15ppm as well for equal results and have less waste. Using a good inline diffuser where the co2 bubbles have much longer water contact in the hose before they reach the tank will desolve beter and also produce less waste than in tank diffusers.

Whit the upside down bottle in the tank as stated in de video is maybe less than 1 litre co2 and it takes several weeks to diffuse by natural means over a rather small water surface contact. Doing some math without going nuts on my pocket calculator this will be adding very little co2.. Every tiny bit helps and can't be wrong the plants definitively will use it. The idea is absolutely ok, but with taking aesthetics into account i'm not so sure if it is that much more benefitial for your plant growth than without it.

It's something worth a try, would be an ideal experiment for in a sump hidden away from view.
 
Doing a quicky and not going completely to the bottom of it all neglecting temperature and stuff.. Having 1 litre of co2 in gasform hanging in a 50 liitre tank and if it takes 3 weeks to dissolve it should be adding less than 1ppm of co2 per hour. If this has obvious beneficial effects on plant growth only proofs we are overdoing it a bit with the generaly the more the beter adviced constant of 30ppm we all blindly follow.. :) Than it is in relation to the plant spp. we want to grow for the majority of us a complete waste..

Already thinking of a sump design with a seperate co2 compartment in it. Encreasing performance by encreasing surface area contact. It's peanuts to build in and nothing realy lost if it doesn't perform enough to write home about.. :) :couchpotato::hungry:

Oops i miscalculated it should 0.1 ppm per hour..
 
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Why are more people not doing this. The co2 bubble diffusers make the water look a mess and lots is lost at the water surface

Well in way we are when we have CO2 reactors as his are basically a CO2 reactor with with no flow, plus limited change in [CO2]. Efficient use isnt always to way to go as it takes so long.
 
At least CO² = 44.1 g/mol
1 mol gas is 22.4 litre volume neglecting temp for now.

44.1 / 22.4 = 1.96875 g/l = 1968.19 mg co2 in 1 litre gasform.

This all added over a periode of 3 weeks or 504 hours is 1968/504= 3,9 mg/h in a 50 liitre tank. 3,9/50= 0,078mg/l per hour.

Isn't it?
 
Maybe because it is an eye sore? Why spend money on a gorgeous tank, more money on hardscape and plants. Spend time making a gorgeous aquascape that looks natural, then putting a cock bottle cut in half in it..

I think it uses a lot more CO2 in your method, using half a litre per day as stated in one post is crazy, Ive 1 5kg extinguisher supplying 2 tanks for 3 months so far and its still got a lot of pressure in it.

Whilst for me I use both reactors and diffusers i find the reactor does a better job i like the look of a diffuser and enjoy the bubbles! Same as the twinstar I find it asthetically pleasing and relaxing.

Each to their own..
 
might need to turn the volume up a bit.
Darn and i thought it stoped with needing reading glasses.. :shifty: Now i'm on my way for a hearing aid as well.. :nailbiting::rolleyes:.. Thanks Tam.. :)

I have to to fill my 500ml bottle once a day.

That woul be a 1000 mg co2 per 24 hours to go easy on it. 41.5 mg/h on a 50 litre = 0.83 ppm/h Lets rock and roll..

I rather question the 30ppm rule than the .8ppm alternative. In for a try..

:)
 
Well low dose CO2 works, it will improve growth. I used a spiral diffusor and about 2 bps on my 400 gallon for a long time. Quite sure it improved growth:
9689364957_018e016a9e_c.jpg
38068787_00005295 by Ed Prust, on Flickr
 
Maybe because it is an eye sore? Why spend money on a gorgeous tank, more money on hardscape and plants. Spend time making a gorgeous aquascape that looks natural, then putting a cock bottle cut in half in it..

I think it uses a lot more CO2 in your method, using half a litre per day as stated in one post is crazy, Ive 1 5kg extinguisher supplying 2 tanks for 3 months so far and its still got a lot of pressure in it.

Whilst for me I use both reactors and diffusers i find the reactor does a better job i like the look of a diffuser and enjoy the bubbles! Same as the twinstar I find it asthetically pleasing and relaxing.

Each to their own..

COKE BOTTLE!
 
using half a litre per day

Thats half a litre gas.. It doesn't compare to half a litre presurized fluid co2 in the bottle. As said above 44 grams of co2 in gas form takes in 22 litre volume.
Than you need about 1000 litre volume to empty a 2000 gram (2kg) presurized co2 bottle. That would be 2000 half a litre bottles.. 1 a day is 2000 days or appr 3 years with 2kg co2.
 
Maybe because it is an eye sore? Why spend money on a gorgeous tank, more money on hardscape and plants. Spend time making a gorgeous aquascape that looks natural, then putting a cock bottle cut in half in it..

I think it uses a lot more CO2 in your method, using half a litre per day as stated in one post is crazy, Ive 1 5kg extinguisher supplying 2 tanks for 3 months so far and its still got a lot of pressure in it.

Whilst for me I use both reactors and diffusers i find the reactor does a better job i like the look of a diffuser and enjoy the bubbles! Same as the twinstar I find it asthetically pleasing and relaxing.

Each to their own..
It’s not for show tank. But if you run multiple planted tanks in a fish room or own a shop, it’s the only practical solution without running the nightmare of multiple hoses, regulators and cylinders.

Reactor and diffuser may provide efficient high co2 injection, but for low co2 injection, the old fashion is just as efficient. Plant growth is enhanced greatly with slight elevation of co2, so you get more bang for the buck by injecting low rather than high co2 and from that perspective, old fashion is relatively more efficient.
 
Maybe a completely crazy idea.. But seeing it function submersed, the co2 chamber full with co2 slowly fills from the open bottom up with water again while the co2 slowly dissolves. Than the floater in the bottle is your visual marker.

Now just thinking of vacuum? Placing that co2 chamber only an inch bellow the water line, suck it vacuum and it fills with water. Attach the co2 bottle and fill it with co2 from the top.. So the vacuum will be replaced with co2.

Will it vacuum up again and fill with water with the co2 dissolving?

If so there is no need to submerse the complete botlle in the tank..
 
Brilliant, I love experiments. I'm predicting that yes, it would fill with water, can't fill with air so it has to (I think). It's like the upside down dome/tank koi viewers - they use a dome on a floating raft.
 
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