Can anyone advise if it is beneficial to pump oxygen into a planted tank after lights off? Since plants will compete with fishes for oxygen after lights off, I thought it might be beneficial (at the very least not harmful) to aireate the water after dark. However, most LFS owners advised against doing so for planted tanks without providing any justifiable reasons (other than wasting electricity or sufficient oxygen present already).
Grateful for your thoughts.
offhand i can think of a few reasons
pressurised oxygen is not a good thing to have in your house
in case of a leak, even a smouldering cigarette will turn into a raging blaze
oxygen will render some plant nutrients inaccessible
if you're using an automatic fertiliser (eg eheim liquidoser) it's not that much of an issue
but when you fertilise infrequently this could be a problem
Passion through Apisto
But why does ADA uses O2 in the tank?
Cheers!
Benetay
*shrug*
very high fishload?
$$ to spare?
no need to consider household safety?
I don't think it is necessary if you maintain a proper balance of fish load and plants.
If there's too much fish and you see them at the surface gasping for air in the morning, then you should aerate the water at night.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Jinxed fishy photographer
[Specialist]
in case of a LPG leak, can explode... in case of a Co2 leak, CO2 can suffocate you... in case of a tank leak, your home will become swimming pool...
my point is, there are danger all around the house, you will have to justify whether the danger is necessary. I dun see how much more dangerous can a O2 tank be than a CO2 tank in a well-ventilated room.
But i suspect you are not refering to pressurised O2 but bubbling just air into the tank. in that case, it is alright and some people find it necessary to do so.
Everyone - thanks for your thoughts so far. I am not proposing to use pure oxygen but more of an airpump.
Among all the reasons provided, I take the losing of plant nutrients arising from aerating the water after dark most seriously. Is this a known fact and what sort of nutrients will I lose?
FYI, I am using Dennerle products - primarily V30, E15 and Gold7.
Tx
CK
Jinxed fishy photographer
[Specialist]
Fe and Cu can get oxidised, but these are usually chelated so it is not an issue. You get more O2 saturation from photosynthesis alone than bubbing O2 into water. These are TRACE elements anyway, though important, I feel that their role is over-rated by companies selling these additives.
So is it still advisable to put in oxygen? i just use those normal aquarium airpump with an airstone... i on it 24 hours.i don find any difference in the tank... plants are growing very well, riccia is bubbling crazily... so the who question is: what does an explosion got to do with the airpump? please clarify and advise
Certain members took my question of aerating the water to mean pumping of pure oxygen into the tank. As such, the keeping of an oxygen tank at home for this purpose is a potential fire hazard.
The other way of aerating the water is simply to use an air pump - but this pumps other gases found in the environment (including CO2 and Nitrogen) into the tank as opposed to pure oxygen.
Since you use an air pump - have you found experienced any negative effect on your planted tanks? Any loss of nutrients such that you have to use excessive fertilisers?
Tx
CK
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On 4/15/2002 12:45:01 AM
So is it still advisable to put in oxygen? i just use those normal aquarium airpump with an airstone... i on it 24 hours.i don find any difference in the tank... plants are growing very well, riccia is bubbling crazily... so the who question is: what does an explosion got to do with the airpump? please clarify and advise
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i believe EDTA chelates degrade under strong light----------------
On 4/14/2002 12:09:01 PM
Fe and Cu can get oxidised, but these are usually chelated so it is not an issue. You get more O2 saturation from photosynthesis alone than bubbing O2 into water. These are TRACE elements anyway, though important, I feel that their role is over-rated by companies selling these additives.
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and yes, it's a definite given, as shown by plants bubbling
an air pump will do fine
using pure oxygen, well, *shrug*, there isn't really a point
This is interesting. Do you fertilise with CO2? From what I read so far about planted tanks, aeration will get rid of a lot of the CO2 in the water. Which means plant get less of the gas. And if your Riccia still bubbles like that, it means it is still getting sufficient CO2 somehow.----------------
On 4/15/2002 12:45:01 AM
So is it still advisable to put in oxygen? i just use those normal aquarium airpump with an airstone... i on it 24 hours.i don find any difference in the tank... plants are growing very well, riccia is bubbling crazily... so the who question is: what does an explosion got to do with the airpump? please clarify and advise
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I think I shall try to see if it also happens in my tank.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Jinxed fishy photographer
[Specialist]
Yes, EDTA degrades under strong light. But it is not so light sensitive that everything degrades when you turn on the light. Anyway, the EDTA HAVE to degrade in a aquarium... whether it is by light or biological action. If not, the build-up will have the opposite effect on the availablility of the chelated ion.----------------
On 4/15/2002 2:38:24 AM
i believe EDTA chelates degrade under strong light
and yes, it's a definite given, as shown by plants bubbling
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Bubbling air does rid the water of excess CO2, but it maintains the atmospheric amount of 3-4ppm CO2 in water.
beagle: why not stick to the trad. method of switching your airpump only after lights out? maybe switch it on at night before you sleep and off when you wake up the next day? personally all I do is have a rainbar with a valve and the rainbar is directed towards the water surface. (pointing up) and I switch it on at nite and off in the morning. since it uses outflow from my cannister, it's free aeration for me. and I"ve quite heavy fishload about 60 fishes excluding shrimps in my tiny 72 L tank but so far so good!
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This is interesting. Do you fertilise with CO2? From what I read so far about planted tanks, aeration will get rid of a lot of the CO2 in the water. Which means plant get less of the gas. And if your Riccia still bubbles like that, it means it is still getting sufficient CO2 somehow.
I think I shall try to see if it also happens in my tank.
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Yes, i do fertilise with co2, i'm using the Dennerle 30 mini flipper set.
raytan: Care to share what is your pH and kH? Want to deduce the amt of CO2 in your tank. Cheers!
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
If i am not wrong, i checked my PH a few days ago, before the water change was 6.5. i'm not sure how much will that be after i made the water change and adding of gold7. will check tonight at about 9 and post the results in here.
Using air pump at night will drive out CO2 fast... if your tank has high KH... pH will rise fast too... not tried it myself... well just reasoning it theoretically.
O2 will also be sort of super-saturated when light just go off. Air pump will also drive out O2.
Just my S$0.02.
BC
hi juggler,
my ph is 6
kh is about 7-8
hi all,
O2 can be produce by adding a little bit of blood(as a catalyse) into hydrogen peroxide. It can be injected into the water using the same method as diy CO2. Maybe someone would like to experiment it? []
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