CO2 and surface agitation

[chubasco]

Tom and fellow members,
I'm wondering how much surface agitation you can get away with, without
depleting CO2? Does the most minute agitation blow off CO2? Or does it take
a lot? On some of my tanks I have these homemade de Bruyn filters that act
like mini wet/dry filters:




This filter is air-powered where the water is transported up to the raingutter
by sponge filter, then drips back into the tank like gentle rain. Even without
CO2 injection, DIY or otherwise, plants grow slow, but healthy growth. Would
like to experiment with a few of these setups with DIY CO2, but if this filter
is going to drive off the CO2 injected....what's the point. All comments are
appreciated.

Bill

[chubasco]

How do you post pics?? I use smugmug.com and haven't had this problem
before....

Bill

[travdawg]

Wow, thats kinda neat....

I dont know anything about the question, but would like to see some up close pics of that tank!

[chubasco]

Wow, thats kinda neat....

I dont know anything about the question, but would like to see some up close pics of that tank!

Travdawg, unfortunately, the pic was taken last year and I'm currently
overhauling that tank: had just black lava rock in the bottom with anubias,
java fern, different kinds of mosses, hornwort and najas. It was a breeding
tank for Aphyosemion australe orange killies (you can just make out a pair
in the middle of the tank), and I will be laying in a substrate and covering
the white filter in dark adhesive vinyl and using a glass cover instead of fluorescent eggcrate panel. The lighting is homebrew, too, and I may change it. These filters are ugly, but the killies love them, at least they seem more active, and the extra O2 they provide, help when summer temps rise.

Regards,

Bill

[PeterGwee]

Bill, you are sure going to lose CO2 from that filter setup. (Your scenario is pretty much like the overflow from the main tank for a sump filter. Reduce the distance from the overhead unit to the surface of the tank water will help in reducing the loss.) How much you can get away from the loss depends alot on the efficiency of the CO2 reactor unit. A lousy unit is not going to cut it though.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[chubasco]

Peter, the raingutter part sets down in the tank where there's only 1/4-1/2"
space between it and the surface. I'm surprised how well (but slow) the plants
grow thinking I'm driving off what little CO2 there is. I'll probably want to do
Tom's nifty reactor rather than a ladder, right? Turbocharged CO2 injection

Bill

[jonathan11]

Bill- Great looking stand you've got that tank on- looks gorgeous- aren't you a bit afraid of spilling water?

[chubasco]

Hi,
It's an old Japanese chest (1921) where the front is all kiyaki wood (zelkova).
I bought it for $400 overseas in Iwakuni Japan, duty free, in 1990. Kind of silly to have such homemade stuff ($10 10g Walmart tank, etc) but I will be sexing it up a little and hope to post pics. The wood is richly grained in a burnt red-orange color that doesn't show in the pic. I try to be careful during WCs.

Bill