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Diffusor means alot of surface agitation

Discussion in 'CO2 Enrichment' started by rafel, Feb 14, 2009.

  1. rafel

    rafel Junior Poster

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    I have some surface agitation in my 180g. I am using AM1000 CO2 reactor. My guesstimate is that the agitation is just enough without too much of CO2 degassing.

    I have read that plants seems to prefer those small bubbles that are produced by diffusor. Am I correct to say that, in a tank that uses diffusor (or Mazzei), degassing of CO2 thru surface agitation DOES NOT occur since CO2 is not in aqueous form, but instead in tiny bubble form ?

    If my assumption is correct, would it be safe then to have plenty of surface agitation in such tanks? ;)
     
    #1 rafel, Feb 14, 2009
  2. VaughnH

    VaughnH Lifetime Charter Member
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    You would be amazed to see how much surface agitation Tom has in his 180 gallon tank. Seeing his tank encouraged me to greatly increase the rippling that I get in my much smaller tank. I use a Koralia powerhead, aimed slightly up towards the surface to keep the entire surface of the water rippling.

    CO2 doesn't stay in solution in the water very long. Just as it is easy to dissolve CO2 into water, it comes out of solution equally easily. So, there is always a big loss of CO2 from the water surface. Agitating the surface increases its area by quite a bit, and keeps that water circulating, so that does increase the rate at which we lose CO2 from the surface.

    Because CO2 dissolves so readily in water, CO2 bubbles in the water add dissolved CO2 to the water too. You can't prevent that from happening.

    Fortunately CO2 is cheap, so we can always increase the bubble rate and compensate for whatever loss of CO2 we have at the surface. DIY CO2 is another story, but you can't use that for a 180 gallon tank anyway.
     
    #2 VaughnH, Feb 14, 2009
  3. rafel

    rafel Junior Poster

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    Thank you Hoppy.

    I wish I have the opportunity to look at his tanks :( . Anyway now I am more encourage to have more surface agitation.

    Actually my AM1000 is run by Eheim 2228 but I noticed that the flow into the reactor is too weak to power it. So I have stopped using it and decided to use a diffusor, just a tad smaller than the Rhinox 5000. And I do not hesitate at all after knowing that Tom too is switching to diffusor on his 180g http://www.barrreport.com/co2-aquatic-plant-fertilization/5311-co2-mazzei-vs-diffuser-disc-what-important-factors.html .

    However, in this thread http://www.barrreport.com/co2-aquatic-plant-fertilization/5361-aqua-medic-1000-120-gal-rhinox-5000-a.html , Tom recommended to have 2x diffusor for a 120g. I am only using one as my SunSun wavemaker (like Koralia 4) at 5000L blows those tiny bubbles to every corner of the tank.

    I have more than 7bps. I add 3tsp KNO3 and 1tsp KH2PO4 3x a week. Also 1/2 tsp CSM+B 3x a week. My setup is Iwagumi with HC and HG.
     
    #3 rafel, Feb 15, 2009
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