# CO2 and Airstones



## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

Not sure if this belongs here or not. But to take a pole...

How many people run an airstone at night?

I do to bring the ph back up to 7.0 at the time of lights on. The CO2 solenoid then clicks on and brings the CO2 down to 6.5 by lights out with @ 5 BPS. My KH is 3-4. So just wondering if I am doing something right, something wrong and what others are doing. 

Plants are growing fine, but I think they could be growing faster....


----------



## John S (Jan 18, 2005)

now why do u want to bring the PH back up to 7 ?????? at night


----------



## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

respiration.. Plants take in O2 at night, without the airstone the ph would drop below 6.0 no O2 available to fish and kill everything....


----------



## John S (Jan 18, 2005)

am not to sure thats right cause if u got it set to a ph of 6.5 the your co2 should shut off at 6.5 ph and not drop the ph to 6


----------



## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

jdigiorgio said:


> respiration.. Plants take in O2 at night, without the airstone the ph would drop below 6.0 no O2 available to fish and kill everything....


Just turn off the CO2 at night, that's what I do and Amano does.
You do not need air stones at night.

If fish act weird, then add more surface current, you might need a tad more CO2 when the lightsd are on, but the tank will not need another device this way and the fish will be fine also.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com


----------



## JaySilverman (Jun 19, 2005)

Yea really, just turn off your co2 at night. You don't need an airstone.


----------



## Salt (Apr 5, 2005)

It is my personal opinion that if your tank is covered, you need airstones running all the time.



plantbrain said:


> Just turn off the CO2 at night, that's what I do and Amano does.


Given the original posters comments, this is quite a misleading statement... Amano runs aeration at night! That's what his Lily pipes are for!

If your tank is heavily planted and is covered, your DO levels will run very low at night as the plants take in O2 and give off CO2.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/water-parameters/18992-o2-level-measurements-ive-got-my-tank.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/15068-airstones-good-bad.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/21867-airstone-not.html


----------



## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

I started running an airstone at night because my Co2 is injected with the use of a PH controller. I have it set to 6.5. it obviously goes off at night when the CO2 hits 6.5. However, before I started using the airstone, with the mass of plants in the tank, my CO2 would drop to 6.0 by lights on at 1000 am. All I have are cardinals, Ottos and shrimp. All the cardinals would be at the top gasping for air and many of the shrimp would be hanging out at the top of the tank. (not sure if the shrimp thing is normal behavior or not at night). 

This is why I added the airstone. I could have sworn that I have read that many people do this and I believe it has been reccommended by Amano and others. I was just checking to see what other people do. I would rather waste some CO2 than loose fish and shrimp.


----------



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

CO2 dissolves very readily so the desired levels are reached pretty quickly if you have it turn on with the lights. Running the airstone at night is perfectly fine and helps to keep the surface of the water from getting that protein funk that looks like an oil slick. You can also run you outtake so there is slight surface aggitation. As someone already said..you'll have to turn the CO2 up a bit more if you do it that way.


----------



## jdigiorgio (Jan 29, 2004)

So am I the only one doing this????


----------

