# How does one regulate diy co2 at night?



## lailastar

Hello out there in APC!

I am wondering: if plants don't use the co2 at night, and pressurized co2 can be turned off at night and this is a good thing for the fishies- then how does one stop the diy co2 at night? Or is this an unnessary concern? I have been reading the horror stories about dead fishes en la manana. Please let me know your opinions....:typing:


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## turtlehead

You can't really regulate it... I just leave it alone 24/7, but some people do put air stones on at night to disperse the cos since plants don't utilize co2 at night.


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## John N.

Shutting off the flow of DIY CO2 is nearly impossible. Unless you're getting dramatic production of CO2, which typically isn't the case with DIY CO2, then you're okay to leave it 24/7. There is nothing to be concerned with especially with DIY CO2 hurting fish.

-John N.


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## eklikewhoa

i leave mine on 24/7 and have no problems with it. the only way i would see for you to regulate it is unplugging the air hose from the tank.


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## Andre002

You can put a heater in the yeast bottle, so you can warm it up during the day (not too hot).Just set it on a timer like a solenoid valve. It works great for me, just place the bottle somewhere cool.

Example:


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## lailastar

Andre002 said:


> You can put a heater in the yeast bottle, so you can warm it up during the day (not too hot).Just set it on a timer like a solenoid valve. It works great for me, just place the bottle somewhere cool.
> 
> Example:


What does the heater do? Does it help the production of co2 during the day? And then when it cools down at night, the quantity of co2 goes down? Your setup looks very interesting- would you mind telling me more about it and showing me what all of the pieces do? You have two bottles connected- I was under the impression only one was used? Is this a result of your past experience? Does this work better?


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## aquatic-store.com

What i used to do was just have a long peice of tubing on my diy co2 system and just pulled it out of the tank @ night.
If this is embeded into a reactor it makes it not feasable but if it is going into a powerhead for dispertion then it is an easy fix


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## TWood

Put a 'T' in the CO2 line. Put one end as low as possible in the tank, run the other through a solenoid valve and into the air. Put the solenoid on a timer so it is closed during the day and open at night. The CO2 will follow the path of least resistance into the air at night.


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## gnatster

Another option is an air pump on a timer opposite of the lighting. When the lights are on the air pump is off.


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## osiris

I run a sponge filter at night only, providing some surface agitation and water polishing as well.


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## yildirim

You can not just shut off the diy co2 at night unless you completely unplug it and prevent the presure build up in the generator. Anyway in fact it is not that much of an importance with DIY to be concerned and shut it at night. But I found a way for handling this problem at the diffusing and. For dissolving this gas to tha tank I use a small powerhead slightly headed downwards a few inches below the surface (which in daytime diffuses the gas well enough) and plugged the powerhead to the same time controler that controls the lights on/off time. So when the lights are off the powerhead will go off too and the gas will not be dissolved in the water and just bubble to the surface (which is so close) and leave. I use the same method for both my pressurised CO2 aquarium and DIY CO2 aquarium.

I hope it helps.


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## lailastar

*These are all fantastic ideas!*

Thanks so much erybody! :grouphug:
I will experiment around and see what works out best for the fish. I really like the yeast overflow idea- I had read Jimbos post about yeast in the tank and stinky tanks some others have had happen because of yeast overflow...that would work to stop it. eace:


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