# Aeration at night through lilly pipes



## kkau1 (Jun 22, 2006)

Hi,

I've been having trouble keeping enough O2 in my tank through the night. When i try to raise my lilly pipes higher to get more agitation the suction cups never hold it up long. Has anyone tried somehow running an airpump into the filter tubing on the output? Or is there anything like that that you can buy?

Thinking of getting one of those tubing adapters that Home Depot have, the plastic kind and drilling a hole in there on the side, then somehow attatching a nipple that i could then attach an air pump to.

Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

If you lower the water level a 1/2 inch or sow, you can get the affect of the lily pipe without it having to stay in place all night.
Wouldn't be ideal if you have a rimless tank though as it can look ugly when not full


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Adding an air stone in a tank gets more oxygen into the water by agitating the water surface, not by dissolving oxygen from the air bubbles. Oxygen is nowhere near as soluble in water as CO2 is, so the air bubbles get to the water surface fast enough that very little oxygen can dissolve from them into the water. 

This means adding air bubbles to the filter return flow is not going to add much oxygen to the water. An airstone in the tank, on only at night, would do far better.


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

hoppycalif said:


> Oxygen is nowhere near as soluble in water as CO2 is,


This is strange, why does CO2 dissolve into the water better than O2? Do the carbon atoms bond better with the water molecules or something like that?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

foofooree said:


> This is strange, why does CO2 dissolve into the water better than O2? Do the carbon atoms bond better with the water molecules or something like that?


That is a good question, but the answer is beyond the scope of this course. (That's how some professors used to answer some of my questions, years ago.) I'm sure the fact that CO2 chemically reacts with the water and the carbonates in the water has something to do with it, but how much I don't know.


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

hoppycalif said:


> That is a good question, but the answer is beyond the scope of this course. (That's how some professors used to answer some of my questions, years ago.) I'm sure the fact that CO2 chemically reacts with the water and the carbonates in the water has something to do with it, but how much I don't know.


And as my organic chem professor said "we do not have time to discuss that in this class but you do need a thorough knowledge of it before you can understand our current topic" 

Not that you need to know why CO2 dissolves more easily but it has been while since I've been able to use that quote, lol.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

I use a mazzei injector on the outlet of a filter (on a bypass line) to inject CO2. This could be done to inject air via an air pump. 

But as already stated CO2 is much more soluble than O2. This is due to CO2 having a lower Pgas than O2 in water. The lower pressure is due to the conversion of CO2 gas into nongaseous forms such as carbonic acid. 

So, because dissolving the air is not required, an injector is not needed. A simple three way connector and the appropriate adapter should be sufficient. A check valve should also be used to protect the line going to the air pump. The air should still be pushed out in the tank and generate surface agitation. An airstone is more practical if you do not mind the equipment in the tank. 

Another alternative would be to increase the water circulation in the tank.


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