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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V6 #173


* From: "Giancarlo Podio" <gp at isaconsulting_com>

I can't stop thinking about potential sources, I wonder if my in-laws would
mind being tubed up to the tank? ;-)


Make them earn their keep! They need to realize that we all are put on earth to provide CO2 for plants. :-)


I had never seen that article before, very interesting. Makes me think of
all that CO2 that is in the blow-up mattress in my living room, it took me
an hour to fill that thing up! Are there any substances we release while
breathing that could pose any problems? Does CO2 in the bag remain unchanged
over time? (another words, if I were to deflate my mattress after a week or
so, would the CO2 and other elements be the same as the first day?

I am sure we don't release anything dangerous to fish or or other inhabitants as long as we are alive. Even the most virulent halitosis isn't going to faze your fish. Your blood alcohol can't get anywhere near high enough without your dying first to bother the fish. You don't lower the O2 in the bag enough to cause the fish any problems, either.

CO2 slowly diffuses out of a plastic garbage bag. You should pump it in the tanks right after you blow up the bag. About a half a day later, there is noticeably less CO2 in the bag. Perhaps an inflatable mattress will keep the CO2 longer because it has much thicker plastic, but I wouldn't count on the CO2 to still be there after a week or two. You can blow up the bag quicker if you are doing some exercise, such as stepping up and down from a low stool or chair. You do not have to hold your breath and turn blue trying to get the percentage up. Five to six percent is all the CO2 we can tolerate, and the 3.5 to 4.0 percent we normally breathe out is plenty. It is around a thousand times the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere! I just took another reading with a Lamotte CO2 kit after doing some 15 gallon tanks, and I had 28 ppm CO2. Just ordinary breathing while you are looking at your tanks or reading a book is fine, but it takes 10 to fifteen minutes to fill the bag if you are not doing any exercise. We are breathing all the time anyway, why waste all of it?


--
Paul Krombholz in sunny, cool, central Mississippi