Re: [APD] CO2 use - off at night?

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

If your run at a steady state you run a lower CO2 flow rate
than if you are trying to raise the CO2 rate. So ifyou are
gong to use a solenoid and pH contorller, the flow rate is
set higher than it would be be to run 24/7. Same kind of
thing with CO2 off at night. You save some CO2 but have to
run a bit higher than otherwise to get up to desired
levels. So 12 hours off doesn't equate to 1/2 the CO2 use.
But it is a substantial savings in CO2 cost.

Otoh, ime, the pH in tanks that run CO2 24/7 tend to very
less than the accuracy of the controllers most often used,
about 0.2 units.

So all three ways work (there's also a 4th):

CO2 24/7  no extra parts to buy or wear out or fail but
uses more CO2

CO2 on/off with lights -- requires a solenoid but saves
CO2.  It might take a while to save up the $60 to pay for
the solenoid, perhaps as  long as the life span of the
solenoid. So you have to shop around to get a real long
term savings.

CO2 with pH controller, pH flutters between the on and off
set points, usually a small value and you use only the CO2
you need during the daytime but more thanyou need at night.


Wire the pH controller in seriies with a timer and you only
have the CO2 you need when you need it. But you have more
parts to fail and pay for with your CO2 savings.


Still, sometimes it's not what gadgets get done but the
doing that's fun.

Scott H. 


--- Mark Vanvick <mark_vanvick at choldings.com> wrote:
> I read in an issue of Aquatic Plants Digest that it is a
> good idea to turn off the CO2 at night.But I get the
> feeling that most of the people on this board don't do
> that.I have a wet/dry filter and use a lot of CO2 and
> turning it off at night would help.What do most of you
> folks do? Thanks.
> -Mark Vanvick
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants


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