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Re: [APD] CO2 in the mist



>
Message: 8
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 22:27:56 -0400
From: "Terry Barber" <terbarb at alltel_net>
Subject: Re: [APD] CO2 in the mist
To: "aquatic plants digest" <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>

I am giving some thought to trying this as well.  I have read other's here
who don't like the method.  Anybody else do this?

Terry
----- Original Message ----- 

To me,
> a canister filter -is- a big reactor.
>
> TW
>

Terry,
I think cannister injection is the best way to dose CO2 in a planted tank.
Not necessarily the most efficient way, not necessarily the quietest way.
But IMO the easiest way.

The type of cannister filter you use can really affect the efficiency, I
think. I tried it in a Fluval 404 but it repeatedly got airlocked because of
the CO2. Some Fluval users don't have this problem. I have used Eheim 2213
and 2217 Cannisters for this for many years and have never had a single
airlock issue.

I believe one of the main reasons the Eheim 2213,2215, and 2217 series work
so well for CO2 injection is that these filters (exception being the new
2213 with the lift out media basket) don't use media baskets. Media holders,
while making cannister filters much more user friendly, have the net effect
of allowing a certain amount of bypass between the filter wall and the
baskets themselves. A CO2 bubble will probably rise thru the easiest
opening, and while the media baskets are a decently tight fit, bubbles seem
to get around them and don't get much contact time with the water.

The Eheim classic cannisters are different in that the media itself presses
against the filter wall, particularly the sintered glass media and mostly
the huge chunk of polyester filter floss just under the pump head. Give this
floss a little time and it is clogged with crud and acts like a big old
plug. I'd think that is where most of the bubbles going into the eheim are
trapped and dissolve. There is the occaisional burp, but I have never had a
problem keeping a planted tank at a pH of 6.6 with a KH of 5 using power
compacts or halides at 3-4 watts per gallon. My tanks are in my basement,
and I have a Reef Ready Oceanic 240 gallon tank with a large wet/dry, so the
noise from an occaisional CO2 bubble escaping the Eheim in a planted tank
next to it is inconsequential to me.

I feed the gas into the Eheim thru the intake strainer. I get a 90 degree
barbed airline elbow and connect the CO2 line to it. Then you can just push
the other barbed end thru the slits on the intake strainer, or notch out the
cuts where the collar attaches to the strainer and sandwich the open side of
the elbow between these.

Using an internal CO2 reactor works, but to me it is just another piece of
ugly equipment in the tank and another thing to stop working. For this
reason I also use Hydor in line heaters to heat my tanks. Another piece of
ugly equipment out of the tank.

IME Cannister injection using the Eheim Cannister works up to about a
125-135 gallon tank. It did not work on my 240 gallon tank when I had that
set up planted. I had to go to the AB Reactor 1000 with a Rio 1700 dedicated
pump. I think the surface turbulence and the overflows and wet dry were
offgassing too much CO2 for the cannister to work. I had surface movement on
purpose, though, as I had Halide lighting, and nothing beats the look of
point source glitter lines in a planted tank!

Regards,
Dave


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