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Re: Biowheels-CO2-plants redux
>Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 15:56:00 -0500
>From: "Dan Dixon" <dandixon at home_com>
>I know the Biowheel issue has been covered before, but I read everything I
>could find in the archives and I still feel unfulfilled. :D Are biowheels
>and CO2 injection incompatible? Do biowheels significantly interfere with
>plant nutrients? I know it may help to put these questions in a specific
>context to be very meaningful, so let me put them in a context:
<snip>
>Any opinions on biowheels, pro or con? Anywhere else I can read about
>biowheel effects? If they do dissipate the CO2, perhaps my pH would not get
>so high when CO2 flow rate slows?
The purpose of biowheels is to provide a much larger water surface area for
gas exchange (to provide extra oxygen for the aerobic nirtifiying bacteria)
as well as a larger surface area for the bacteria themselves. This larger
surface area will make it easier for CO2 to escape.
Since you have a canister filter *AND* a planted tank, I don't think you
need the extra biological filtering of the bio-wheel. If there are
significant amounts of bacteria there, they will only compete with your
plants for nutrients and the bio-wheel will cause you to lose CO2. I'd turn
it off altogether.
Shannon