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RE: Adding O2 artificially
Tom Barr wrote:
"Amano adds O2 to some of his tanks with the beetle diffusers."
< snip >
"Ozone and few other additives(H2O2 etc) will lower the BOD and raise the O2
levels by lightening
the load of O2 demand."
< snip >
"...unless maybe you add 02 gas( the other forms are asking for trouble I
think....H2O2, O3 etc)."
< snip >
"Adding O2 gas directly or keeping your fish load low enough, but not too
low, seems to be the idea here I am getting at."
< snip >
" I wish I had bought that O2 tank for 10$ at the flea market awhile ago:("
Excuse the "cutting and pasting". You're on quite the "Amano" kick these
days Tom..... <grin> ..... if the "Master" does it, it must be a good
idea.....
I don't know about that.....
While I might agree that maintaining a tank with a low BOD would benefit
both the fish and the plants, I strongly doubt that aquarists have to resort
to injecting O2 from a compressed source in order to help our plants grow.
Bottled O2 is potentially DANGEROUS! Any flame or spark around a leaking
connection could result in a fire or an explosion!
If you are concerned that the mass of plants in your tank might deplete the
O2 levels overnight (through respiration, as opposed to daytime
photosynthesis, when they produce oxygen), it would probably be more than
sufficient to use an airstone connected to regular air pump hooked up to a
timer so that it comes on at lights-out. Or just increase the water
circulation within the tank with a powerhead. The extra movement should
allow the water to absorb sufficient oxygen from the atmosphere without
resorting to aritificial injection of O2.
If a tank does not reach at least 95% of saturation level for O2 (depending
upon temperature and altitude) within a few hours of the lights coming on,
you more than likely need to do a through cleaning of the tank and remove
some of the decaying organic matter (which could severely depress O2 levels
as the bacteria working to break down the organic matter do consume oxygen).
It might be interesting if you measured your O2 levels just before the
lights go out at night and then again the next morning, just before they
come on for the day. That would tell you if you are running an oxygen
deficit overnight.
But I think that you should be careful about recommending hobbyists run out
and buy compressed oxygen. I don't care _what_ Amano does........ <g>
James Purchase
Toronto