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Re: DIY CO2





On Sun, 23 May 1999, Cliff Lundberg wrote:

> 
> >Plants produce an oxygen surplus only during the day while actively
> >photosynthesizing.  At night they compete with the fish and *use* oxygen
> >to metabolize the sugars produced during the day
> 
> So is it advisable to cut off CO2 injection at night? What's the cheapest
> gizmo that would do this automatically on a DIY system? Something
> that would open and close a release valve on the tube so the CO2 
> goes into the room instead of the tank.

If the problem was caused by plant respiration at night, then suspending
CO2 injection at night wouldn't cure the problem.  It's the CO2
added during the day that leads to higher oxygen demands at night.  

Instead you would aerate at night.

The idea of adding active devices to a DIY CO2 system has come up again
and again.  Yeast CO2 systems are mostly just a simple and initially
inexpensive means of getting CO2 into a planted tank.  If your interest is
driven by the DIYer's urge to tinker then tinkering with a yeast system is
fine.  Otherwise your time and money would probably be better spent on a
pressurized CO2 system.


Roger Miller