Mmiller2001 Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Some of you may know that I inject CO2 in several of my tanks and I've noticed an interesting phenomenon that maybe you can explain. I have tried porcelain bubblers, in line diffusers, DIY reactors and finally a professionally made reactor, yet I must always inject at an increased rate and non of the various methods have improved efficiency. I do surface skim and purposely create significant surface agitation to increase gass exchange, but I see others doing the same with significantly lower injection rates. How are they doing this? My only guess is I live at 5000 plus elevation? What am I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 On 2/3/2022 at 6:42 PM, Mmiller2001 said: Some of you may know that I inject CO2 in several of my tanks and I've noticed an interesting phenomenon that maybe you can explain. I have tried porcelain bubblers, in line diffusers, DIY reactors and finally a professionally made reactor, yet I must always inject at an increased rate and non of the various methods have improved efficiency. I do surface skim and purposely create significant surface agitation to increase gass exchange, but I see others doing the same with significantly lower injection rates. How are they doing this? My only guess is I live at 5000 plus elevation? What am I missing? I am also above 5,000 feet. I don't want to mis-explain, but it has to do with one of the gas laws... which I have if I can find my chemistry book. Give me just a minute. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Due to our altitude (decreased pressure at higher altitude), you would either need to increase temp or increase pressure, to compensate for the same amount of gas to give the same saturation amounts. My professor explained it using a bottle of soda, and did an excellent job making it memorable enough to ace the exams... not memorable enough for all the information to survive a stroke. The answers are in the link, however. Just the link is significantly dryer than Profesdor Whalen's lectures. Gas laws 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Intuition is a clever tool. It’s the elevation as you both stated. I just want to emphasize that point. If I’m not mistaken diffusers only change the surface area of the bubble in aqueous solution to allow for increased interaction in the carbonate buffer cycle. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 Thank you both. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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