Renz Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I am setting up my first tank that will be using CO2 and was curious if it would be appropriate to use an air stone for oxygen at the same time and if so, should I run it all the time or just when the CO2 isn't running? This is my first day in this group so I apologize if this topic has already been covered. Many thanks for any guidance you can provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macready Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Howdy, welcome to the forum. I don't run CO2 personally but I can't imagine you wouldn't want some oxygen in there _somehow_ . I'll let others chime in on that who are more knowledgeable. I haven't read about turning off an airstone with regards to CO2, but I have heard about turning the CO2 on approximately 1 hour before your light comes on, and then turning it off approximately 1 hour before the light turns off. That way it gets utilized best by the plants better. Again, others more knowledgeable will chime in. Take their word over mine 🙂 Other folks will likely want to know some additional info: Size of tank, substrate, plant load, bio load, type of filtration for example, to help answer your Q. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DallasCowboys16 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 On 1/22/2024 at 3:35 PM, Renz said: I am setting up my first tank that will be using CO2 and was curious if it would be appropriate to use an air stone for oxygen at the same time and if so, should I run it all the time or just when the CO2 isn't running? This is my first day in this group so I apologize if this topic has already been covered. Many thanks for any guidance you can provide. High levels of water agitation will cause CO2 to gas off quicker than if the water's surface is unbroken, but honestly in my experience I've run airstones in CO2 injected tanks and still gotten excellent plant growth and pearling. It also is quite unhealthy for a tank to have zero break in surface tension. Gas exchange is necessary. Some people recommend running an airstone and CO2 on inverted schedules in order to gas off CO2 at night when plants are respiring without performing photosynthesis. Basically plants produce excess CO2 at night and excess oxygen during the day. I have never seen any reason to do this. In a heathy tank with proper flow, I have never seen fish struggling to breathe at night when the CO2 is turned off. Macready is correct about the optimal timing for CO2 injection being 1 hour before lights on and shutting it down 1 hour before lights off. This ensures your water is properly saturated with gas before plants begin photosynthesizing and that levels are allowed to decrease before lights go off. This is not necessary, but a nice optimization. Long story short: Feel free to use an airstone on a CO2 injected tank. In my experience, the impact on CO2 levels is minimal and quite frequently overstated. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 On 1/22/2024 at 7:41 PM, DallasCowboys16 said: Long story short: Feel free to use an airstone on a CO2 injected tank. In my experience, the impact on CO2 levels is minimal and quite frequently overstated. Agreed with this. I have c02 on 3 tanks, and all of them have oxygen. Before the easy flow kits it was a sponge filter with an air stone. Now they all have the easy flow kits, but still adding oxygen and additional flow. C02 comes on an hour before lights, and goes off an hour before the lights. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creedmoor Aquatics Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 You're taking a big risk running CO2 with no oxygen-- if CO2 gets too high it will harm or kill your livestock. Maybe you tune your CO2 down enough its not a problem. Maybe you don't. Maybe you tuned it just right for running during your day cycle, but then the solenoid gets stuck open, and the CO2 continues to run all night, and then the problems start. And for that risk, what's the reward? You could have just as easily run the CO2 a tad bit faster and had an air stone going at the same time. Is saving a few bucks on the CO2 worth it to you? That's the mindset I'd follow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonkley Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I would also keep them on opposite ends of the tank, with the stone near the bottom, to increase the current cycling around the tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renz Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and excellent input! You have been very helpful and it is much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knee Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I had my air pump on a timer and I set it to turn on as the lights turn off because my canister wasn't providing enough surface agitation. I ended up just putting a small HOB filter and I ran it 24/7. I still had amazing plant growth and my drop checker stayed lime green. I did increase my co2 output from 1 bps to 1.5-2 bps 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galabar Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 (edited) The bubbles and (more so) the surface agitation caused by the bubbles will tend to move your tank into equilibrium with the surrounding air. So, they will (slowly) remove CO2 and add O2. You'll need to increase your CO2 input in order to counteract this removal, while maintaining O2 levels. Edited January 24 by Galabar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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