Jump to content

CO2 with sponge filter?


Recommended Posts

I have a 20 gallon aquarium with a sponge filter and was looking into CO2 injection, but from what I've read you should have minimal surface agitation when using CO2.

None of my plants are particularly demanding, so I am not sure if it will still be possible to mildly increase my CO2 levels by just having a slightly higher rate of CO2 injection (to offset the surface agitation) or is it basically pointless to add CO2 unless I get a different filter?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you increase the rate of CO2 to compensate for off-gassing from the sponge filter? Sure. Do you need the CO2 at all though? If your plants are doing well now, you probably don't. "They'll grow faster with CO2!" Faster growth isn't always a good thing. It simply means you'll need to be in there more weeding things out and trimming plants back. CO2 is great if you're trying to grow exotic stuff, or raise plants commercially, but for many/most home aquariums it's not absolutely necessary.

I'm of the belief that there are two types of aquariums. There are the plant-centric aquariums where plants are the focus and the more exotic the plant the better. (The ADA and Iwagumi styles) The plant-centric tanks tend to have very few fish and they're just accessories more than the focus.

There are the fish-centric tanks where the fish are the focus and plants are secondary. Some plant-centric tanks don't run any filter at all and their entire focus is on having a perfectly aquascaped tank. I'm more fish-centric. I grow whatever plants grow in my tanks (and boy do they grow!) without much outside help. I've got water sprite, some jungle val, java fern, java moss (lots of java moss), anubias nana petite, I'm experimenting with pogostemon (so far so good) and a variety of crypts (so far so good also,) and dwarf sag. The top of the tanks are covered with lots of floaters, red root floaters, frogbit, salvinia minima, and duckweed. I spend about an hour a week weeding out junk now with no CO2. If I added CO2 I'd likely be weeding out more stuff more frequently. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Gestaltgal said:

@codriscoll92You asked the question verbatim that I was wondering! 

 

@gardenman Where do you typically gather this information? Do you have a resource you like?

 

I'm 62 and I've had fish tanks since I was about six. I've bought literally hundreds of books and magazines on fish keeping over the years. I may have paid for a house, well maybe a car anyway, for Dr. Herbert Axelrod (A Tropical Fish Hobbyist writer.) PBS used to have a show on aquariums that I watched, way, way back. I still watch nearly every YouTuber on aquariums. Some local fish stores (Tropical Fish Island in Mantua, NJ being one of my old favorites back in the sixties/seventies) were very good at sharing information and educating customers. Mary Ann, one of the owners would perform caesarians on pregnant livebearers that had died to save their babies. Many livebearers simply carry their eggs inside them and even when the mother dies, the babies still live inside her on their yolk sac. If you can get them out after the mother dies you can often save the babies. I've kept just about everything at one time or another. Experience is a great teacher. I've had lots of experience, good and bad. Aquarium keeping is part art, part science, and quite an adventure. I still learn new stuff every now and then. I've probably shopped in fifty or more (likely more) pet shops over the years. I've seen many come and go. I've used pretty much every type of filter ever made. I now tend to keep things simple. Lots of plants, good food, and you get happy, healthy fish. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i have a 20 long that is ran off of sponge filters. I just boost the CO2 out put and added a power head to help the flow of the tank. You are usually adding the CO2 diffuser to the opposite side of the tank than your filter so you should be fine. I use CO2 just to boost plant growth to help better offset nitrates, ive learned if i use CO2 my tanks dont build nitrates and all i have to do is prune/remove plants that i then can give away to new/young hobbyist that may not be able to go buy a ton of plants at one time. If i cant give the plants away they make for good compost, or dry them out and use them as fish food or snail/shrimp food. 

You could if you are worried about surface agitation change your airpump out for a powerhead and that will filter your tank fine with less surface agitation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...