# Planted tank with DIY CO2. Take out the air pump?



## BettaBubbles (Jan 20, 2014)

Hello, everyone! I'm back with another question about my tank set up.

The tank in question is a 12 gallon Fluval Edge. I wouldn't say that it is aggressively planted, but it's starting to get full up. All my plants seem to be thriving pretty well and growing at a decent rate despite me worrying at first that the light that came with it was not strong enough. I have a DIY CO2 running 24/7.

My question is... Should I take out my air pump? Many sources tell me it's counterintuitive to have one in there since it gets rid of the CO2. There is a teeny tiny amount of pearling going on. My only concern is that if I took out the air stone that my fish would get gassed to death. Would the waterfall from the filter be enough to cause enough agitation to allow enough oxygen into the water? I only fill the tank to about 1cm from the top of the tank.

Thank you very much in advance!


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## TorontoPlantMan (Aug 16, 2013)

BettaBubbles said:


> Hello, everyone! I'm back with another question about my tank set up.
> 
> The tank in question is a 12 gallon Fluval Edge. I wouldn't say that it is aggressively planted, but it's starting to get full up. All my plants seem to be thriving pretty well and growing at a decent rate despite me worrying at first that the light that came with it was not strong enough. I have a DIY CO2 running 24/7.
> 
> ...


If you plug your air pump into a timer then it'll solve your problem. Just have the air pump come on whenever your lights go off.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

get a drop checker to control your co2 better and put the air pump on a timer


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## BettaBubbles (Jan 20, 2014)

Thanks for the quick replies!

I see that Big Al's carries just the Fluval CO2 Indicator kit. Is that one reliable or is there a better one available around the area?


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

you can just buy whatever drop checker from where ever, ebay or stores. But use a good ph test solution like API and not what comes with the drop checker. Also get a good 4kdh reference solution.


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## Newobsession (Nov 17, 2010)

I would almost be willing to bet that even without the air pump you wouldn't have issues and that the filter return would be enough agitation to keep your tank safe. That being said, I don't want to promise it as they are your fish, not mine.
Yes you should turn off the air pump during the day as the surface agitation gases off the CO2. The point of running the pump at night isn't to oxygenate the water (the filter return will do that provided it isn't submerged) but to keep the CO2 from building up overnight when the lights are off and the plants aren't taking it in. Normally DIY CO2 doesn't produce massive amounts of CO2 so you don't have problems, but then again it's only a 12 gal tank. 

Probably your best bet is to do as mentioned and put your air pump on a timer. However, don't have it shut off when the lights come on. You should actually have it shut off an hour or two before the lights come on. That gives teh CO2 a chance to build to a desirable level so that once the lights come on the"system" is good to go rather than an hour or two of light"wasted" while the CO2 gets back up to usable levels. the exact time frame depends on how long it takes the levels to climb back up to the proper level.

Depending on how involved into the whole CO2/Planted tank thing you want to get, I wouldn't worry too much about poring over PH levels. Even teh drop checker is somewhat optional since with DIY CO2 it's not like you can adjust the output up and down to reach optimal levels. It will however allow you to somewhat monitor your CO2 concentrations which in turn will help you establish times for your airpump, or if you need it at all. The biggest advantage would be to give you a heads up if the levels creep too high without having to wait for detrimental signs from your fish. The reagent that comes with the kit isn't too bad for what you are doing. The tricky part can be, as Pyrrolin pointed out, is getting a decent 4dkh solution. Contrary to the instructions you aren't actually supposed to just use your aquarium water because depending on organics, disolved solids and a whack of other possible organic chemisty possibilities it may or may not give you an accurate reading ( not that drop checkers give accurate reading to the PPM, but its a decent indicator that you are in the right ballpark)


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## BettaBubbles (Jan 20, 2014)

Update: Holy smokes...so I took the advice of turning off the pump during the day. The plants took off like mad!!! I couldn't believe it myself but my stem plants were amazingly tall, and the Madagascar lace leaves grew half their size over the course of a few short days. And my fish still look fine. Still haven't gotten around to finding a drop checker though.


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## JNSN (Nov 4, 2013)

BettaBubbles said:


> Update: Holy smokes...so I took the advice of turning off the pump during the day. The plants took off like mad!!! I couldn't believe it myself but my stem plants were amazingly tall, and the Madagascar lace leaves grew half their size over the course of a few short days. And my fish still look fine. Still haven't gotten around to finding a drop checker though.


Are you fertilizing as well?


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## BettaBubbles (Jan 20, 2014)

JNSN said:


> Are you fertilizing as well?


I do have 2 root tabs in there somewhere because I have an amazon sword. I use API CO2 booster every other day, and Flourish Iron twice a week for my red plants. I used to use regular Flourish in the beginning, made everything grow...including this major BBA outbreak. It was like putting a wig on my crypts. My experimenting has led me to believe that I don't need to use it anymore. I have some green spot algae instead now, it keeps my otos and ghost shrimp busy though so I don't mind too much.


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