# Air stone at night for CO2 injected tank?



## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

What are your thoughts on this? If someone is running CO2 during the day should they run an air-stone at night for the safety of the fish? What if they are using DIY yeast CO2, which goes 24/7? Is it really necessary to run an air-stone at night in a planted tank?


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

i use a air stone in my heavily planted tank along with my co2 DIY yeast contraption and it all works beautiful.
i think if it was me in your situation is just put an air stone in the tank the plants make some oxygen but it could fluctuate and depending on what plants and the fish load it could not really be enough. its not a big deal to to run a single air line and if it provides Positive increase in water quality which will in turn make my fish healthier and happier so they live longer why even chance it.
i know you just took the under gravel system out of your tank so youv lost a whole lot of gas exchange and since your attempting to keep it quiet (no splashing etc..) i dont see another way. you could potentially be fine or possibly setting yourself up to fail .. is an air pump really so loud that youd rather your fish to labor rather than be healthy (keep in mind although you can easily see ill fish or fish in pore water quality labor to breath you will not as easilly notice smaller slower prolonged exposure effects until it could be to late for some).
another question that makes these types of questions better answerable is more info. i know its a 45 bow front i remembered that tid bit from another post , but we know nothing of the fish load and although you say its planted some ppls idea of a planted tank is light 1-2 maybe 4 plants some people literally have such dense planted tanks you cant see the back wall. 
Id assume its thick if your even attempting this but knowing your also running co2 makes me more concerned


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I don't think an air stone is needed at night, unless you have a heavily planted and heavily stocked tank. I've been running my ten gallon with medium plant density and heavy population on pressurized CO2 for 11 hours a day, turned off at night with no bubbler, and things are just peachy.


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Needed? it depends.
There are too many variables. I've gassed fish with DIY CO2 and had a couple of close scrapes as well.
It IS possible to do this with DIY CO2 - especially with a new batch.
So is it needed? If there's little surface agitation and you've got a virulent batch of CO2, you could be in trouble. You could just pull out the CO2 at night or redirect a nozzle to agitate a little,
cb


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

The issue is the DIY co2 its just too in consistent and you can't turn it off. If you want to do what your proposing just invest the $ for a good co2 system that cam be regulated and turned off. 
I personally do mot think you will ever have an issue with the DIY on your 45G because I run it 24/7 on a 30 but I use air so it's going to just come down to variables and a chance ok harming them but if its what you want you won't know till you try.
Either way you go , good luck friend.


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## Brian757 (Sep 24, 2012)

I do not have a DIY or professionally made CO2 tank but wouldn't you be able to taper your CO2 line to your tank at night? Plants produce CO2 at night so they won't really need it. 

By the DIY, I am guessing you guys mean the coke bottle with the yeast?


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

Brian757 said:


> I do not have a DIY or professionally made CO2 tank but wouldn't you be able to taper your CO2 line to your tank at night? Plants produce CO2 at night so they won't really need it.
> 
> By the DIY, I am guessing you guys mean the coke bottle with the yeast?


Yes , my system is just a little more than a soda bottle , but not by much..*r2
The issue is that yes you can taper it off at night by simply removing the line or venting ,but out of water you would loos your pressure and just waste all the gas and IMO disturbing the mash hurts the procedure. And the plastic bottles are not made for pressure thell expand and pop like a dry ice bomb eventually.. so yes you can vent it but it just makes the process useless to do.
Not to mention that as your mash starts to hit day 4+ its already at about 8-10 proof and gets a little odor to it you would never smell it in the tank , but crack that bottle to bleed off pressure and you will know it.


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

If you want control over the CO2, you could place it in a bucket with a heater on a timer.
Have it switch on an hour before lights on to heat it up to 28c and switch off an hour before lights off. You could even switch a fan on to cool the water at night giving a 4-8 degree temp drop. This dramatically slows CO2 production.
The water should cool by itself as soon as the heater's off by a degree every 10 mins or so at first. Less water would cool more rapidly.
cb


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I do it both ways. Sometimes I will run the airstone and others not..just out of laziness though as most are on timers.

The catch is what the plants do after the lights go out. Since at night they use O2 and produce CO2, we want to encourage that by running the airstone. This helps gas off excess CO2 and keeps the O2 levels good. 

Keeping in mind that it is not necessary to do run it, but it does promote good healthy development.


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## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

tbub, I think you've got me confused with somebody else, as my tank is a 30G hexagon, and I've never run an under-gravel system before. Thanks for the comments none-the-less though. 
I'd actually never thought about temperature controlled CO2 before, It seems as if it might complicate things a bit too much imo.


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

kicksilver said:


> tbub, I think you've got me confused with somebody else, as my tank is a 30G hexagon, and I've never run an under-gravel system before. Thanks for the comments none-the-less though.
> I'd actually never thought about temperature controlled CO2 before, It seems as if it might complicate things a bit too much imo.


your rite and i appologise , iv had this conversation with more than one person recently ..
or possibly i dreamed that ... wish i could tell you*r2


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