Sooner or later, every serious aquarist faces the question of supplying an aquarium with CO2. And for good reason. Why do aquarium plants need it?
So CO2 - what is it? We all know that water plants feed primarily on carbon dioxide dissolved in water. This is CO2. In nature, plants get it from the reservoir in which they grow. Since the volume of water in natural reservoirs is very large, its concentration in them is usually constant. But this can not be said about aquariums.
Plants quickly use all the CO2 gas from the aquarium water, and restoration of its concentration will not occur by itself, because the aquarium is a closed system. Even the fish contained in it will not be able to compensate for the lack of CO2, since they exhale so tiny a fraction of it that it will never be enough for plants. But in the end, aquarium plants stop growing.
In addition to the fact that plants cease to grow due to a lack of CO2, water, in which its content is low, has increased rigidity (pH), which is detrimental to them. Even inexperienced aquarists must have noticed that after adding plants, tap water becomes harder than it was in an empty aquarium. This is due to the fact that carbon dioxide promotes the appearance of carbonic acid in water, and it lowers hardness. That is, it is important to understand: the less CO2 in water, the higher its pH.
How to help plants in the aquarium?
There are several ways to address the supply of CO2 to plants. You can install a special cylinder and the corresponding equipment, or you can go the other way and try to do everything you need with your own hands. Many people like this method more. And it’s understandable why - it’s much more interesting and pleasant to solve the problem yourself, without resorting to the help of purchased equipment.
The only thing worth paying attention to is the result. Not knowing how everything works in the aquarium, you should not go into it and change something and redo it so that you do not get upset later. What matters here is not participation, but understanding what you are doing.
Nowadays, more and more aquarists are engaged in the cultivation of aquatic plants and independently solves the problems with the lack of carbon dioxide in the water. To some extent, such a scale may well negate all the results of the fight against harmful emissions from enterprises and cars, because home-made aquarium devices have become necessary and very fashionable, and their volumes are sometimes quite large. Of course, this is a figurative comparison, but there is some truth in these fears.
So CO2 gas - what is it? How to deal with carbon dioxide in our aquarium and how to produce it inexpensively and in sufficient quantities? But it’s quite realistic to make such a system ourselves and refuel it 5-7 times a year.
What do aquarium plants need?
Once again, remember what CO2 is and why plants need it in the aquarium. CO2 for an aquarium is a source of carbon that plants need, like food for humans. Plants consume it in the light, but in the dark they no less need oxygen. This is the first problem faced by novice aquarists.
If you forget about it, then at night in the aquarium kills will begin. Even if there is no obvious loss of flora, the plants will simply cease to grow normally, and this will make all our efforts senseless.
In other words, there must always be diffusion (aeration) in the aquarium. And oxygen should be enough for the dark half of the day. Usually there is a lot of it at the beginning of the day, but plants, like the fish breathing by it, “pick it up” rather quickly. In such a situation, CO2 will not only not be able to help, but will easily aggravate the problem.
No less common is another. Newcomers to the aquarium business, seeing how they seemingly unpretentious vallisneria or easy-to-care richia with a hygrophile completely refuse to grow, begin to grow wise with CO2 and experiment in the hope of improvement. And the point is not in the insufficient amount of carbon dioxide or light. These easy-to-maintain plants live well in less light and in less carbonated water. It turns out that simply either the plants were bought "on the brink of death", or the soil is too poor or the water is new, not yet settled.
What is more important - light, fertilizers or CO2?
The formula for success is simple: CO2 for the aquarium, nutrients and light. And you need to treat it not fictitiously, but with all due respect, because all its components are equally important for plant life. If you “disperse” the system in the direction of one of them, without taking into account the other two, then quite quickly and inevitably you will encounter the manifestation of the Liebig law instead of admiring the strong and healthy flora in your artificial reservoir. This is the so-called swing effect. Moreover, the stronger the system is dispersed, the greater the intervention will be required, and meanwhile the plants "get tired and yearn".
As a result, instead of peppy greens in the aquarium, everything gradually dims, and then even part of the plantings perishes. Or the water will begin to fill with algae, if our "broth" plants can not "digest".
Factors affecting the composition of the water in the aquarium
Interestingly, often thinking about CO2, oxygen, light and nutrients completely forget about temperature. And she is the main regulator of aquarium photosynthesis. Not light and not CO2, as it may seem. Botanists are well aware of this, but "aquarium researchers" forget this fact quite often.
The regulatory role of waves such as infrared reflects precisely this function. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in the technologies used for aquariums to manufacture light sources, it is unprofitable to recall temperature. Therefore, they pretend that it is not important.
What can any aquarium do without?
The aquarium may well do without fashionable and glamorous excesses. And not only can, but it is safely managed. The main thing is to balance the knowledge and cause-effect relationships obtained through research in the system. If the system is already in balance, then you no longer need to touch it! And do not try to fix something that already works properly.
Nevertheless, if the aquarium tank is too densely planted with plants, then even with good lighting, they may have enough CO2. This is especially true for weakly alkaline hard water. If combined are species that can only be absorbed by unused carbon dioxide (these are all types of mosses, many herbs that grow only in acidic and soft water, lobelia), and euryonic and stenoionic species that are able to extract carbon from carbonates (and this is vallisneria , elodea, echinodorus, etc.), then the concentration of CO2 will be especially low.
It is not at all difficult to cure, since it is enough to simply populate more fish in the aquarium. In those aquariums in which everything is fine with the environment, and when densely populated with animals, the plants do not lack carbon dioxide even in fairly strong light. But in any case, an additional dose of CO2 will not be superfluous for such a reservoir.
We examined in detail the role of CO2. What it is, now also probably clear. It remains to learn how to produce it at home.
The carbonated method of supplying an aquarium with carbon dioxide
To enrich the aquarium with carbon dioxide, it is easiest to use ordinary mash. However, she wanders unstably. First, an excess of gas will turn out, which will volatilize, create a greenhouse effect or create an excess concentration of CO2 in water. Then its production rate will drop sharply.
The disadvantages of the method using mash
There are only two of them:
- The need for too frequent recharges (1.5-3 weeks).
- The complexity of monitoring the system during the day.
However, this does not mean that CO2 supply to the aquarium is not available to you, as these shortcomings are easily solved when using the system with a cylinder. True, it has a rather high price, and in addition to the purchase, it still needs to be expertly configured.
Consider one of the recipes for using such a mash. Its advantage is that fermentation takes place very smoothly and for a long time (3-4 months). Of course, there is nothing new in science, more gas will not come out of the same amount of substance, but then the aquarium receives the required amount of CO2 uniformly and slowly. For those who need a large amount of carbon dioxide, this recipe is by no means suitable; they definitely need a CO2 cylinder. In principle, no mash is suitable for stable high concentrations. But it quite satisfactorily copes with the task of supplying carbon dioxide to an average aquarium with a dense "population", nutritious soil and good lighting, if euryon and stenoion species are adjacent to it in hard water.
How to make a do-it-yourself CO2 production system for an aquarium
We use a polyethylene container with a volume of 1.5 and 2 liters. In each case, the size of the containers may vary, depending on the volume of the aquarium and the amount of carbon dioxide needed.
1. Pour into the container components: 5-6 tablespoons (with a slide) of sugar, one spoon of soda and 2-3 tablespoons of starch (also with a slide).
2. Pour 1.5-2 cups of water, as seen in the photo.
3. We send everything to a water bath.
Important: in the pan there should be water almost at the level of the liquid in the bottles, otherwise the composition at the bottom will not become thick, but will remain liquid on top.
4. Cook until the consistency of thick jelly, that is, until cooked. You need to get a very thick mixture. If you overturn a bottle, it should almost not drain.
4. Cool the resulting mixture.
While the bottles are cooling, we are manufacturing tight and reliable caps with neat tube mounts. After all, CO2 - what is it? This gas, and therefore the sealing must be very thorough. It is convenient to use fittings for the VAZ brake system (about 12 rubles / pair in auto parts stores). We will need two of these fittings, gaskets and washers for 8 (about 40 rubles / pair of sets in OBI), as well as a pair of nuts for 8.
With a knife and a heated nail, you need to make a hole, then drive the fitting into it (thread inside the bottle). At the top through the washer, and at the bottom according to the scheme: gasket / washer / nut.
Using various adhesives for sealing does not make sense, since they will not give the required protection. But the cover made according to the described scheme will reliably hold the tube, while the entire CO2 supply system will turn out to be quite resistant to manipulation and reloading.
After the bottles have cooled, you need to add to our jelly a teaspoon of yeast (you can dry), before thoroughly mixing them in water. For example, in a glass or glass.
We put the bottles prepared in this way, put them in carefully, and do not touch them for 3-4 months. Carbon dioxide is emitted evenly and slowly, and if low-flow bell-type reactors are used, the entire process will be easily controlled visually. When the level in the bottles drops below the middle, it's time to recharge them.
Recharging is simple. The fermented mixture again turns into a liquid and pours out, a new one is put in its place, and again you get CO2 for the aquarium. With your own hands, the device made on the basis of plastic bottles can easily survive many such recharges without losing its qualities. Gas is supplied around the clock.
Types of aquarium reactors
- "Bell" is any reactor made on the principle of an inverted glass. Other types of reactors are not recommended to dissolve the mash, since the process of carbon dioxide emission will become uncontrollable, and the density of CO2 will become uneven.
- The simplest reactor of this type is a one-time syringe attached to the wall of the aquarium on a suction cup. Converted drinking bowls for birds also look quite aesthetically pleasing, and besides, they are inexpensive. There are many options: from a plastic cup turned upside down to complex structures.
The efficiency of any reactor directly depends on the “contact spot” - the size of the area of contact between water and gas. Laffart advises for every 100 liters of water (hardness 10 gr.) To make a dissolution area of 30 square meters. see. This is not so much - just 5x6 cm.
So, there is a dilemma - to make a large reactor, or a small one, in which the dissolution process will be much better than in a large one.
This effect can be obtained by directing part of the water through a thin tube from the filter to a “flute” to produce a “fountain” inside the reactor. If such a flow is organized, for example, in a syringe reactor (20 cubic meters), then the dissolution will improve several times, and the concentration of CO2 will be uniform. And this is equivalent to using a bell-type reactor, which has more bulky dimensions.
Balloon CO2 Enrichment Method
For large aquariums, the optimal method for enriching water with carbon dioxide is the balloon installation method. Such a system consists of a cylinder and a control system, that is, a gearbox, valve, fittings, coil with connectors, an air throttle and a power supply. It is easy to assemble a similar installation yourself, but it’s easier to buy a ready-made one in the store, however, it will cost several times more.
Advantages and disadvantages of the balloon method
Benefits:
- Stability of CO2 production.
- A large amount of gas produced.
- Profitability.
- If you connect a pH controller and a CO2 gas analyzer, you can fully automate the process.
Disadvantages:
- High price.
- The complexity of self-assembly.
- A high pressure cylinder is required.
Finally
Returning to the choice of a CO2 generator, another type should be mentioned - chemical. Unlike a Brag generator, a chemical uses acid reactions with carbonates. Like the Braga method, such chemical reactors are suitable for small aquariums - up to 100 liters in size. In addition to everything mentioned in this article, it is possible to purchase a CO2 gas analyzer in the store and with it help to constantly monitor the state of water in its artificial reservoir.