# Co2 overnight Degassing?



## aquascape1987 (23 Dec 2015)

Hi. I'm in the first few days of running my first high energy aquascape. It's fully planted, and I'm currently running and tweaking the system without fish, and was just wondering about degassing of Co2 over night and how important that is? Should I be aiming to have a blue drop checker by the time the Co2 comes back on a few hours before lights on? Eg tank fully de gassed ready to build back up to green before the lights switch on, or is it ok that my drop checker is still somewhat green even before my co2 switches back on. The problem I have is,that I have to be careful about having too much surface movement (which would obviously serve to de gass the tank at night) because the tank is for my Betta, and they need relatively calm surface movement. I've managed to strike a good balance at the moment, which gives a good steady flow of water around the tank, with no dead spots, but not too strong of a current to suit the beta,with a very mild surface agitation. The side effect though,of the mild surface agitation,is that this doesn't fully degass the tank from the days co2 input. I'm hoping the lack of overnight de gass isn't much of an issue? Anyone help?


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## ian_m (23 Dec 2015)

I put an airstone on at night. Works wonders in lowering CO2 levels very quickly, creates different flow patterns sweeping up settled detritus into the filter and if you have issues of surface film breaks that up.


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## aquascape1987 (23 Dec 2015)

Thanks for your reply Ian. So would you say it is important that I de gass then for either the fish or the plants? If so, what sort of drop checker colour at lights out?


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## Andy Thurston (23 Dec 2015)

personally I wouldn't worry too much. i had a tank which always had a green dc when lights were off and yellow when lights were on. it can become a problem overnight because plants and fish produce co2 at night and co2 levels could rise to toxic levels. if this happens then an airstone can be used to remove the excess co2 at night time


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## foxfish (23 Dec 2015)

That is quite normal on some sytems, lots of folk run their C02 24 -7.
However only you can really decide what is best for your fish.


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## ian_m (23 Dec 2015)

aquascape1987 said:


> If so, what sort of drop checker colour at lights out?


Ho hum....

Fish don't seem overly bothered when drop checker is like this, I assume as I am using an airpump that the water has plenty of O2 so fish don't suffer.


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## alto (23 Dec 2015)

aquascape1987 said:


> the tank is for my Betta, and they need relatively calm surface movement.


You only need gentle agitation of the surface for gas exchange - just ensure there is no surface film.
I've recently gotten the Betta Bug again so have 2 halfmoons (in 2 tanks) - I had reduced filter output initially as these fish often have poor muscle development depending on how long they've been "jarred"
 ... they become quite capable swimmers over a few weeks (when kept in 10 gal or larger tanks) so filter flow can be gradually increased - just monitor fish behaviour/activity.
Most planted tanks will provide plenty of rest areas (except Iwagumi style ) though Bettas always appreciate some floating plant mass

Sadly mycobacteriosis is not uncommon in Bettas - Sherolyn Craig has done some very good photos of the disease on BettaSource 
I'm including the link as I've seen a number of shop Bettas lately that show early symptoms of this disease


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## aquascape1987 (23 Dec 2015)

Ho hum?

I'll test slowly when I add the fish to see what they will tolerate. I may as well add the air stone, as I suppose I can't go wrong doing anything that increases dissolved O2 either way.


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## aquascape1987 (23 Dec 2015)

Thanks alto, I'll bear the filter flow build up in mind when I add the fish. This betta I have had for coming up to 2 years now, and he's definitely healthy,at least for now and since I've had him. He's just in a different tank at the moment whilst I fully test the scaped tank,but I plan for him to be in by Saturday. To be honest, in terms of the scape,he's not really suitable for it for aesthetic reasons. I would much rather have some small fish in there that would compliment the sense of scale of the scape, but I kind of made him a silent promise that because he's put up with a crappy temporary tank for the last few months, he would see the rest of his days out in a planted paradise. You know the sort of thing you say in your head as if talking to the miserable looking fish staring back through the glass at you whilst water changing or feeding. I've had it in this tank because I used his tank to house some other fish whilst I found a new home for them. The new tanks a 50l dennerle scapers tank, so he should have plenty of room to swim around. Big upgrade from his previous 20 litre tank in any case,and even then, he's been in a 10 litre temp tank for the last 3 months


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## alto (23 Dec 2015)

Bettas are really great fish - the one boy I have is the most inquisitive tank dictator (for a while he would determinedly chase the stiphodon goby girl - not a great tank for her but better than the shop - of course she's 10X faster than him & can substrate dive ), anything I'm doing in the tank & he's right on top of all the action; the other boy is all about "don't look at me" - I spent 15min searching for him the other day, worried he'd somehow jumped during water change ... finally saw a flash of color in a plant thicket!  

You can always give your guy some small stature playmates errrr I mean tankmates


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