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Co2 Bubbles ruining the experience?

I think I read somewhere that the carbon attacks O rings, gaskets etc?

I've heard that too. But then read that it's usually the softer 'orange' O rings rather than black. To be honest I don't see that there is that much difference. My inlet is directly next to my outlet and my outlet was previously firing out thousands of co2 bubbles. There was that many bubbles in the tank that they're all going into the filter anyway so what is the difference? Granted there will now be more co2 in the filter but it's hard to say how much more.

What's the worst that can happen? The filter loses power and/or starts to leak eventually? Time will tell. I'd happily replace the filter every 18 months if it kept the tank bubble free!
 
interesting about the twinstar/doctor running directly into the inlet, i like it but...

are people doing this solely to benefit oxygenating the filter? would the oxygenated water that exits after passing through the filter return at the same levels but fully dissolved or would it potentially be higher/lower?

Reason i ask is the main purpose i use mine is to add additional oxygen for the fish/shrimp and don't want to do something that would be detrimental to that
 
I've heard that too. But then read that it's usually the softer 'orange' O rings rather than black. To be honest I don't see that there is that much difference. My inlet is directly next to my outlet and my outlet was previously firing out thousands of co2 bubbles. There was that many bubbles in the tank that they're all going into the filter anyway so what is the difference? Granted there will now be more co2 in the filter but it's hard to say how much more.

What's the worst that can happen? The filter loses power and/or starts to leak eventually? Time will tell. I'd happily replace the filter every 18 months if it kept the tank bubble free!
Hi.
How's your filter doing? Have you noticed and downsides to running CO2 directly into it?
Thanks!
 
Hi all,
are people doing this solely to benefit oxygenating the filter? would the oxygenated water that exits after passing through the filter return at the same levels but fully dissolved or would it potentially be higher/lower? Reason i ask is the main purpose i use mine is to add additional oxygen for the fish/shrimp and don't want to do something that would be detrimental to that
It doesn't make any difference to the aquarium / filter system, because you have the <"same bioload"> (and level of oxygenation) in either case.

The advantage of the highly oxygenated water entering the filter is that it ensures that microbial nitrification (the conversion of NH3/NH4+ to NO3-) isn't <"limited by oxygen availability">. If the water becomes de-oxygenated in the filter you run the risk of ammonia levels building up in a positive feedback loop. When you have plants this is less of a worry, because you have "belt and braces" of the fixed nitrogen uptake by the plant / microbe "filter".

Purely in terms of the filter it would depend a little bit on the retention time of the bubbles within the filter and the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the filter media. If you had a short retention time, and a low BOD, then the water would have very similar oxygen levels when it left, to when it entered, the filter. As <"BOD and/or retention time increase"> the level of oxygenation will fall in the water that exits the filter.

The ideal scenario is one where the water in the filter is 100% saturated with dissolved oxygen, but not supersaturated so that <"there are no bubbles of gas">. The only real issue with gas bubbles is that they can build up in the filter and cause <"burping", noisy running, impeller damage etc"> you can get with high levels of CO2 injection.

cheers Darrel
 
are people doing this solely to benefit oxygenating the filter?

No, gets rids tank of nano bubble mist as well. A Filter will low/no ceramic/fine media will also help increase flow in filter which will increase O2 levels in filter at the same time, which in turn help the microbial nitrification within the filter as Darrel points out.
 
No, gets rids tank of nano bubble mist as well. A Filter will low/no ceramic/fine media will also help increase flow in filter which will increase O2 levels in filter at the same time, which in turn help the microbial nitrification within the filter as Darrel points out.

Presumably it results in more DO in tank as well, as most of the bubbles from the Twinstar/Chihiros unit usually end up at the surface eventually rather than dissolving fully in the water column, so the extra contact time from them being trapped by the filter media presumably allows them to dissolve fully if you get no bubbles coming out of the filter outlet.
 
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Hi all,
Presumably it results in more DO in tank as well, as most of the bubbles from the Twinstar/Chihiros unit usually end up at the surface eventually rather than dissolving fully in the water column, so the extra contact time from them being trapped by the filter media presumably allows them to dissolve fully if you get no bubbles coming out of the filter outlet.
Yes, that would be right, the only proviso is that we don't know what happens <"to the micro/nano bubbles">, they have the potential <"to damage the filter microbes">, but I assume this isn't a problem in practice.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,

Yes, that would be right, the only proviso is that we don't know what happens <"to the micro/nano bubbles">, they have the potential <"to damage the filter microbes">, but I assume this isn't a problem in practice.

cheers Darrel
Think there is the possibility of O3 (Ozone) production, which would kill all the bacteria in the filter/tank if the concentrations was high enough, but with the lack of positive/negative evidence either way I feel it is safe to presume all it does in rise the [O2].
 
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