A
Anonymous
Guest
On the basis that plants respire during night time and photosynthesis during the day, would an air pump/ diffuser working through the night aid plant growth in a similar way to CO2 in the day??
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Hi,
Plants respire 24/7 but since no photosynthesis occurs during the dark there is a net consumption of O2. As a general rule you should probably only use an airstone if your fish are observed to suffer during late night. The fauna are the ones that get into trouble first. Using an airstone also degasses CO2 making it difficult to build up the concentration in the morning, which is the most critical time.
Cheers,
Plants respire 24/7 but since no photosynthesis occurs during the dark there is a net consumption of O2. As a general rule you should probably only use an airstone if your fish are observed to suffer during late night. The fauna are the ones that get into trouble first. Using an airstone also degasses CO2 making it difficult to build up the concentration in the morning, which is the most critical time.
Cheers,
A
Anonymous
Guest
Cheers for answering that query.
Hi all,
It is not really an issue for plants, they are very efficient at sequestering oxygen in internal air spaces, and then using it for respiration at night if required. You can situations where you have a large BOD (following an algal bloom, spill of silage liquor or milk etc.) and in this case it will kill the plants, but otherwise they are fairly bomb proof. The relationship between plants and dissolved gases is much less straight forward than you might imagine, planted tanks tend to retain much more oxygenated water than they "should" at night, partially because the they are very efficient at mopping up ammonia before it can enter the nitrogen cycle.
cheers Darrel
It is not really an issue for plants, they are very efficient at sequestering oxygen in internal air spaces, and then using it for respiration at night if required. You can situations where you have a large BOD (following an algal bloom, spill of silage liquor or milk etc.) and in this case it will kill the plants, but otherwise they are fairly bomb proof. The relationship between plants and dissolved gases is much less straight forward than you might imagine, planted tanks tend to retain much more oxygenated water than they "should" at night, partially because the they are very efficient at mopping up ammonia before it can enter the nitrogen cycle.
cheers Darrel
