Should I pump CO2 into my DWC resevoir?

S

StonedWallKid

Member
I was looking into DIY CO2 generators when I saw a bunch of people on youtube pumping them into their aquarium and making their underwater plants explode with growth... And I was wondering if this would work in my DWC water?

Thanks,
SWK
 
Neumann

Neumann

Active Member
StonedWallKid said:
I was looking into DIY CO2 generators when I saw a bunch of people on youtube pumping them into their aquarium and making their underwater plants explode with growth... And I was wondering if this would work in my DWC water?

Thanks,
SWK
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BeaverHuntr said:
No, Plants take in Co2 during photosynthesis " lights on"
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This might not be as crazy as it sounds, the thoughts intrigued me for a while. One of the functions of CO2 in aquariums is pH control. It may be possible with a pH controller and injected CO2 to control pH but also be able to use enough aeration for outgassing, so that excess CO2 won't harm the roots. I sold off all my CO2 equipment when I gave up planted tanks or I'd be trying that now.
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
Neumann said:
This might not be as crazy as it sounds, the thoughts intrigued me for a while. One of the functions of CO2 in aquariums is pH control. It may be possible with a pH controller and injected CO2 to control pH but also be able to use enough aeration for outgassing, so that excess CO2 won't harm the roots. I sold off all my CO2 equipment when I gave up planted tanks or I'd be trying that now.
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I just think it would cause issues since the reservoirs need to stay free of any light. Aquarium plants get their sunlight from the florescents
 
Heisenberg

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
The goal of a DWC is maximum dissolved oxygen levels in the water. You shouldn't do anything that will encourage your res to go anaerobic. A low oxygen level will invite pathogenic microbes, starve the roots of oxygen, kill off beneficial microbes, and make an environment perfect for root rot, all of which will adversely effect your yield.
 
mtotty

mtotty

Active Member
i am incline to side with heisenberg on this one i have been under the impression that oxygen in the res is a better than CO2
 
Neumann

Neumann

Active Member
BeaverHuntr said:
I just think it would cause issues since the reservoirs need to stay free of any light. Aquarium plants get their sunlight from the florescents
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There's no light involved. CO2 dissolves in water and forms H2CO3, a weak acid., so CO2 will lower the pH slightly from its previous level.
A controller reads the pH and if its high it feeds CO2, in the res where it dissolves into an acid to lower the pH. It will outgass, the same as the air pumped in by the airstones. The only possible problem is in the amount of CO2 needed to lower the pH. I don't know if the amount would be high enough to damage roots but having raised plants in a tank with the root, stem, stalk and flower in the water that I don't believe it would cause any issues. I would most definitely be trying this in a non-sealed grow environment if I hadn't sold all my CO2 equipment. It could be a natural way to regulate without adding acids and alkalies.


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Neumann

Neumann

Active Member
Heisenberg said:
The goal of a DWC is maximum dissolved oxygen levels in the water. You shouldn't do anything that will encourage your res to go anaerobic. A low oxygen level will invite pathogenic microbes, starve the roots of oxygen, kill off beneficial microbes, and make an environment perfect for root rot, all of which will adversely effect your yield.
Click to expand...
Actually with injected CO2 wouldn't you have an extra oxygen molecule to play around with?
 
Heisenberg

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
Neumann said:
Actually with injected CO2 wouldn't you have an extra oxygen molecule to play around with?
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Interesting point, however it appears to be a negligible amount.

How does CO2 dissolve in water? Here is a sketchy outline of the process. As with the O2, the CO2 must cross the surface of the liquid.

It's a little easier for the CO2 to do so than for oxygen, because the oxygen ends of the molecule have a partial negative charge are better able to hydrogen-bond to the water as a result. The CO2 rather slowly acquires a shell of water molecules. A fraction of these hydrated carbon dioxide molecules react with the water to produce carbonic acid (H2CO3):
CO2(aq) + H2O H2CO3(aq)

The equilibrium constant for this reaction is about 1.6×10-3 around room temperature, which means that most of the dissolved carbon dioxide is present as hydrated CO2. Only about 16% reacts with water to form carbonic acid. The reaction is rather slow. It involves bending a stable, linear CO2 molecule (with a water parked oxygen-down over the carbon) into a Y-shaped O=C(OH)2 molecule.
The carbonic acid is a weak acid, and it can dissociate to form bicarbonate ion (HCO3-) and (in basic solution) carbonate ion: (CO32-):

H2CO3(aq) H+(aq) + HCO3-(aq)
HCO3-(aq) H+(aq) + CO32-(aq)
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nog

nog

Active Member
Heisenberg said:
The goal of a DWC is maximum dissolved oxygen levels in the water. You shouldn't do anything that will encourage your res to go anaerobic. A low oxygen level will invite pathogenic microbes, starve the roots of oxygen, kill off beneficial microbes, and make an environment perfect for root rot, all of which will adversely effect your yield.
Click to expand...
spot on, the pump for ading co2 would be better used to add more air. also the water would become increasingly acidic
 
P

Pjwr

Member
Just trying to find out why my roots on my plant die and go brown the nute temps 18c there's a huge amount of aeration in the tote I were thinking because there's air directly coming from under the net pot maybe it's making a vacuum and sucking air over on the side of the tote where the air stone hose holes are and or it's coming down from the top of the netpot through the clay balls.
I'm thinking it has to be the co2 because I've pulled all the dead brown roots off then put the plant in a sterile bucket to regrow beautiful white new roots the soon as I use the co2 in 2days roots are starting to die off again.
Has anyone on here experienced this problem if so please comment on my post
 
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