Fresh Water Sump?

[Anonymous]

I do struggle with that. Over the years I've tried every defuser and reactor and combination of both. I think the sump has a bit to do with defusing the CO2 back into the atmosphere. However, I also notice my plants get to a critical mass where they absorb so much CO2 as a whole that I am unable to pump enough CO2 into the tank before it just gets ridiculous. What I am using currently to defuse CO2 into the water has worked the best. It is an atomizer placed at substrate level under the spray bar. From there whatever is defused in the water travels 2 feet to the suface, then 7 feet before dumping into the sump. I also supplement using flourish excel. I get good results without excel but better results using both. A 20 pound CO2 tank with a single line into the 140 and a single line into a 30 gallon lasts about 4 months.

 

[Bob]

A 20 pound CO2 tank with a single line into the 140 and a single line into a 30 gallon lasts about 4 months.

How much to refill and where do you refill?

 

[Anonymous]

A 20 pound CO2 tank with a single line into the 140 and a single line into a 30 gallon lasts about 4 months.

How much to refill and where do you refill?

$17.23 to refill a 20 pound CO2 at Airgas in Woodinville. There is a store in Arlington too. Not sure of their prices. May want to call to check. The Airgas in Woodinville is highly competitive against a competitor in the area so the price maybe different in other areas.

 

[jrygel]

Thanks for the reply. I'm currently running from a 5 LB tank into a 30 gallon through a Grigg style reactor after my canister and I have no trouble getting to 30 ppm or so. I'll need to stick with the same setup when I upgrade due to space limitations and am a little concerned about CO2 use with a ~65 gallon system with a sump. I'm trying really hard to keep everything out of the display tank (should just be the overflow box and return). At this point I'm thinking I'm going to feed CO2 to a small protein skimmer pump (designed to dissolve gas) from the last chamber of the sump, through a reactor and feed it back into the first chamber of the sump. Crossing my fingers that this will work OK.

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds like it would work okay. Most the equipment in my display tank is hidden by plants.

 

[jrygel]

That sounds like it would work okay. Most the equipment in my display tank is hidden by plants.

That would definitely be easier if I could do it, but my tank is basically a divider between my living room and dining room. So both long sides are fully on display. It would look best if I could have NO covered sides, but I have to get the water in and out some how, so I am going to build a nice looking wooden shroud around the pipes on the end that has the overflow.