Aerating the sump water at night?

[zephyros]

Hi guys,

Understand that one of the reason y ppl keep refrigum <<< can rem the spelling

and put it to reverse photoperiod is to provide oxygen (from photosysthesis)

to the system at night, so as to counter-act the increase in carbon dioxide produced.

I do not run a refrigum, but I have a pretty large bio-load of fishes

(17xsmall fishes and many snails and shrimps and starfish etc). Hence, was

worried that the hugh carbon dioxide swing at night might cause some stress.

Is it a good idea to provide extra aeration of water (in sump) during the night,

via a good airstone (like those japan airstone shown in aquarama)? Will this

areation helps to increase oxygen level in the water?

I do not intend to run ozone btw.

cheers

[blueheaven]

The pH drop is due to the carbon dioxide that is released when the animals respire becoming carbonic acid. I don't think oxygen plays a part in this

[zephyros]

The pH drop is due to the carbon dioxide that is released when the animals respire becoming carbonic acid.

hmmm ... so introduce more oxygen to counter the carbon dioxide ... yes?? no??

i could be wrong, but that's the reason the refrigum is put on reverse photo-period

right?

cheers

[blueheaven]

The oxygen will not counter the carbon dioxide produced.

The reason why we have reverse photoperiod is so that the carbon dioxide produced will be taken in by the macroalgae for photosynthesis

[AlfaRomeo]

I might be wrong by I think the bubbling action will help to drive off the CO2 in the water.

[blueheaven]

Yeah it does. That's why it's recommended to put the CR effluent to the skimmer.

But if you have such a heavily stocked tank, the degassing might not be sufficient to prevent a pH drop

[tineng]

i've try bubbling my sump before.....it did not work for me, PH still drops quite drastically at night....

think i have to find a way to add a refug....

[madmac]

I do not run a refrigum, but I have a pretty large bio-load of fishes

(17xsmall fishes and many snails and shrimps and starfish etc). Hence, was

worried that the hugh carbon dioxide swing at night might cause some stress.

Is it a good idea to provide extra aeration of water (in sump) during the night,

via a good airstone (like those japan airstone shown in aquarama)? Will this

areation helps to increase oxygen level in the water?

I do not intend to run ozone btw.

cheers

The swing is gonna be there because total community respiration increases at nite. In the recent issue of reefkeeping : The need to breath addresses ur concern. Do you see a problem? e.g. low pH or hypoxic conditions?

This diagram from the above link shows that airstones does increase the level of oxygen compared to other methods :

[blueheaven]

What about running a skimmer? Does that help too?

[zephyros]

What about running a skimmer? Does that help too?

yup ... skimming sure helps ... i'm already running 1

The swing is gonna be there because total community respiration increases at nite. In the recent issue of reefkeeping : The need to breath addresses ur concern. Do you see a problem? e.g. low pH or hypoxic conditions?

that's y this idea cross my mind (not original idea )

i dun see a problem now as in now ... i was juz thinking, if i can improve their

living env by providing an inexpensive solution (ie airstone) ... y not lor ...

but the question is ... this is necessary for the overall health of the LS?

I rem reading something in the "Book of coral propagation" ... will try to

quote the text tonight

The oxygen will not counter the carbon dioxide produced.

The reason why we have reverse photoperiod is so that the carbon dioxide produced will be taken in by the macroalgae for photosynthesis

must read up more

cheers

[FuEl]

Don't underestimate the increase in evaporation if you aerate your sump...especially if your tank volume is small.

[ozy]

But surface agitation do liberate dissolved carbon dioxide in the water. However, most of the time, the protein skimmer provides enough aeration for the tank.

Furthermore, the efficiency of the wet/dry column can be increase (if you have one), by providing more air in the column.

I don't see any real harm in adding more aeration, except salt spray in the sump area and the possibility of introducing micobubbles into the main tank when they get suck in by the return pump.

[bawater]

Think of it this way,

If you have a sump - the water going from the tank to the sump aerates it a little.

If you have a skimmer in the sump(or output in sump) - it also helps a little, The output of the skimmer should also cause some surface agitation so your sump could be already high in oxygen.....it then depends on how much of this you are pushing back into the tank.

Creating waterflow within the tank at night would be a better alternative e.g

a powerhead pointing towards the surface - circulating water up to the surface for oxygen exchange. (a 900L/hr or 1000L/hr or so pump should be enough)

A gently circulation will be fine, i don't think anyone wants a nightly typhoon.

You can run this on a timer - so it runs during the night (when all wavemakers are off) Or 24hrs.

Rgds

[weisoon]

Could be CO2 built up at night in the room as probably too little ventilation because of closed windows. Even with skimmer, it does not help much as what the skimmer draws in is still more CO2 than O2 as there is very little new source of fresh air. The same applies for aeration. With this increased in CO2, PH will drop more. Try tapping the air source for skimmer from outside the window by extending the air tube and you will see some improvement to the PH value.