CO2. What's the use in marine set-up

[sanhas]

Hi,

I've seen someone selling CO2 tank here. May I know what would be the purpose of having CO2 in marine set-up and how to apply it? Thanks.

[subxero]

Hi,

I've seen someone selling CO2 tank here. May I know what would be the purpose of having CO2 in marine set-up and how to apply it? Thanks.

It is usually used with a Calcium Reactor. You need a low ph for the media to "release" calcium.

[vidextreme]

Hi sanhas,

Two purposes I know for the use of CO2 system to a marine setup...

1. If the purpose of the tank is to cultivate useful algae or seaweeds which CO2 are used for photosynthesis and growth reaction to red or orange light. This is also common for freshwater plants setups.

2. This is most common use for CO2 systems for reef keepers is for reintroducing dissolved calcium in the water, esp for hard corals, through the use of Calcium Reactors or any other media that would react to acidity or directly to CO2. How it works is really simple. In a nut shell (minus the technical terms), in order to dissolve calcium and carbonites stored in rocks or calcium reactors media, we need to increase the acidity. Hence by pumping CO2 in the water it increases acidity safely. With the right amount of CO2, the acidity is neutralized by chemical reaction to the media(calcium/carbonites). But usually this is done in a seperate chamber so not to affect the pH of the main tank. Google Calcium Reactors.

Hope that helps, happy reefing!

[sanhas]

Thanks for the replies. Too bad kinda of chimz for me. Too amateur to go so deep. Might even consider giving up if another crash happen to my tank. Many thanks again