# Adding Air pump will reduce CO2 level?



## kshah (Aug 24, 2010)

From what I understand, CO2 losses come from increased surface agitation. Adding more O2 won't impact your CO2 levels, directly. But fish will still suffer if you have too much CO2 even if you add plenty of O2. Apparently, too much CO2 concentration in the water prevents the fish from being able to transfer CO2 out of their gills (they can't breathe out).

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## lipadj46 (Apr 6, 2011)

to clarify, yes adding an air pump will cause CO2 loss but the extra O2 and circulation may benefit your tank. Some people use stones ans surface agitation in order to increase the amount of CO2 the fish will tolerate but there is a certain point where if you go too high with the [CO2] no amount of O2 in the water will help because the fish rely on diffusion to get rid of excess CO2 fom their blood.


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## magicmagni (Nov 7, 2003)

The addition of a powerhead to your tank is probably a good thing because of increased water flow. You always want some surface agitation, yes you loose some Co2, but the benefits out weight the losses. If you are running pressurized Co2 you just turn it up a bit. Surface agitation helps increase 02 and helps break up that skum on the surface that often people get. It also gives you a certain margin of error on Co2 dosing (that is makes it harder to kill you fish) Surface agitation means some waves at the surface, but not Niagara Falls.

I think originally it was not advised because folks were commonly using yeast Co2 with a limited Co2 supply on higher light tanks so they were trying not to waste it and have all available to the plants.

BTW are you using the air venturi with it? If so I would probably remove that or turn it way down because it may be too much.

Also on adding an air pump: Many (myself included) have an air pump on a timer and only run it at night. Since plants and fish use o2 at night this seems helpful. This is just an extra margin of safety. Ideally if your plants are pearling a lot and producing lots and lots of 02 during the day it is enough to make it through the night, but it doesn't hurt so why not?


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

magicmagni said:


> The addition of a powerhead to your tank is probably a good thing because of increased water flow. You always want some surface agitation, yes you loose some Co2, but the benefits out weight the losses. If you are running pressurized Co2 you just turn it up a bit. Surface agitation helps increase 02 and helps break up that skum on the surface that often people get. It also gives you a certain margin of error on Co2 dosing (that is makes it harder to kill you fish) Surface agitation means some waves at the surface, but not Niagara Falls.
> 
> I think originally it was not advised because folks were commonly using yeast Co2 with a limited Co2 supply on higher light tanks so they were trying not to waste it and have all available to the plants.
> 
> ...


So plants use oxygen also?I thought they only need CO2....


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## King of Hyrule (Apr 29, 2013)

sleepswithdafishez said:


> So plants use oxygen also?I thought they only need CO2....


Yes, at night they intake O2 and output CO2. 

Try googling: Photosynthesis and/or Plant Circadian Rhythms. Its really some wild cool stuff.


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

doncityz said:


> Hi all. I have this small powerhead filter that i no longer use. therefore i put it in my PT so the fishes feel a lot happier with more O2 in the tank.
> 
> But I read in some other forum that introducing air pump to a PT with CO2 will reduce the CO2 amount in the water, is this true?
> 
> Thanks.


You sound new to this hobby. You need to purchase a book or two on aquatic plant keeping. *Even in this day of I can't wait for an answer, books are very good things to own.

Airstones are good for fish only tanks, but they serve no real benefit over other methods of moving water around and they do not introduce significant levels of O2 into the water column. The bubbles rise too fast to the surface. A heavily planted tank will provide enough O2 to meet the needs of fauna day and night as long as you do not overstock.

* Here are some books.

A good book and an old book that got me started is **The Optimum Aquarium*. 
Another good book is*.* 
*ECOLOGY of the PLANTED AQUARIUM*
A Practical Manual and Scientific
Treatise for the Home Aquarist
 Third Edition (2013)  by Diana Walstad


Other books 
*AQUARIUM PLANTS* by Christel Kasselmann​

*Dynamic Aquaria* ​(Third Edition)Building and Restoring Living Ecosystems 

Author(s):Walter H. Adey and Karen Loveland 


***If you get this book ignore the part about undergravel heating cables.​


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

Steve001 said:


> You sound new to this hobby. You need to purchase a book or two on aquatic plant keeping. *Even in this day of I can't wait for an answer, books are very good things to own.
> 
> Airstones are good for fish only tanks, but they serve no real benefit over other methods of moving water around and they do not introduce significant levels of O2 into the water column. The bubbles rise too fast to the surface. A heavily planted tank will provide enough O2 to meet the needs of fauna day and night as long as you do not overstock.
> 
> ...


so if you run an air pump for a couple of hours with lights on ,just for the "bubbly" ,that won't affect the so much needed CO2 for the plants?


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## crice8 (Aug 2, 2012)

Surface agitation and more o2 is only beneficial to your tanks inhabitants and plants. What most of us do is simply increase your co2 to counter for the little bit extra that is lost due to an aitstone. It will not make the water contain less co2 as co2 and o2 are independent in water and don't affect one another. the only reason you would have less co2 is because the surface agitation causes some to off gas but as I said you can simply increase your co2 going into the tank to make up for this(= thus more pearling, happier fish, and better looking plants(=


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Just to clarify, am I correct in assuming that the loss of CO2 being discussed would only apply if you were running a tank with supplemental CO2? If you're not adding CO2, it seems to me that increasing surface agitation shouldn't make much of a difference because the CO2 in the water would already be at close to equilibrium with the CO2 in the air and the agitation would just promote that equilibrium.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

the_deeb said:


> Just to clarify, am I correct in assuming that the loss of CO2 being discussed would only apply if you were running a tank with supplemental CO2?


The answer is yes. If you are injecting CO2, then the concentration of CO2 in your aquarium will be higher. Surface agitation increase the gas exchange, which means diffusion is increased. Diffusion will occur from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration. In this case, the CO2 from the aquarium will degas/diffuse into the atmosphere.



the_deeb said:


> If you're not adding CO2, it seems to me that increasing surface agitation shouldn't make much of a difference because the CO2 in the water would already be at close to equilibrium with the CO2 in the air and the agitation would just promote that equilibrium.


It depends. If you have no plants, then yes, adding surface agitation will not make that much of a difference, assuming that the levels of CO2 in the water are close to that of in the air (i.e. they are in equilibrium).

However, in a heavily planted aquarium, it is possible for the plants to use up whatever CO2 is in the water column. This means that the CO2 concentration inside the water is *lower* than that of the atmosphere. If you are not injecting CO2, adding surface agitation will actually *increase* CO2 levels (back to equilibrium with the atmosphere).


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