Oxygen Tank Idea

[invincible569]

I was reviewing GTR's post on the triple stage reactor setup with a degassing feature at the end by adding air bubbles of the surrounding area. But then I started thinking and maybe this is a bit overkill... would buying a 02 tank improve the tank stability further than just regular surrounding air. As we all know, our surrounding air is made up of different elements besides 02 and if we fed stricly 02 into the tank, would that benefit the aquarium stability further? If we could feed 02 at a slow consistent rate, it would last a long time. I know we use Skimmers and other mixing 02 equipment, but the thought of having 02 only into the tank MAY be beneficial? Comments?

Anyone have any 02 tanks they can borrow from their grandparents?

[wasp]

If bubbling O2, most of it will be wasted.

[invincible569]

The only way to prove this is to test the effluent. Test one with pure O2, one with just an airstone, and one without anything all coming from the same Ca Reactor.

[GTR]

It's my understanding that with good water circulation, overflows and turbulence at the surface of the main aquarium that our tanks are running close to being O2 saturated anyway. In that reactor design I doubt using pure O2 over normal air would show much difference. I think the CO2 wants to come out and pure O2 will not "push" it out any faster. This I think is just a case of it reaching an equilibrium with the surrounding air.
If you start running pure O2 around your tank you better have all your ducks in a row or be sure that all your electrical is up to code.

SteveU

[invincible569]

If you start running pure O2 around your tank you better have all your ducks in a row or be sure that all your electrical is up to code.

SteveU

Are we speaking of fueling fires?

[invincible569]

It's my understanding that with good water circulation, overflows and turbulence at the surface of the main aquarium that our tanks are running close to being O2 saturated anyway.
SteveU

What about for those aquariums that have a low PH? I have been running a PH of 7.8-8.1 for the longest time. What if I was able to combat this by eliminating one of the sources of the problem which is the C02 effluent from a Ca Reactor? It may not be a huge difference, but every little change counts. Doing this would bring me and others one step closer to NSW levels and reassuring we are ALWAYS at equilibrium (stability).

[GTR]

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
I'd be very reluctant to skim with anything other than normal air. The skimming itself will be the same, but using N2 will strip O2 and CO2 from the water, and using pure O2 might drive the oxygen in the water to undesirably high levels (4x natural levels) while also stripping CO2 (driving upthe pH). I'm not sure what problems in a reef aquarium might arise from 4X natural O2 levels, but it would clearly be in the realm of "experimentation".

From...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=466853
SteveU

[invincible569]

Sounds like an experiment for sure! Just buy an Salifert 02, P04, and whatever else you can get your hands on with a O2 bottle and solenoid. Hmmm. Tempting and very risky! Especially since SPS use C02/Photosynthesis to fluorish. Its like a Ca reactor.. you will have to tune it for sure.

[coralite]

Raising oxygen levels in your tank to above 1 atm is highly undesireable. The limiting factor at peak of photosynthesis in zoox. is the rate of O2 dissolution out of the coral. That being said, water flow is responsible for the concentration gradient which determines the rate of dissoluton of solutes between the coral and the surrounding water. In weak water flow, the concentration gradient between the coral and the water is lower so the coral cannot dump O2 as fast and it will photosynthesize at a lower rate. If you raise the 02 conc. in the water column then you will weaken the concentration gradient and further decrease the rate of O2 release and photosynthesis. If anything, to increase growth rate using manipulation of O2 concentration you would want to decrease the O2 concentration, maybe just by turning your skimmer off during the middle of the day. That being said, some of the most amazing captive grown corals I have ever seen were grown in the Denver area, at a mile above sea level. Steve Chang's 3-4' table Acropora hyacynthus, The 4x3x3' hammer coral that Neptune's finally hacked up, Chris Cap's and Steve Hurlock's aquariums also have grown humongous corals.

[Aged Salt]

FYI, in the early 90"s, I ran pure 02 into my skimmer with a 02 generator[noisy] with a resultant increase in ORP & increased water clarity. SPS growth over the 2mos of using 100% 02 did not seem different but the reef was much "cleaner". The noise from the generator finally drove me to revert back to 03 use in the skimmer, with a fall in the ORP as I did use 03 at low-dosage at the time. My reef did not seem the worse with just using low-dose 03. Bob

[invincible569]

good info coralite! makes sense when we are talking about raising corals in our aquarium. I like your idea about turning the skimmer off. It may benefit the symbiotic corals, but not the overall health of the tank. For me, stability is the key and turning off the skimmer may cause some time of swing. It may not be major and these corals may become immune to it, but living in San Francisco with great weather all year round makes you a more active human being... if you get my drift.

Bob, that is nice to hear. That also makes sense about having a cleaner tank. C02 feeds algae, 02 is their excess waste... definitely an environment where algae wouldnt like to live off on. How did you regulate 02 dosage? Or was it just an open valve with tons of bubbles?

You guys really have me thinking now. Makes me want to get involved in this experiment even sooner. I did go a step ahead today and now i have a mini reactor with an air stone bubble maker that will sit after my Ca reactor effluent. But adding 02 is where my curiosity wants to go.

[coralite]

good info coralite! makes sense when we are talking about raising corals in our aquarium. I like your idea about turning the skimmer off. It may benefit the symbiotic corals, but not the overall health of the tank. For me, stability is the key and turning off the skimmer may cause some time of swing.

On the contrary, Photosynthesis peaks at midday and so does O2 concentration. Turning off your skimmer during that time will actually smooth out the daytime sinusoidal curve of the rise and fall of O2 from night to day much in the same way that an RDP refugium/algae tank can decrease the drop in O2 at night.

[Aged Salt]

Edward, 02 generator have a regulator that allows 02 flow up to 5ltrs/min--I ran mine at 3ltrs/min into the skimmer. Another way of delivering 100% 02 is thru a air-stone within a 02 reactor, with supersaturated oxygenated water from it's effluent. Bob