Question regarding CO2

[Grimley_Feindish]

I was thinking today while wandering around the supermarket with my wife -
what affect on CO2 levels would using a bottle or two of carbonated spring
water at the weekly water change have? Would it cause harmful spikes in the
water chemistry or bother the fish in any other way? Would it have any
affect on CO2 levels and plant grwoth at all? Any one ever tried it?

Apologies if it's a dumb question and I'm missing some glaringly obvious
reason as to why you can't do this (I now have a mental image of tetras
doing a fine impression of puffers).

Regards
--
Alan

[RedForeman ©®]

> I was thinking today while wandering around the supermarket with my
> wife - what affect on CO2 levels would using a bottle or two of
> carbonated spring water at the weekly water change have? Would it
> cause harmful spikes in the water chemistry or bother the fish in any
> other way? Would it have any affect on CO2 levels and plant grwoth at
> all? Any one ever tried it?

You could, but it's somewhat risky, as I've heard ppl putting just regular
spring water in and the whole tank dies the next morning... It_CAN_ cause a
pH crash, no hardness and CO2 saturated water will push the pH way down, too
quickly and the fish will die.... it's a bad idea in my mind....

> Apologies if it's a dumb question and I'm missing some glaringly
> obvious reason as to why you can't do this (I now have a mental image
> of tetras doing a fine impression of puffers).

I'll let the chemistry experts chime in, I'm doing good to keep the water
clean, can't explain molecular mass as well as some...

--
RedForeman ©®
Sorry about the troll, the ball is rolling there....

[Ken Pinard]

Also, bottled water is not necessarly pure water. It can contain any amount
of "Safe" levels of polutants. If the water is just bottled and nothing is
added, I don't even think it requires testing. Just bottled and sold as is.
Because it is "Naturally Found" it does not require testing. I may be wrong,
but I have read studies that bottled water has contained bacteria, polutants
and in one case heavy metals.

So I would be careful about using it. Besides isn't buy carbinated water
expensive?

Just my 2cents,

Ken


"RedForeman ©®" > wrote in message
...
> > I was thinking today while wandering around the supermarket with my
> > wife - what affect on CO2 levels would using a bottle or two of
> > carbonated spring water at the weekly water change have? Would it
> > cause harmful spikes in the water chemistry or bother the fish in any
> > other way? Would it have any affect on CO2 levels and plant grwoth at
> > all? Any one ever tried it?
>
> You could, but it's somewhat risky, as I've heard ppl putting just regular
> spring water in and the whole tank dies the next morning... It_CAN_ cause
a
> pH crash, no hardness and CO2 saturated water will push the pH way down,
too
> quickly and the fish will die.... it's a bad idea in my mind....
>
> > Apologies if it's a dumb question and I'm missing some glaringly
> > obvious reason as to why you can't do this (I now have a mental image
> > of tetras doing a fine impression of puffers).
>
> I'll let the chemistry experts chime in, I'm doing good to keep the water
> clean, can't explain molecular mass as well as some...
>
> --
> RedForeman ©®
> Sorry about the troll, the ball is rolling there....
>
>

[Donny]

"Ken Pinard" > wrote in
:

> Also, bottled water is not necessarly pure water. It can contain any
> amount of "Safe" levels of polutants. If the water is just bottled and
> nothing is added, I don't even think it requires testing. Just bottled
> and sold as is. Because it is "Naturally Found" it does not require
> testing. I may be wrong, but I have read studies that bottled water
> has contained bacteria, polutants and in one case heavy metals.
>
> So I would be careful about using it. Besides isn't buy carbinated
> water expensive?
>
> Just my 2cents,
>
> Ken
>
>
> "RedForeman ©®" > wrote in message
> ...
>> > I was thinking today while wandering around the supermarket with my
>> > wife - what affect on CO2 levels would using a bottle or two of
>> > carbonated spring water at the weekly water change have? Would it
>> > cause harmful spikes in the water chemistry or bother the fish in
>> > any other way? Would it have any affect on CO2 levels and plant
>> > grwoth at all? Any one ever tried it?
>>
>> You could, but it's somewhat risky, as I've heard ppl putting just
>> regular spring water in and the whole tank dies the next morning...
>> It_CAN_ cause
>> a
>> pH crash, no hardness and CO2 saturated water will push the pH way
>> down,
>> too
>> quickly and the fish will die.... it's a bad idea in my mind....
>>
>> > Apologies if it's a dumb question and I'm missing some glaringly
>> > obvious reason as to why you can't do this (I now have a mental
>> > image of tetras doing a fine impression of puffers).
>>
>> I'll let the chemistry experts chime in, I'm doing good to keep the
>> water clean, can't explain molecular mass as well as some...
>>
>> --
>> RedForeman ©®
>> Sorry about the troll, the ball is rolling there....
>>
>>
>
>
>

The pH spike is something to consider. But, you also need to think
about CO2 being lost to the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 in your tank
is already in equlibrium with the air. The large spike of CO2 you add
will quickly be lost. The best way to add CO2 is by adding a small
amount over a longer period of time, so the rate at wich you add CO2 is
the same as the rate it is being lost. You should probably look into
the yeast/sugar method if you want to experiment with CO2 (it would
probably be cheaper than giving your plants bottled carbonated water).