Better oxygen exchange
 

I have been doing google searches for a product that increases oxygen in the water but have had little results. Is there a product on the market that does this so I can increase bioload.

Also, If I build a sump that is shallow with a humongous footprint thus huge surface area for oxygen exchange will that increase the dissolved oxygen or is there some sort of maximun parts ppm that can be reached or to be safe for fish.

There are a couple things that could increase o2 concentration.
1. Skimmer- pretty much any skimmer will increase the o2 concentration. Look for the skimmer that has the highest air intake?
2. Air pump- This would probably cause a ton of salt creep, but will increase o2
3. As you said a larger sump means more area of gas exchange and any kind of surface agitation would also increase the o2 content.
4. Lastly, a refugium with 24 hr lighting. The photosynthesis would add o2 in the water.
HTH

Thanks Jeff.

I do not know where you heard that increased oxygen levels allows for a greater bioload, but it does not. Not even close. You may want to do some research on the nitrogen cycle.

Dissolved oxygen is a vital part of successful aquaria but it is not everything. and to answer your last question, if the water becomes supersaturated with oxygen, then it can be harmful; for example, in supersaturated seahorse tanks, the horses develop bubbles under their skin as the gas bubbles out. It is not particularly easy to supersaturate water though.

Running a ozone unit hooked up to a ORP meter is your best option, running the ozone through an oxygen/ozone reactor works great and lets the ozone dissipate, or you can run it through an ozone safe protien skimmer.

24 hr refugium is not good, you need to let the plants recover from the light, 12 and 12 is better. 24hr you'll kill your macro algae's

debatable

I have to throw chaeto every other week, which is dark green and growing madly under 24/7 lighting.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/te.../g/bioload.htm


Definition: Bioload is the demand placed upon the life-support system in the aquarium as a result of the metabolism of all the living organisms present in the tank.

I understand that there are other environmental interactions that occur other than fish metabolizing oxygen. But I am already aware on how to control nitrates. :wink:

But thanks for addressing my question about over saturation.



---

Thank you all for your responses - a well rounded bunch.

Mind blown. :idea: :question:

do you have a link to a good article about this. I have never used or even seen an ozone reactor. I have heard of them before however.

same here

Sorry, I dont have any articles handy. Im sure you could google it...
I used them when I imported large quantities of marine life, and also used them to oxidize waste and bring up the o2 saturation levels in the water column when I was raising tank raised post larval marine fish. They are used alot in fish farms of all types.
I have aquaculture books and articles on it hiding somewhere, you can usually apply aquaculture tecnology to aquariums with great results!
There are alot of great informative acuaculture sites and BB's out there...
Cheers!

okay, how about this:

http://aquaticeco.resultspage.com/aq...en%20Diffusers


diffusers. They appear to be like air stones that attach to pure oxygen.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...etail/iid/6489

wouldn;t something like this be practical?

So from what I understand, if the diffuser is practical I can flow the oxygen through the plate and then use a pinpoint to determine the ppm. then I can adjust the valve on the tank to regulate flow thus raising and lowering oxidization in the water?

its alot easier and more practical to run an ozone generator with an ORP meter, injecting the ozone into your ozone safe protien skimmer if its large enough to have sufficent dwell time, or inject ozone into an ozone/oxygen reactor which is designed to have sufficient dwell time to let the ozone dissipate before entering the display tank. This setup will ensure that organic waste is oxidized and oxygen levels are at safe peak levels....

okay. I was browsing the ozone/oxygen reactors a few mins ago. I was looking at the diffuser only because I was reading an article on live aquaria about how the increase in oxygen with the ozone reactor were marginal. That just got me started with looking at aquaculture companies for other ideas.

But I will look back into the reactor and skimmer combo along with the ozone/oxygen reactor. Any idea of how much I can increase bioload?

there are alot of factors and its very involved and takes years of research or alternatively you pay someone to do it for you... In aquaculture, densities of .5-.75lbs of fish per gallon are common and high end farms are approaching 1lb of fish per gallon of water with high turnover. Alot of common aquaculture figures are 1-5gallons of water per pound of fish. I could write you a story on here about all the variables.... staying with a common marine ornamental density parameter of .5"-1" of fish per gallon is a safer bet but you will still need to have high water quality to achive this.