someone school me on CO2

[kleankord]

Links, articles, write ups, DIYs? What kits are composed of and their functions? Thanks.

[bcdudley]

There are literally thousands of articles on this.
:google:

[kleankord]

Google great. Interactive community better. I've cone across some decent links, but maybe someone on the forum knows the best source to looked to

[jabbott]

Here's Andrew's parts list (http://www.dfwfishbox.com/forums/production/showthread.php?p=101807) from last year with pictures and lots of tips.

[AndrewH]

^ I was going to look that up. TY

That list gives you a good overview of a pressurized setup. I haven't tried DIY yet, so I'll let someone else comment on that, but DIY is best for smaller (30 > gallon) aquariums.

[AndrewH]

Google great. Interactive community better.
I agree! :cool:

[AndrewH]

Also was going to mention, you typically don't need CO2 until you get closer to the 3-4 watts per gallon mark (depending on the light source).

The plants aren't stimulated enough below that lighting threshold to need extra injected CO2, IMHO. Though injecting CO2 at any light level won't hurt anything and the plants will use what they can.

[kleankord]

Right now I'm at 110 watts of t5ho and 40 watts of t8. Maybe I shied just ditch the t8.. but I have a couple plants that appreciate the high light, this on a 60 gal.

For anyone else interested this link was referred to me on another forum.

http://www.gpodio.com/co2_setup.asp

[bluestar76]

Right now I'm at 110 watts of t5ho and 40 watts of t8. Maybe I shied just ditch the t8.. but I have a couple plants that appreciate the high light, this on a 60 gal.

For anyone else interested this link was referred to me on another forum.

http://www.gpodio.com/co2_setup.asp

What kind of plants are you trying to grow?

I have 120 watts of light and use 3 diy co2 bottles with a diffusor and my plants pearl like crazy in a 50.

I have
Cryptocorne wendtii
amazon sword(common) that is huge and started tiny in feb
micro sword
ludwigia(broad leaf)
hygrophilla polysperma
anubias nana
water sprite(had to remove most of it grew WAAYYYY to fast)
and flame moss.

I use half white sugar and half brown sugar for my mixes. It seems to produce more and last much longer than just white sugar.

HTH

[kleankord]

What kind of plants are you trying to grow?

I have 120 watts of light and use 3 diy co2 bottles with a diffusor and my plants pearl like crazy in a 50.

I have
Cryptocorne wendtii
amazon sword(common) that is huge and started tiny in feb
micro sword
ludwigia(broad leaf)
hygrophilla polysperma
anubias nana
water sprite(had to remove most of it grew WAAYYYY to fast)
and flame moss.

I use half white sugar and half brown sugar for my mixes. It seems to produce more and last much longer than just white sugar.

HTH

Wow that sounds awesome. Can I hear more about your setup? Like how its done etc? I was considering buying a setup but enjoy DIYs, I just read posts saying they were only for smaller tanks. I have all the plants you listed except to no moss, sprite, and nana. In addition I have narrow leaf ludwigia, water hysteria, 2 types of java fern, and two plants idc if they grow-water lettuce and moss balls..

But yeah, got pics and specs of your setup?

[bluestar76]

Wow that sounds awesome. Can I hear more about your setup? Like how its done etc? I was considering buying a setup but enjoy DIYs, I just read posts saying they were only for smaller tanks. I have all the plants you listed except to no moss, sprite, and nana. In addition I have narrow leaf ludwigia, water hysteria, 2 types of java fern, and two plants idc if they grow-water lettuce and moss balls..

But yeah, got pics and specs of your setup?

Yea pics are in my albums

I have a 50 g planted tank, that I listed all the plants in I don't have a recent pic of it or my 29 but both pics are pretty representative of what they are now. In the 29 the polysperma and the red tiger lotus have really taken off though, especially the lotus. I keep having to trim back leaves its sending to the surface.

50 g

Filtration
Fluval 304
petco 45 gallon rated power head with a sponge prefilter as co2 diffuser similar to this
YouTube- Mini DIY CO2 Reactor in Aquarium (prototype 2 of 2)

Lighting
6 spiral cfl 23 watt 65000k light bulbs using vinyl rain gutters as reflectors and $5 cheapie light timer

I also custom built a canopy to cover the unsightly white vinyl rain gutter with the help of popebocephus.

Substrate
Pool Filter Sand- if there is one thing I would have done different it was this. I would have used a first layer plant substrate like I did in my 29.

Ferts

I dose with flourish once a week and trace elements on Sunday & Wednesday.

All plants that are not stem plants have substrate fertilization with slow release fertilizer stakes

decor

River rocks large

One large peice of driftwood and one small

I think driftwood is essential to a the type of tank I like to run. Tannic acid is beneficial to fish and can lower PH. Since I am a dwarf cichlid fanatic and my tap is like 8.0 ph I use driftwood and co2 to lower my ph and help strip some of the hardness from my water. It comes out of the tap at like 300 and is quickly drops to 120

Co2

I have 3 2 liter bottles I have connected to my diffusor. I mix 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown in each when I change them (every 14 days) and 1/2 teaspoon of activated yeast.

I also run an airline to my co2 diffusor. This helps keep the PH from dropping too low into the night and has obvious benefits for the fish. Many have poo-pooed this method saying it will gas off my co2, but I find it to be highly effective. The o2 is dissolved into the water column along with the co2 and there are always tiny bubbles floating around in the tank and the amounts lost at the surface are minimal at best. You can ask anyone who has gotten trimmings from me, my plants grow like crazy.

Stocking.

If I went light on the stocking I would probably never have to change the water in this tank, but I like an active tank so I do have to regularly change the water.

1x long finned blue ram
1x long finned gold ram
1x apistogramma agassizi double red male
x10 neon tetras
x3 cardinal tetras
x7 cherry barbs
x6 panda corydoras
x6 otocinclus
x1 true siamensis
x1 Pomacea bridgesii(apple snail)
x2 zebra nerite snails
x4 kuhli loaches
4 or 5 ramshorn snails
a huge MTS population to keep my pool filter sand from compacting and gathering anaerobic pockets.

Plants
Amazon sword(centerpeice) now there are leaves less than an inch from the surface.
a couple of hygrophilla polyspermas(thanks to fishdaddy) transferred from the 29
1 large japanese mossball
1 bunch of microsword that has tripled in size
pygmy chain swords(thanks drag13honda)
ludwigia broad leaf(thanks cichlid keeper)
anubias nana attached to driftwood
standard Java moss and flame moss attached to driftwood(thanks to haiven for flame moss and MTS)
2 cryptocorne wendtiis soon to be more as they are both sprouting babies.

Mistakes I made on this tank that I learned from....

I did not heavily plant this tank before I upgraded the lights. I only had one co2 bottle on the tank at the time and I had algae problems out the wazoo!

I was over dosing with ferts and over feeding to top it off and I had almost every type known to man. You name it black beard algae, green spot, staghorn, green hair and standard green algae.

I increased the amount of plants and got rid of some plants and through generous donations of many members of this board(as noted above) was able to heavily plant the tank. I cut way back on the ferts and feedings(once a day never more) I increased the co2 to 3 bottles instead of 1, got more otos, nerite snails, and a SAE and all the algae problems went bye bye...eventually. Once the water sprite really started to grow this really helped as well. Figuring out the balance took me a month or so, but once I did I never really had algae problems my cleanup crew couldn't deal with.



Next up the planted 29. This tank is not heavily stocked. I have gone weeks without changing water, but recently I started changing the water just to do it so that I could keep the substrate cleaner.

Filtration

Rena filstar xp1
I have my co2 output run directly to the filter input so that it serves as my co2 diffusor.

Lighting

As you can tell, money saving is the name of the game in my house, I had no money for wood for a canopy on this tank so I decided to retrofit the 30" lighting fixture that came with it. 18W wasnt going to cut it. I took the guts out of the light that came with it and used a similar setup to my 50 gallon.
3 65000k spiral CFL 23w light bulbs this time using aluminum foil as a reflector. I realize that this isn't the most efficient method, but it appears as though it is highly effective as the plants in this tank grow like crazy as well.

Substate

I used a base layer of active-flora soil substrate as a base layer and then used Pool Filter Sand as a mix with it.

Ferts

I dose this tank the same as the others. Heavy substrate feeding plants are also provided with fert stakes even though I used plant subtrate. I had extra laying around so I figured why not use them.

Decor

One large piece of driftwood and three small terra cotta pot halves and small river rock pieces.

co2,

I use 2 2liter diy co2 bottles on this tank, the mix and change regiment is the same as the other tank.

Stocking

This tank is much lighter on the stocking

2 otocynclus
4 apistogramma cacatuoides 1m/3f
3 red cherry shrimp
2 red spot nerites
some pond and ramshorn snails and a large MTS population for the same purpose as the other tank.

plant population

Water sprite
Red Tiger Lotus(thanks cichlid keeper)
hygrophila polysperma(fish daddy)
hygrophila difformis(fish daddy)
flame moss (haiven)
echondrius tellenius(pope)

When I moved the Tiger Lotus from the 50 to the 29 it TOOK OFF. When I put it in it had 3 leaves and that was the growth it had achieved under low lighting situations from the water sprite covering it. Now the plant easily has 8-9 leaves 3 that are absolutely gigantic compared to the others and keeps sending leaves to the surface. I expect it to start flowering soon.

I learned from my mistakes on the previous tank and planted this tank heavily from the beginning with water sprite and anacharis. I still had algae issues while figuring out the right mix of ferts and co2. Money was also an issue so I didnt have a clean up crew at first, over time I replaced the plants I didnt want(anacharis) with plants I did like the polysperma.

The RCS(fish daddy) nerites and otos took care of my algae issues and this tank has been in balance ever since.

IMHO i saved myself hundreds to thousands of dollars in my methods. I did my homework and the end result are several happy plants, fish and invertebrates.

I have suffered some losses(most notably my male cacatuoides in my big tank*sigh*) but for the most part I have happy and healthy tanks.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

[kleankord]

yep, i let go of my anacharis as well and the hygro-poly grows best in my tank.. really amazing. I bought 6 SAEs and have been ODing flourish excel and love the results. I'm convinced I need CO2 now.

how much did your DIY setup cost? Right now I'm debating btw your method and a pressurized system that I would just run through my xp3.

[bluestar76]

yep, i let go of my anacharis as well and the hygro-poly grows best in my tank.. really amazing. I bought 6 SAEs and have been ODing flourish excel and love the results. I'm convinced I need CO2 now.

how much did your DIY setup cost? Right now I'm debating btw your method and a pressurized system that I would just run through my xp3.

The diffusor? The power head was the most expensive part. It was $20, the sponge prefilter was $12 that ways it serves dual purposes diffuses and filters.
The sillicone airline was like $8 and the cup and the scrubbie I bought at the dollar store for a dollar each.

The light setup was $10 for the raingutter and endcaps
$10 for 4 65000k lightbulbs so you do the math on that one and $2 each for the cheapie plug in sockets for each light.

I would love to have a pressurized system with solenoid, and fancy lights, but I cant afford it. If you can I would suggest it. You will get better results with the more expensive systems no question.

My current system is not without its drawbacks. It does not have the light penetration that you will have nice t5 HO system. The growth I am getting from my microsword is not what I would call prolific. If you want a true carpet without using moss you need deep light penetration.