co2 question

[5am]

can i use co2 but not have REALLY strong lighting? i am currently dosing with flourish excel but it is getting costly... a guy at the LFS said its cheaper to go co2... what should i do??

the plants i am growin are swords anubias, crypts and indian fern... i have 1 compact flourescent on one corner and the 3/4 of the tank is lit up with 2x39w daylight tubes(theyre not HO t5s) but they are for aquariums..

 

[5am]

ok i just read the sticky... i think i will not be purchasing a co2 system for my plants are really low maintenance type plants.

 

[Alhazred]

can i use co2 but not have REALLY strong lighting? i am currently dosing with flourish excel but it is getting costly... a guy at the LFS said its cheaper to go co2... what should i do??

the plants i am growin are swords anubias, crypts and indian fern... i have 1 compact flourescent on one corner and the 3/4 of the tank is lit up with 2x39w daylight tubes(theyre not HO t5s) but they are for aquariums..

no c02 you just wont use it.

the metobolic rate of your plants isnt high enough to need more that natural diffusion and what the fish put out

 

[Sab_Fan]

ok i just read the sticky... i think i will not be purchasing a co2 system for my plants are really low maintenance type plants.

good call . . .

 

[jcardona1]

youre plants will definitely use it. carbon is the backbone of ALL life. and your plants are no exception. everybody says the same about anubias, but throw them into a high tech/co2 setup and see what happens. theyll grow and sprout roots like you never imagined

with that, you could run co2 if you wanted to. 99% of problems in a planted tank are because of too much light, not too little light. if you wanna take your plants to the next level, then give it a try. you can get by without it, but it will also give you amazing results not possible without

 

[Alhazred]

youre plants will definitely use it. carbon is the backbone of ALL life. and your plants are no exception. everybody says the same about anubias, but throw them into a high tech/co2 setup and see what happens. theyll grow and sprout roots like you never imagined

with that, you could run co2 if you wanted to. 99% of problems in a planted tank are because of too much light, not too little light. if you wanna take your plants to the next level, then give it a try. you can get by without it, but it will also give you amazing results not possible without

WRONG

he said he didnt have enough light



This is what happens in plants and why they need CO2 and light

They take in CO2 and Water anc create plant food and oxygen

6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy ® C6H12O6 + 6O2


But for this to work energy is needed. The energy for the plants comes in the form of light at certain wavelengths (remember the extra cash you spent for "special" lights... this is why) *note the ever wonder why so many plants are green? look up the hydrogen emmission spectra and learn a thing or two*

That light in addition to the CO2 and water(i hope you have water in your fish tank) gets turned into the sugar the plants grow with. and the "waste" oxygen (that is why you can breath and are alive)


all reactions being held back by the least available element lets take a check on what this guy needs.

H2O well i hope he has water in the tank

CO2 Diffusion with the surface of the water covers alot of that infact compared with most ponds his tiny tank has amazing volume/surface area ratio so unless he lives in a CO2 free environment the tank has a ok amount

Energy Well he admitted that the light is low... so DING DING DING that is the issue CO2 will do little until the light in the tank goes up OR his tank is very very heavily planted



As for to much light in the aquarium thing lets take a look at that for a moment.

the earth gets 4800 watt hours per square meter of sun light.

how many watt hours of light do you have over your tank???

infact for the most part unless you have the lighting from a reef tank your plants would grow faster with more light. (if you increased CO2 respectively)

 

[jcardona1]

what's wrong is telling him that his plants simply will not use co2. his plants will use it, maybe not as much as they would with more light, but they will use it as all plants need carbon to survive.

comparing the sunlight on earth to a glass box is apples to oranges. my 55g had 2wpg of t5ho lighting at 6 hours and that was more than enough. any more light and I started to get algae as it was too difficult to keep things balanced. that is why I stand by what I said earlier; most problems are caused by too much light, not too little.

its easy to repeat what you learn in biology class but actually setting up and maintaining a thriving high tech tank is a whole other story

 

[5am]

btw my lights are on timer for about 10-12 hours a day... i like the lights on longer so i have time to look at my fish... i really want to get co2 but the start up is quite costly... ive found some pretty good deals on craigslist but i dont know if i have the money to spare on a co2 system let alone a new lighting system.

 

[jcardona1]

btw my lights are on timer for about 10-12 hours a day... i like the lights on longer so i have time to look at my fish... i really want to get co2 but the start up is quite costly... ive found some pretty good deals on craigslist but i dont know if i have the money to spare on a co2 system let alone a new lighting system.

yeah it can be a pricey investment. $200 will get you started with a basic pressurized co2 setup though and will include everything you need

 

[JakeH]

How much Flourish are you dosing? Gotta be less than $200 worth...

EDIT: I'm not saying Co2 is bad or disagreeing with anyone, just wondering if its really worth the investment for your particular setup.