I was wondering if anyone had heard of a company named Dennerle? I just bought a CO2 system from them and I'm not sure how well its working. Instead of a defuser the CO2 bubbles get pumped to a hood-type thing that is in the tank. They collect there and according to the instructions the CO2 sits on the water surface and diffuses this way rather than run the bubbles through the water. Anyone use a system like this? It uses yeast and a gel/sugar compound which is supposed to slow the CO2 production and make it constant but its only making something like 1 bubble per 1 or 2 min.
Semi DIY CO2
- Thread starter Stackage
- Start date
Doesn't sound that great. I bubble 6-7 bubbles/second. I'll do some research, and get back to you.
Hey I figured I would post an update on this CO2 system. It's been working real well and haven't had any problems with it. I actually would recommend it for other people being that its easier than a DIY system with multiple bottles of yeast and it was probably cheaper than most setups. It cost about 25 euros or $30 and a months worth of yeast/gel combo is about 7 bucks.
Here's a couple of pics of my tank. One from when I just started planting it and then a recent one with everything fully stocked and almost compleate as far as plants go. Any opinions and suggestions would be awsome.
Also, I've looked and I haven't found much but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on keeping reddish plants healty. I haven't had much luck ever with red plants. They never seem to grow or do much in my tank.
Here's a couple of pics of my tank. One from when I just started planting it and then a recent one with everything fully stocked and almost compleate as far as plants go. Any opinions and suggestions would be awsome.
Also, I've looked and I haven't found much but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on keeping reddish plants healty. I haven't had much luck ever with red plants. They never seem to grow or do much in my tank.
Depends on the 'red' plants. Iron should be kept at 5ppm, nitrates below 10ppm and above 5ppm. Co2 is a must higher concentrations will offer better color. Most need at least 3 wpgs, but I find the best growth occurs over 5 wpg.
As to suggestions for plant stocking, A ground cover would be very high recommended. Elatine triandra would be a good choice, also echinodorus tennellus. You definitely need to go for a theme, or a design, be that a grass, or stem system, or contrasting, or biotope. What is your aim for the design first, and then I can make some more recommendations for plants to add. Right now you have several plants that are very similar, and no real focal point.
As to suggestions for plant stocking, A ground cover would be very high recommended. Elatine triandra would be a good choice, also echinodorus tennellus. You definitely need to go for a theme, or a design, be that a grass, or stem system, or contrasting, or biotope. What is your aim for the design first, and then I can make some more recommendations for plants to add. Right now you have several plants that are very similar, and no real focal point.
To be perfectly honest I don't really have a theme and I'm sure it shows. I got the aquarium at christmas from my wife and haven't kept an aqarium since college where I kept 2 oscars in a 10 gal so that shows what my experience is. I started stocking and buying plants then I started reading on this site and a few others dealing with planted aquariums. I learned a ton but stuck myself in a corner with my choices already. Plus the stores over here don't lable their plants and I don't speak german so it makes things even more difficult. I pretty much see a plant I like and buy it. Not the best way to go but I have to say I like the look of the tank. I want it to have a contoured look with tall plants lining the back and leaving a half moon shaped low area in the front. I'm not a big fan of large formations in the middle with open area all around it but have seen some I like. I don't know if you can tell but I'm trying to grow some smaller plants in the front. Don't know what they are but they're a shorter plant with really small leaves. I may just end up redoing the tank but it'll have to wait until the 4 or 5 fry in there get a little bigger. So any suggestions would be awsome and maybe some hints on things I could do better.
I recommend looking at several planted tanks online, particularly Takashi Amano's tanks. Find a style you like, and follow it, but use whichever plants look good to you. A focal point in a tank is often lacking, but in several cases that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Look at Amano's tanks, they follow a natural theme. I will be adding another section to the sticky about the aquascaping for planted tanks soon.