w/d and planted tanks. pick yer brain..

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traumajeff

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 20, 2008
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Vegas Baby
1st... thank you to all who have been responding to my posts about setting up my w/d!

i've also posted in the DIY section about a background. i think i would like to try a moss wall for my tank.

so now comes my issues... i've been reading some posts about the benefits of CO2 and plant growth.(plants are not my strong point in aquaria!) i understand the reasoning for supplemental CO2, but i'm not sure it's gonna work for me.

a little background: 225g FW tank. various africans are/will be inhabiting the tank. i'm gonna run 2 HOB overflows with 2 returns via a 55g w/d. lighting at this point is strong, but will be increasing with some retro fits when i tackle the sump set-up.

my questions:

1: from what i've been reading, adding CO2 with a sump defeats the purpose, as it increases the probibility that i'd lose much of my CO2 to off-gasing, higher O2 cencentration, etc... is this correct thinking?

2: if i'm correct about #1, then what are my options? short of having a 55g drum for a DIY or a freight car worth of CO2, can i somehow make adding CO2 work for me?

3: if the answer to #2 is no, then what other options do i have? am i limited to strong lighting and ferts?

i know i'm ambitious about growing anything with the fish i keep, but i'm really wanting the moss wall background!
 
1. This is correct
2. Nothing you can really do.
3. Get a big tank is about all you can do other than have low-light plants. You could keep the sump as long as you stay with low-light plants.What is your current light setup? It could be too bright for the plants you could keep.
 
I don`t know what type of moss you want to use, but I would recommend Vesicularia sp. I have it in one of my low light, low tech tanks. It recieves no ferts, apart from what the fish produce, very low light for 8hrs a day and just grows and grows. I must admit those moss walls look really impressive! I might have to try it out on my next tank.
 
yes youre thinking is correct. if you really want to do a high light/co2 setup, then you may need to think about using a canister filter. you will never be able to maintain optimum co2 levels with that massive waterfall in your sump!

just a note, if youre going for densly planted tank, you really dont need a lot of filtration. the plants will take care of a lot and the water will be crystal clear. your filtration really ends up being a big mechanical filter :)
 
Not to be rude, but I think you all are over exaggerating the loss of CO2 in the water due to the sump. It's not like an all-or-nothing principle. Because of the off-gassing, you would simply have to use a higher rate of CO2 injection to keep the concentration you desire, but you would still be better off using some CO2 then none at all. You could easily use a regular size CO2 tank or DIY CO2 for your tank, even with the sump, you just may not have the optimum level of gas in the water. But I've found that you can do just fine with only 10-15ppm of c02, just as long as it doesn't fluctuate to start algae blooms.
 
I'mHooked;3635219; said:
Not to be rude, but I think you all are over exaggerating the loss of CO2 in the water due to the sump. It's not like an all-or-nothing principle. Because of the off-gassing, you would simply have to use a higher rate of CO2 injection to keep the concentration you desire, but you would still be better off using some CO2 then none at all. You could easily use a regular size CO2 tank or DIY CO2 for your tank, even with the sump, you just may not have the optimum level of gas in the water. But I've found that you can do just fine with only 10-15ppm of c02, just as long as it doesn't fluctuate to start algae blooms.
Click to expand...

Without knowing the exact parameters of how the wet/dry would be set, you wouldn't know how quickly it would off-gas the Co2. But with that much surface agitation, you are going to be wasting a lot of Co2. He would be better off just to go with a low-light, no Co2 setup.
 
yeah the only way of knowing is to monitor the co2 levels on the same tank with the two different filtration setups. until then all we're doing speculating. one thing that is certain, it's not efficient. theres no need to waste co2 and a huge filter is not needed on a heavily planted tank.

a planted tank with a canister filter and powerheads for proper water movement will be just as good as one with a massive sump underneath
 
The wet dry will kill the CO2 no way around it. DIY CO2 won't work on a system that size if you want to do CO2 get a controller and a gas bottle. You can shut off the wet/dry and just have floating media in the sump. The plants once they starts growing will remove the need for most of your filtration. My dissolved oxygen pegs every kit I've used on my old tank and all organic waste is 0 even if I'm lax in water changes. You will get more out of plants then filters.
 
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