chkltcow
Fishaholic
Today my nephew called me asking if I would help him with his science experiment. His teacher had suggested doing something related to growing plants. What she suggsted was plant growth using chlorinated water versus dechlorinated water for daily watering.. using normal house plants. Personally, I don't think there's gonna be much of a difference in that.... not enough water every day to make any huge difference in growth. So, I suggested since he's fascinated by my aquarium that he do an experiment for plant growth with CO2 injection vs. plant growth without. As another part of the experiment, perhaps he could also explain the way our DIY CO2 rigs work, how the yeast breaks down the sugar solution to create CO2 and alcohol. So, check what I'm thinking here and tell me if you think this will work, please.
For the container, some type of moderately tall plastic container, like a rubbermaid or tupperware type thing, perhaps about 2 gallons or so if possible.
For the substrate, either the cheapest bag of fine gravel the pet store has, or sand... if you think anything would grow in it.
For the lighting, I have a dual tube 24" flourescent utility light that I had intended to put up in my garage, but will donate to him for a few months for his experiment if need be. I can make a simple wood frame to hold it up over the two containers to provide even light over both of them to light them evenly.
For the plants, the Petsmart around here ALWAYS has amazon swords in stock, but those probably get too big for the containers we'll have. I'd love to do crypts, but it would be hard to find two crypts of the same type at Petsmart, let alone two of a similar size.
And fertilizer, I would tell him to use a few drops of Flourish weekly. In a small container like that, it wouldn't take much... and a dropper would be the most accurate way to measure something that small.
So advise me here. I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible. Is the 40 watts from the 2 24" tubes gonna be enough light so that light is not the limiting factor, and CO2 is? Will the crypts grow in sand? (cheapest and most readily available substrate choice... his dad can bring home a bucketfull from work for free... construction company has huge mounds of sand for concrete mix) If not crypts, what other plant would you suggest that would show the differences in growth between injected and non-injected growth? I only chose crypts because I know what a drastic difference I saw in growth after adding CO2 to my main tank... and they're beautiful plants beyond that. Most would stay small enough to not outgrow whatever size container we end up with. The only other things that I know are readily available at PetSmart are Cabomba and Bacopa plants, and I don't really have experience with either. Is there anything blatantly wrong in my planning, or something you plant gurus would do different? Heck, I got excited when he told me he'd like to do something like this for an experiment, because I know he's fascinated by my aquariums.
For the container, some type of moderately tall plastic container, like a rubbermaid or tupperware type thing, perhaps about 2 gallons or so if possible.
For the substrate, either the cheapest bag of fine gravel the pet store has, or sand... if you think anything would grow in it.
For the lighting, I have a dual tube 24" flourescent utility light that I had intended to put up in my garage, but will donate to him for a few months for his experiment if need be. I can make a simple wood frame to hold it up over the two containers to provide even light over both of them to light them evenly.
For the plants, the Petsmart around here ALWAYS has amazon swords in stock, but those probably get too big for the containers we'll have. I'd love to do crypts, but it would be hard to find two crypts of the same type at Petsmart, let alone two of a similar size.
And fertilizer, I would tell him to use a few drops of Flourish weekly. In a small container like that, it wouldn't take much... and a dropper would be the most accurate way to measure something that small.
So advise me here. I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible. Is the 40 watts from the 2 24" tubes gonna be enough light so that light is not the limiting factor, and CO2 is? Will the crypts grow in sand? (cheapest and most readily available substrate choice... his dad can bring home a bucketfull from work for free... construction company has huge mounds of sand for concrete mix) If not crypts, what other plant would you suggest that would show the differences in growth between injected and non-injected growth? I only chose crypts because I know what a drastic difference I saw in growth after adding CO2 to my main tank... and they're beautiful plants beyond that. Most would stay small enough to not outgrow whatever size container we end up with. The only other things that I know are readily available at PetSmart are Cabomba and Bacopa plants, and I don't really have experience with either. Is there anything blatantly wrong in my planning, or something you plant gurus would do different? Heck, I got excited when he told me he'd like to do something like this for an experiment, because I know he's fascinated by my aquariums.