Another Co2 Question

[skeat12]

I have always struggled to keep plants alive in my tank, I started out feeding them SeaChem Flourish which didn't have much effect. I have now set up a home made Co2 system using a 2ltr bottle etc, this is bubbing nicely atm, however I wasn't sure how to get the Co2 to disolve in the tank. My solution is to have a small sponge above the bubble outlet which catches/traps the bubbles and hopefully help keep the Co2 in the tank longer, this has been running a week now and I was wondering if/when I might start to notice any effect? Also does the sponge idea sound like a good plan or a load of rubbish and i should invest in a bubble ladder?

Thanks

Andy

Oh and I am using Interpet No2 Floraboost once a week.

 

[RadaR]

For the record, what's your lighting and tank size?

Not sure if the sponge idea will work. There are certainly better ways of diffusing. Ladders are OK. You can also try injecting the CO2 into the filter. If enough pressure is built up then you can buy a glass ceramic diffuser which creates a mist of CO2 bubbles that when circulated around the tank, give a great effect.

 

[nry]

A ceramic diffuser or similar is a better way of doing things, though if your filter has a venturi connector (lets you connect an airline to the filter which blasts the bubbles into little peices) then this would work really well too.

Plant growth depends on two main things: nutrients and lighting. Low light tanks will have slower growth than higher light tanks regardless of how much CO2 or fertiliser you add.

Generally CO2 will benefit all tanks but the faster growth will be much more with higher light levels. I would personally choose SeaChem Flourish over Interpet et-al, generally I would look to add smaller amounts every other day rather than a big dose weekly - more frequent dosing (with smaller amounts) will give a more stable nutrients level which is a good thing.

Overall any change in a tank (lighting, nutrients of which CO2 is classed as a nutrient) will probably take 2-3 weeks to show any potential improvement. DIY yeast CO2 is also often better handled with two bottles, changing alternate ones every 3-4 days, this gives a more stable CO2 level which again is good for plants and also bad for algae.

 

[skeat12]

Tank size/shape is approx the same as a Trigon 190, the filter is a Tetratec EX700 so no venturi As for lighting, all I can tell you is it a 15w Arcadia 450mm long single tube, it's usually switched on for around 6 - 7 hours/day. Think i'm gonna get a ceramic/glass diffuser at the weekend, the spray bar is below the water line and directed into the tank rather than at the surface (fish don't seem to mind) so placing the diffuser below it will allow the bubbles to circulate in the tank better. Only problem with the spray bar direction is there seems to be alot of bits circulating in the tank and not being drawn into the filter intake maybe time for a little tweaking.

Thanks

Andy

 

[letdoit]

1) mature water - if yr tank is new, most of the time, plant will die or unhealthy

2) i not sure how big is trigon 190, , 15W only? i think too less

3) temperature is it 25 to 26 degree?

Co2 will have plant grow well but don't inject too many CO2.

 

[skeat12]

1) Mature, yes been running for about 8 months now

2) Trigon 190 is 190 litres, There is only one light fitting so i'm probably limited to how much lifght I can get into the tank.

3) Temp is 28-30