Co2 Help

[Jonny_russell]

ok ive got a 50g tank

its been cycled for a while and pretty much stocked with fish, i added some vallis and amazon swords, some vallis are growing, the swords have less noticeable growth.

i got some bog standard liquid fert from pets at home....appeared to perk the plants up a bit, ive had some new shoots from the valis, and the yellowing of leaves is easing a bit.

i am also starting to get some dark green algea on the leaves !!!

i also added a new 30w tube at the same time as the plants.

lights are on for about 11 hours a day

i'm thinking that co2 might be a good addition



the pressurized is out of budget at the moment, but ive seen some decent reviews on the nutrafin kits but for smaller tanks.

in an ideal situation i would like to be able to restrict mixture changes to 7 days (same schedule as wc etc)

my questions are

1) how many nutrafin kits would i need
2) would it be possible to run them for two weeks (ie one alternate change every 7 days)
3) would a diy set up be a better option

 

[Jonny_russell]

anyone???

 

[lljdma06]

anyone???

Sorry, my students had their recital dress rehearsals today and I haven't been able to check TFF like I like to do in the evening.

Another possible option is to add easycarbo or Flourish excel. Rather than change about 4-5 canisters of CO2.

But the first option is to reduce your photoperiod. Go down to about 6 hours. 11 is too long. So how much lighting do you have?

llj

 

[Jonny_russell]

i have one new 30w tube and one very old tube (came with the tank) that has a pinkish light to it ???

so i should have the lights on for as little as 6 hours?

i will give it a go

 

[lljdma06]

i have one new 30w tube and one very old tube (came with the tank) that has a pinkish light to it ???

so i should have the lights on for as little as 6 hours?





i will give it a go

Some start with less than 6, between 4 and 6. Do you know the
wattage of the old bulb? I know it's old but that could help.

Llj

 

[Jonny_russell]

sorry i have no idea about the old bulb, there arent even any markings left on it !!

 

[lljdma06]

sorry i have no idea about the old bulb, there arent even any markings left on it !!

That's old then. Is it the same size as the new one? Or does the new one fit?

llj

 

[Jonny_russell]

yes its exactly the same size as the new one

 

[lljdma06]

yes its exactly the same size as the new one

Then you probably have two 30W bulbs. So 60W. You doubled your lighting and kept the same photoperiod, yet the plants have not received anymore nutrients or CO2. So you are asking them to consume faster and more, yet not giving the stuff to feed on. Algae doesn't care so much and will like this. Reduce your photoperiod and your plants will not demand so much. Dose with a good fertiliser that gives macro nutrients or make your own. Make sure you have good circulation in your tank. Consider CO2, either through pressurized or liquid dosing. Or do not inject and then reduce the frequency of the waterchanges.

For my CO2 tanks, I change a lot of water frequently, pump the CO2 and dose pretty heavily. For my non-CO2 tanks, I still dose ferts, but I'll go about a month between waterchanges and only do like a 25%, if that, barring top-offs for evaporation. The key is creating stable CO2, regardless of whether the levels are low or high. The lack of waterchanges in the non-CO2 system encourages a more stable CO2 level, though it is low. At least this is what I've read and I've seen this method work extremely well in my .77WPG 36g. The plants grow extremely well and the little algae that is present, is well under control. Yeah, I get some, but a spot here or there, and it doesn't even effect the look of the tank.

llj

 

[Jonny_russell]

thanks - thats made things a bit clearer

i like to stick to weekly 20-30% water changes, so i think i will look into some liquid co2 at least until i can sweet talk the wife into increasing the fish budget (she now wants to decorate - which involves changing the wallpaper behind the tank --- grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

so once i give in and arrange to empty the tank so it can be moved, then i will be looking towards a pressurized set up