co2 units

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lee8040

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will i need a co2 unit. i have a juwel rekord 70 tank, i currently have 4 plants in there but want to make it fairly heavy on plants. will i need a unit or will it be ok without one?
 
Hi Lee...

the answer to this will be dependent upon some other factors, probably the most important of which is going to be the amount of light you hope to use in the tank. But as a rule, if you are going to aim for a 'planted' tank then I would seriously consider using CO2.

There are several ways of adding CO2 to your tank, DIY, off the shelf yeast/sugar units and ultimately pressurised. You will find lot's of people in the planted section that use each and every one of these methods to great effect...it really boils down to how much time or money you are willing to invest!

Adding CO2 is a very simple process but, I would recommend you read through some of the pinned articles in the planted section to get your head around things...then fire away with any questions...you won't be short of help!

Hope this helps,

ND
 
lee, the hagen kit is fine and is what most us use, or at least start out with.

But you may not need CO2, if you have less than 2 watts per gallon of light, you probably don't need it. But you can still have a heavily planted tank without CO2. You just need to pick low to medium light plants (if you have less than 2 wpg) that will thrive in your conditions.
 
houndour said:
lee, the hagen kit is fine and is what most us use, or at least start out with.

But you may not need CO2, if you have less than 2 watts per gallon of light, you probably don't need it. But you can still have a heavily planted tank without CO2. You just need to pick low to medium light plants (if you have less than 2 wpg) that will thrive in your conditions.
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my lighting is 1 x 15 watt tube (standard light with juwel rekord 70) and a 14w aquaglo tube at the front. donno if this means i have more than 2wpg?
 
I'm no sure of the tank volume so can't work this out for you, but this is taken from the lighting article pinned at the top of this section:

Light Levels

Light measurement is a complicated subject so I will just explain the basics.

In a regular style aquarium i.e. rectangular with a depth of 24” or less, lit with fluorescent tubes and reflectors, the Watts per Gallon rule can be used to good effect. Note – This applies to tanks of more than about 20 US Gallons, less than this and generally more light is required. Watts per Gallon (WPG) is calculated simply by adding the total wattage of the tubes and dividing by the tank volume in US Gallons i.e. a 50 Gallon tank with 100W light gives 2 WPG. It is only a rough guide and does not allow for the many differences in quality, spectral output etc. of the many manufactured tubes available. It is also worth noting than in larger aquariums i.e. over 70 US G the WPG rule is more leanient.

The following increments are widely used to describe lighting levels;

0 to 1 WPG – Very Low
1 to 2 WPG – Low to Medium
2 to 3 WPG – Medium to Medium High
3 to 4 WPG or above- Medium High to High
Over 4 WPG – High to Very High

You should be able to work out your WPG if you follow this!
 
ok reading that i have roughly 1.5wpg. so chances are that i dont need a co2 unit then
 
lee8040 said:
ok reading that i have roughly 1.5wpg. so chances are that i dont need a co2 unit then
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You wont need it with 1.5 WPG, just make sure the plants you buy are for low light, if you buy plants that need higher amounts of light they wont do well and will eventually die off.
 

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