Co2...

bogwood

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Recently I've been aware of a lot of talk about 'adding CO2'...

My 20UKG is heavily planted - see my sig... my water is clear, all stats are fine - including phosphates... all plants are growing well and look healthy... algae is at a minimum (though that could be down to the Bristlenose)... so why do I need to add C02?...
 
Can you post some photos up please ? I've been interested in seeing what is possible without CO2.

A brief and basic scientific explanation:

Photosynthesis is limited by 3 things. Light, CO2 and water. Photosythesis generates the starches the plant needs to grow.

Plant growth is also limited by availability of micro and macro nutrients.

In a CO2 setup, you should also have higher lighting. This gives two main benefits:

- The first is that you can grow plants with high light requirements that wouldn't grow well otherwise e.g, Glosso and a number of high light stem plants.

- The second is obviously that providing the Ferts are available, the plants generally will grow at a faster rate (you can decide whether that's a good or bad thing).

Without the addition of CO2 the high light setup would just give you more algae.
 
CO2 is not essential, especially in lower light tanks. It sounds like yours is a good example.

What lighting do you have?

...2 x 15w bulbs: 1 x 'daylight' and 1 x 'plantgrow'... I think my plants success is down to the Laterite granules... and a deep substrate (for root establishment)...
 
...2 x 15w bulbs: 1 x 'daylight' and 1 x 'plantgrow'...

That would count as low light. 1.5 Watts per gallon. Most CO2 setups are over 2 Watts per Gallon, sum as high as 4WPG.
 
30W light in a 20G is about right for a non-CO2 tank, enough light for growth but not too much to CO2-limit the plants.

Glad to hear of another apparently successful "lower-tech" tank. I look forward to seeing the pics.
 
Bump!

Where are the pics then ? :unsure:


Had trouble uploading pic before... Live plants in a deep substrate as my sig... Vallis and Dwarf Swords doing really well... Cabomba's been massacred by the Dwarf Gourami but was growing well before that... Ech. Tenellus foreground grass doing well after 2 weeks - sending out horizontal plantlets... should be a nice carpet... Java Fern tough as old boots anyway... Amazon Frogbit surface lillies have to be kept in check or there would be no light!... sends down really long roots , which I take off as the fish nibble them and they break off and make a mess... the bushy plant you can just make out in the middle background I have no idea... it has pale green leaves and sends down loads of fine white roots from all stems... the fish sleep in there... oh, and 12/12 light... and a bit of fert. once a week...

View attachment 34131


Why would I need brighter light... and therefore CO2?... for specific 'high' light plants?
 
Your tank looks awesome. The plant in the background appears to me to be Hygrophilia Polysperma. A very easy, undemanding plant that grows like a weed.
 
Lovely.

May I suggest taking a couple of close-ups and posting in the "Members Planted Tank" pinned thread. This tank is a good example of what can be acheived on the low-tech side and I can see myself linking others to it in the future.

Well done.
 
Lovely.

May I suggest taking a couple of close-ups and posting in the "Members Planted Tank" pinned thread. This tank is a good example of what can be acheived on the low-tech side and I can see myself linking others to it in the future.

Well done.


... thanks guys... this was my first ever thank... been up and running 3 months now...
 

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