Couple Of Questions About Lighting And Co2

[attibones]

For my ten gallon puffer tank I recently upgraded my lighting hood from two 25 watt incandescent bulbs to a Marineland single bright LED system. It has typical white light function and also a "Lunar nighttime" function. Should I leave this on at night? Would it be beneficial for my plants? It's got 60mW LEDs.

On CO2:
I don't have a proper CO2 injection system, but I've got liquid CO2. How frequently should I be dosing my plants? Both my ten gallon and twenty gallon are heavily planted. Should I dose after lights come on or before they come on, or right after they go off or right before they go off?

I'm also dosing both tanks every other day with Seachem Flourish. Is this stuff okay for my shrimps and snails? It's got copper at 0.0001 percent. Should I dose daily?

 

[KirkyArcher]

The lunar light function is just to simulate what happens out n the wild and to give a good look to your tank of an evening, and will be less stressful for your fish to go from brilliant strong light to total darkness, With liquid Co2 you can dose at any time you find convenient day or night, lights on or off, though it is best overall if you dose at roughly the same time once every day, that low level of copper in your Seachem flourish will be well tolerated by your shrimp while still dosing once a week or daily  

 

[SO19Firearms]

Should I dose after lights come on or before they come on, or right after they go off or right before they go off?

Around lights on - Liquid carbons don't hang around for long in the tank so you need to gove the plants a chance to use it.

 

[KirkyArcher]

Flourish Excel

Q: Is it better to add Flourish Excel at night or in the morning based upon plant carbon uptake physiology?

A: Carbon intake is a function of photosynthesis. Based on this, it would be ideal to dose Flourish Excel during the day. But given that Flourish Excel can stay complexed as a carbon source for up to 24 hours before it dissipates, you can dose at any time of the day and the product will be available for the next 24 hours. Flourish Excel is not carbon dioxide and there is no impact on pH using Flourish Excel.

Neutro CO2 is a liquid source of carbon for the planted aquarium.

For those of you not familiar with it, carbon is essential for all healthy plant growth and can be provided via gas, or liquid. The liquid form is not as potent as the gas but is still very effective. It won't make your plants pearl (this is when you see O2 bubbles coming from the plant) but it will help them grow. Plants that have access to liquid carbon will do far better than those without.

In addition to this, if you over dose Neutro CO2, it can have a negative effect on algae (it helps reduce it). However you need to take care when overdosing, and increase it slowly. Perhaps 25% extra, then monitor the results. We do not recommend more than double dose.

It is also possible to spot treat plants or wood that have algae growing on them. Simply by using a pipette and extracting some Neutro CO2, squirt the carbon onto the plant or wood when it is outside of the water. Wait for 10 minutes then put it back into the water. You can also do this when performing a water change (it's easiest that way)

DIRECTIONS: Add 5ml per 250L every day. It doesn't matter what time of day you dose this product, but it does need to be added every 24 hours.

Bottle sizes: Small = 500ml, Medium = 1000ml, Large = 2000ml
 

 

[daizeUK]

I'm also dosing both tanks every other day with Seachem Flourish. Is this stuff okay for my shrimps and snails? It's got copper at 0.0001 percent. Should I dose daily?

The copper in Flourish shouldn't bother the shrimp but they might not be keen on the liquid carbon. I've heard of people dosing liquid carbon into shrimp tanks with success but others refuse to use liquid carbon where shrimp are present. I'm not sure what the effects are.

 

[SO19Firearms]

Bottle text

I'd be wary of the bottle text. If my bottle said dose before lights on becuase Glutaraldehyde has a half life of about 12 hrs and the potential customer isn't in at lights on - they ain't gonna buy it.
Much better to buy the bottle with the same stuff in that says you can put it in anytime - which you can of course, it may just be wasted as it degrades through the night.

My best advice is put it in at lights on. - IMO

 

[attibones]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it. You're all so helpful. That really clears up a lot.

I'm also dosing both tanks every other day with Seachem Flourish. Is this stuff okay for my shrimps and snails? It's got copper at 0.0001 percent. Should I dose daily?

The copper in Flourish shouldn't bother the shrimp but they might not be keen on the liquid carbon. I've heard of people dosing liquid carbon into shrimp tanks with success but others refuse to use liquid carbon where shrimp are present. I'm not sure what the effects are.

I'll try it with the shrimp in and see how it goes. If they have problems with the carbon I shall move them to the snail tank.