do plantted tanks really need c02

[wrs]

I want to plant one of my tanks, but I dont want top spend all this money on one of those Co2 things. Would the plants be okay w/out one?

 

[Phantom Thief]

If you want a heavily planted tank, a co2 canister is essential. If you dont't want to spend lots of money buying one, why not make a DIY co2?

P.T.

 

[wrs]

i would have no idea as of how to do that.

 

[Phantom Thief]

http/www.angelfire.com/mo/wizardsrealm/CO2/co2.html



P.T.

 

[wrs]

how would that get Co2 in the tank? It seems easy enough to make.

 

[Dave_31]

Getting it in is just as simple,

Hav a sealed peice of Air hose goin from the CO2 into the tank with an airstone on the bottom!!

 

[snowyangel]

Not to debate or anything, but I have never used CO2 injection in any of my tanks and they still thrive. My plants live off the nitrates and I have over 10 species of live plant. I find if there's enough nitrates and the plants have good, grown in roots, they're gonna multiply. Or maybe all the species of plant i have are extremely easy to keep, but i somehow doubt it. Now i certainly dont doubt that your plants will grow alot quicker and stronger with the CO2, but it's nothing mine have died over.
I can show you pics of my planted tanks if you want wrs.

 

[yvez9]

depends on the type of plants
low-light plants don't really need co2 since they don't photosynthe.... (transforming co2 to oxygen) a lot. the little amount produced by the fish and bacteria is enough for them

High light plants will require much more co2 sinc ethey use it a lot more. The little quantity available to them in tanks is not enough for them to thrive


Many plant species will thrive in tanks with sotck lighting, like snowy's plants and the plants I have right now.

 

[wrs]

id love to see some of your pics snowie.

and the plants I have now in the tank are,

red ludwiga, hornswort, anarcharis (sp), baccopa, and 1 other one that doesnt have a name, they just called it a frill plant
then for bulb plants, I have those ones that you grow from walmart. Thats all that i ever will have, jut those kinds, as those are the only ones sold around my area.

 

[snowyangel]

Here's the 35g with moss, lily plants, bamboo, vallis, some kind of grass plant, I've lost count of the different names, lol.

The 55g long with moss, giant onion plants, cant remember the name of the long leafy one, but yeah:

I have more pics but i need to update them. Even these pics are kinda old, but there's still the same plants in the tanks.

 

[Lateral Line]

After light, CO2 is the next most important nutrient for plants. That said, slower growing plants, or plants under low light will make do with what is available without additional injection.

CO2 comes into it's own when you have higher light levels, and the fast growing high light plants. These will grow, but not grow as well without CO2 injection.

Simply bubbling CO2 through an airstone will not acheive much. CO2 does not dissolve easily, and comes out of solution very quickly. I feed the outlet of my CO2 generator into the inlet of my external filter. A variety of upturned cups, coils and spirals are available to help keep the CO2 in contact with the water to give it time to dissolve.

 

[sammydee]

You don't have to have a lot of light to see a huge improvement with CO2. I have only about 1.5 WPG and when I added DIY CO2 all my plants went crazy!

 

[wrs]

snowie you have really nice tank, all the plants look healthy.

I have no idea if my plants are low lights or not.

I also forgot to add that there was purple camoba, or how ever you spell it.,

 

[yvez9]

usually the colored plants require more light

this is not scientific though, it's just what i was told...

 

[Discomafia]

The red ones you mean? Because generally, red plants require high lighting...