Heaviest Planting I Can Get Without Co2

[tenohfive]

I'm looking to setup a breeding tank soon, and one of the things I'm keen to do is put quite alot of plants in there to help keep the nitrates down and water under control. I don't however want the expense and inconvenience of setting up a CO2 unit if I can possibly avoid it. The room the tank will be going in gets alot of natural light and I'm quite happy to add ferts (if anyone can recommend one its welcome, I just use Leaf Zone atm.)

In a 4 foot tank, how many plants and what types should I be looking to add? I'll be getting them from either plants alive or members on here if that helps with what types to add.

Thanks
Chris

 

[SuperColey1]

CO2 has nothing to do with the amount of plants. CO2 is to do with the amount of light supplied.

Both non CO2 and CO2 injected tanks will have less algae problems if they are heavily planted and on the reverse side both will have more algae problems with small plant masses.

When more light is supplied then CO2 needs to be added to 'feed' the plants as their rate of growth is speeded up by the higher amount of light.

CO2 is a nutrient the same as the fertilisers but it is much harder to get a good level of CO2 in the tank than it is to add ferts because ferts go in the water and then stay there whereas CO2 tries to escappe from the water.

So any planted tank is better if heavily planted.

The more light provided then the more food the plants need (CO2 and ferts.)

Hope that answers your question.

AC

 

[IovaykInD]

You can go with co2 in the form of liquid if you don't want to set up a tank. There are places that sell liquid co2 fertilizers even online so they are an inexpensive alternative.

 

[tenohfive]

Thanks for the replies. Can anyone suggest what sorts of plants I should be looking at then? I'm not going to be adding T5 etc so CO2 won't be required.

 

[thefubar]

CO2 has nothing to do with the amount of plants. CO2 is to do with the amount of light supplied.

Both non CO2 and CO2 injected tanks will have less algae problems if they are heavily planted and on the reverse side both will have more algae problems with small plant masses.

When more light is supplied then CO2 needs to be added to 'feed' the plants as their rate of growth is speeded up by the higher amount of light.

CO2 is a nutrient the same as the fertilisers but it is much harder to get a good level of CO2 in the tank than it is to add ferts because ferts go in the water and then stay there whereas CO2 tries to escappe from the water.

So any planted tank is better if heavily planted.

The more light provided then the more food the plants need (CO2 and ferts.)

Hope that answers your question.

AC

Thanks very much for your reply to the thread, its helped me too.

You could probably spend ages researching plants and all their requirements even more so than the fish your planning on keeping. I just bought a 36" collection from Java Plants because it contained Amazon Sword (which i knew i wanted). I got the plants you see in my sig-thread for £15 delivered and i add Profito and Easy-Carbo once a day.

I am going to see which ones thrive in my conditions and which ones don't, i'll then do some research when replacing specific plants that don't do well. I can already see some of my foreground crypts aren't doing well.

Make sure you've got plenty of filtration and water changes are crucial too. I've seen people recc 30-50% a week on the most heavily planted stuff. I'm doing 1/3 of the tank a week.