Is Liquid Carbon As Good As Co2 Injection?

[Curiosity101]

I hear that DIY kits were more effort than they are worth due to instability? Or are they actually as good as say the nutrafin kit (with homemade mixture of course) and it's just the nutrafin kit look a bit nicer?
I really didn't want to have to mess around with CO2 but I just can't see how the plants will survive well in an environment without it considering how densely planted it will be. I've never had a planted tank that will have such a large density of plants in it, so have never needed CO2 before.

Off the top of my head I plan to have:
HC carpet (Hemianthus callitrichoides)
Floating Watermoss (Salvinia natans)
Moss Ball (Chladoflora)
Anubias nana (Anubias Barteri Var. Nana)
Twisted Vallis
Possibly a couple of stems of camboba
Possibly Green or Brown Wendtii Crypt

So....what do we think? Do I still not need CO2?

 

[aaronnorth]

I hear that DIY kits were more effort than they are worth due to instability? Or are they actually as good as say the nutrafin kit (with homemade mixture of course) and it's just the nutrafin kit look a bit nicer?

they both work of the same principle of fermentation

sugar + yeast + water = CO2 + water


If you are going with HC, i would consider using some form of Carbon supplement, and IMO it would be liquid carbon as it is cheap and effective.

 

[three-fingers]

HC - As Aaron said, this would do best with some carbon, especially if you want it to carpet.

But as for the others, especially under this lighting...

Salvinia natans - Has access to air, wont take CO2 from water. As such it will grow very fast and block out the limited light your have, I'd personally give this one a miss.
Moss Ball (Chladoflora) - Slow growing algae, wont need additional CO2.
Anubias barteri - Slow growing plant, doesnt require as much CO2
Vallis - Can potentially use bicarbonates quite well as a carbon source, may not need CO2 to be plentiful.
Possibly a couple of stems of camboba - Fast growing and would benefit a lot from CO2, but you may want to rethink this as it tends to grow up towards the light, and with 11w over a 28L you don't want much blocked.
Crypts - Fairly slow growing, shouldn't need much CO2.

So liquid carbon should be more than enough .

 

[Honeythorn]

A cheaper, and just as good alternative is to make a DIY system which works in exactly the same way as the nutrafin kit:
<a href="http/www.fishforever.co.uk/carbondioxide.html" target="_blank">http/www.fishforever.co.uk/carbondioxide.html</a>

* bookmarks * I've been after a simple to use guide for a while so thanks for posting that.

 

[aaronnorth]

A cheaper, and just as good alternative is to make a DIY system which works in exactly the same way as the nutrafin kit:
<a href="http/www.fishforever.co.uk/carbondioxide.html" target="_blank">http/www.fishforever.co.uk/carbondioxide.html</a>

* bookmarks * I've been after a simple to use guide for a while so thanks for posting that.

your welcome
If you dont want to use the brass nipples, then just drill a 4-6mm hole (depending on size of tubing) and pull it through with some pliers to get a tight fit, here is the other option:
http/www.aquatic-eden.com/2006/10/build-...-generator.html