Kepping Plants Alive !

[dulce]

Hi there,

I have decided that i am not continuously buying batches of plants and am going to attempt to keep one alive !! I have a Jewel Rio 400 and last night i set up the hagen mix it up yourself unit but this morning there were hardly any bubbles coming out - is there anything obvious i could be missing, i put in the sugar and the 2 sachets that come with it as instructed and it was over 1 and 1/2 mins per bubble !
Also can someone please suggest what lights they would recommend ??

thanks in advance !

 

[Colin_T]

Try to use globes with a daylight temperature or higher. Basically a globe that has a Kelvin (K) rating of 6,000K to 10,000K is fine.
Check the CO2 container for leaks. Otherwise it should be bubbling away pretty quickly.
Monitor the PH of the tank because CO2 will drop the PH quickly if there isn't enough carbonate hardness in the water. You might want to invest in a carbonate hardness (KH) test kit to monitor this.

Try grwoing plants like Ambulia, Hyrgophilla species, Swordplants, Elodia/ Anarchis, Ludwigia & Vallis. They are pretty easy to grow and should do well with or without CO2.
You also want to add some iron fertiliser to get the most out of the plants. A combination of good light, iron fertiliser & CO2 should make the plants grow like mad.

 

[dulce]

Ok, i put some iron fert in as it came with the c02 kit ! not sure about the plants in there will ad pics and get a test kit after work, hoping it will be bubbling away when i get home.

My substrate is sand does this make it more difficult ?? Gonna go online and order new lamps now too, how do i tell which size bulbs and can i just buy the strip light and put them in where the jewel one is or do i need to get a whole new light unit put on ??

thanks for the quick response !

 

[Nim]

The yeast system does take some time to start pumping out CO2 and a lot depends on the temperature of the container as well. If it was cold then it would work very slowly and if it is warm, it can exhaust itself pretty soon. I am not sure what the temperature ranges are as I used this a few years ago but give it another day or 2 and it should normalize.

If you are using the standard RIO 400 lid that comes with 2 x T8 48" bulbs then I find the best combination to be of Arcadia freshwater + Arcadia original tropical. (First one is very white and the later one not that bright but a good overall spectrum). Apart from these you can use a combination of Triplus, Sunglo, Floraglo, Sylvania grolux, etc. well with plants. It would be a different case if you upgraded the lights from 2 bulbs to 4 or T5 etc. but I dont go into details about it yet.

What plants have you tried and failed? Perhaps its the wrong plants that you tried for the setup?

Nim

 

[dulce]

I have only ever had the basic setup this is the first time i have tried any enhancements to make the plants better, they dont die completely just go brown and not very nice to look at so i buy new ones ! i will take a pic when i get home and put them on because i prob have wrong plants ! Is it easy to add more lamps, not sur if the hood would be strong enough, going to order the 2 you suggested and get them in !
Its not that warm but hopefully it will have perked up when i get home, the bubbles were completely missing the ladder too but it said that usually happens in the instructions !
This sounds harder than i thought ha ha ..

can anyone suggest anywhere to buy these light strips online??

thanks

 

[Nim]

going brown suggests you are most probably getting bog plants. As a biggener, I think your lights are plenty for goring most plants. I have a Juwel rio 240 (in the picture below in my sig) and that tank has been setup with no CO2 additions and the bulbs mentioned above (Arcadia combination).

The right plants and the right light for them is needed for a lush green tank. CO2 and higher wattage lights come in if you want specific themed tanks or want to grow some specific plants. However, in every possible case (even low light tanks) CO2 will always help so I will not discourage you against it.

Nim

 

[dave_m13]

I have only ever had the basic setup this is the first time i have tried any enhancements to make the plants better, they dont die completely just go brown and not very nice to look at so i buy new ones ! i will take a pic when i get home and put them on because i prob have wrong plants ! Is it easy to add more lamps, not sur if the hood would be strong enough, going to order the 2 you suggested and get them in !
Its not that warm but hopefully it will have perked up when i get home, the bubbles were completely missing the ladder too but it said that usually happens in the instructions !
This sounds harder than i thought ha ha ..

can anyone suggest anywhere to buy these light strips online??

thanks

I have used the nutrafin co2 for sometime, I think I used the sachets once or twice but were very poor.

All I do now, is use sugar to the lines where they it is supposed to be filled to and then small amount of Allinsons Dried Active Baking Yeast, I use the small part of a medicine spoon, believe it to be 2.5ml. Then fill up with luke warm water, fill up to within 1cm of level, then shake with finger on top of hole (Have forgotten couple of times)

Within an hour or so I always have bubbles.

I believe that you can add backing soda, this has something to do with keeping PH level but I have never used this and have not lost any fish or had any issues.


Thanks
Dave

 

[Nim]

Or you can use brewers yeast. Lasts much longer than baking yeast but is also more aggressive. I think it may be due to the various yeasts alcohol handling capabilities where brewers yeast can handle 8% while bread yeast probably not a lot. I wonder what wine yeast would be like

Baking soda or you can add sodium bi-carbonate to it as a PH stabalizer.

Nim

 

[aaronnorth]

I agree with last 2 posts, use your own mixture and if you have a Kh lower than 4degrees then use baking powder