My Plants Always Look Poor

[Le Sorcier]

ok thanks, I will get some.

Is this used as an alternative to CO2 or as well as?

 

[vinylman]

Usually as an alternative, particularly in smaller tanks, say 125ltr or under, but no hard and fast rules.

 

[Le Sorcier]

I bought a small CO2 canister with a diffuser (Flora-Grow CO2 set).

Are these any good?

 

[lljdma06]

I bought a small CO2 canister with a diffuser (Flora-Grow CO2 set).

Are these any good?

I'm assuming it's similar to the Nutrafin. You can make your own CO2 recipe using sugar and yeast. I don't know Juwel systems (not from the UK), what is your lighting in watts please? If it's the stock lighting you can probably grow anubias, crypts, java fern, mosses, maybe some swords with pretty much the equipment you have now.

A few more questions. What is your filtration? How long has the tank been setup?

Nick16, careful that you don't under-generalize with your long post. While it's great that you took the effort to write it, your statements do not represent allaspects of the planted tank hobby. I'm actually saying that you should be more general rather than so specific. You can have a gorgeous planted tank, with lush growth, without even implementing most of the principles you outlined so carefully. The most essential, IMO, are stable CO2 (from what naturally occurs in the water to 50 gazillion ppm depending on what your plants demand), adaquate lighting that reflects the maximum level of stable CO2 you are willing/able to provide (doesn't have to be crazy high, even stock lighting can work), and good tank circulation (you should aim for at least 10x turnover with the filters calculated at about 60% of their gph efficiency because of media and debri). Nutrients, either dosed in the water column or present in the substrate is not as important as one might think. It's really more general than you're making it, and the above description will account for a lot of successful planted tanks. Your write up is pretty good for tanks that have higher light. The plants in those tanks will demand more CO2 and more nutrients, because the light makes them grow faster so they need more, and then everything you say is pretty much right on the ball. But not every planted tank works that way and they are just as successful. Success isn't measured by breakneck growth, it's measured by healthy growth coupled with minimal algae. Slow growth can be healthy too.

I just want to clarify that the above is based on what I've read. It happens to conform very closely to what I've been doing for a while, which pleases me. It's a very general explanation of why tanks of many types are successful.

 

[vinylman]

Wow, just noticed my mistake; I use 5ml of liquid co2 in my 200 LITRE tank, not 200 GALLON. 200 Gallon in my dreams!!!.