Pre-carbonated Water

[fifefish]

if you fill a tank with carbonated water and add plants will it cause the plants to grow faster or will it just kill them?

 

[susankat]

Probably wouldn't do much of anything. The carbonation will just leave the water fairly fast, just like setting an open can of soda on a table and a couple of hours later its flat.

CO2 needs to be constant during the time the lights are on the tank, and that wouldn't be consistant.

 

[aaronnorth]

for some hardwater plants like vallis it will improve growth, as they are able to use the carbonates as a source of Carbon. But there is no point if it will just leave the water (going by susankat's comment is correct)

 

[fifefish]

the bubbles in the carbonated water arent fizzying away they have just stuck to the outside of the tank and plant..

 

[Bignose]

the bubbles in the carbonated water arent fizzying away they have just stuck to the outside of the tank and plant..

The bubbles may have stayed -- that's just a function of surface tension -- but the amount of dissolved CO2 in the water is going to equilibrate to the normal levels very fast. Nature always tends toward equilibrium, and the amount of CO2 that water can hold is a function of the water's temperature and the composition of the atmosphere in contact with the water. That's how carbonated water is made -- they bubble carbon dioxide through the water, and keep the atmosphere above the water rich in carbon dioxide, The atmosphere above your tank is regular atmosphere with only a little but of carbon dioxide, so the water will only keep a little bit of carbon dioxide in it. The extra will gas off into the atmosphere. And, the process won't take very long, either, only a matter of hours. I don't think that the tiny amount of possible benefit the plants could get from this would be worth the expense.