Thinking About Co2

[dayzofspeed]

i am now considering trying the yeast co2 method in my 240l tank, having never tried co2 before i am a little nervous it seems a little complicated i am worried about it all becoming a little too technical, can anyone set my mind at rest and also suggest the best options available ie nutrafin system or diy,and will i have to make changes to how i actually maintain the tank, water changes etc. from what i have read it looks like i'm going to need a multiple set up due to the tank size.

ps i have low light t8 tubes x2 at the moment and am not planning on increasing this

 

[lljdma06]

What is the wattage on the bulbs?

 

[pauld]

What is the wattage on the bulbs?

if your thinking about diy yeast bight the bullet go for a fe system once uv tried co2 you will only want the best so go for it from the start .

 

[dayzofspeed]

What is the wattage on the bulbs?

the wattage of each bulb is 40w and as stated there are 2 of them

What is the wattage on the bulbs?

if your thinking about diy yeast bight the bullet go for a fe system once uv tried co2 you will only want the best so go for it from the start .

I'm not really prepared to just go out and buy a set up without seeing if co2 is going to make that much of a difference, that's not to say that I wont be upgrading sometime in the future providing i did want to stick with the co2

 

[Haveagojoe]

Ive just introduced co2 via the the nutrafin system 10 days ago and yes I can see a difference already,plants look a lot greener and healthier, for the little outlay moneywise I think its worth it.

 

[ian]

To be honest, on a tank that size you'll need at least 6-7, 2 liter bottles of yeast to notice a difference. I think what llj is getting at is 'do you actually need C02', if your tubes arn't high output, then your still running low light. Personally, if your not prepared to go pressurised and things are OK, i wouldn't waste my time with DIY, especially Nutrafin ones. I'm running a Nutrafin on a 20l at the moment and i wouldn't use it on much more of a higher volume tank, there would be no point.

 

[dayzofspeed]

To be honest, on a tank that size you'll need at least 6-7, 2 liter bottles of yeast to notice a difference. I think what llj is getting at is 'do you actually need C02', if your tubes arn't high output, then your still running low light. Personally, if your not prepared to go pressurised and things are OK, i wouldn't waste my time with DIY, especially Nutrafin ones. I'm running a Nutrafin on a 20l at the moment and i wouldn't use it on much more of a higher volume tank, there would be no point.

thats what i was thinking, especially with the number of bottles needed,unless i used a single unit that was capable of holding the same amount of liquid, i was aware that the nutrafin setups are for much smaller tanks than i have, but i was wondering if adding "some" co2 (even a small amout) is better than adding none at all, at the moment i'm just not prepared to pay up for a pressurised system or to upgrade my lighting, although i am considering adding a bit more light with the use of reflectors, and will be improving my substrate in the near future so i imagine that would help my plants out without having to go down the co2 route, my plants would hopefully grow well but just more slowly..... i'm still not sold on using co2, what do you think?

 

[lljdma06]

The key is "stable" CO2, not necessarily lots of CO2. It shouldn't fluctuate & unless you want to really invest a lot of effort, keeping CO2 levels stable with yeast injection may not be feasible in a tank this size. Supercoley1 is working on it (see pinned topic) but you tank is much larger than his. 2x40 W over 240l. If this were me, unless you go pressurized, I wouldn't add CO2. As the tank matures, you can create stable but low CO2 levels by not doing waterchanges. You could also dose with liquid C, but I don't see that as being cost effective for your size tank. You CAN have a very lush planted tank with you lighting level & no CO2. At least I believe you can. If you want to go pressurized, that is a good option as well as you have a nice amount of light there. All depends on what plants you want to grow. Are they CO2 dependent plants or not? I don't go much by light requirements anymore as I've grown many high-light plants in lower light levels. What do you want to do?

 

[dayzofspeed]

The key is "stable" CO2, not necessarily lots of CO2. It shouldn't fluctuate & unless you want to really invest a lot of effort, keeping CO2 levels stable with yeast injection may not be feasible in a tank this size. Supercoley1 is working on it (see pinned topic) but you tank is much larger than his. 2x40 W over 240l. If this were me, unless you go pressurized, I wouldn't add CO2. As the tank matures, you can create stable but low CO2 levels by not doing waterchanges. You could also dose with liquid C, but I don't see that as being cost effective for your size tank. You CAN have a very lush planted tank with you lighting level & no CO2. At least I believe you can. If you want to go pressurized, that is a good option as well as you have a nice amount of light there. All depends on what plants you want to grow. Are they CO2 dependent plants or not? I don't go much by light requirements anymore as I've grown many high-light plants in lower light levels. What do you want to do?

the tank is already a matured tank as its been running now for about 4 years, I already have plants in the tank but they have always struggled and have never been what i would call lush, i have tried various plants over the years looking for what is suitable for the tank. at the moment i have anubias & java fern which do ok, i have recently added small twisted vallis and at the moment they seem to be doing well although they dont send out any runners, i also added some pygmy chain sword and after the original leaves died away the new leaves have grown but again these are not sending out runners and dont look fantastic (a little pale), i have elodea densa which initially grew so well i had to trim them back but the remaining plants now seem to be struggling are very pale and have very little growth, and very recently i have added what i believe to be a taller straight vallis(has done well for me in the past) i also just put in what i think is some kind of bacopa (never had this before) so waiting to see if this gets established. my plan is soon to replace the plain gravel with a more nutrient rich substrate, possibly jbl aquabasis and see how it all goes, i'm not really looking for a forest, just well established healthy looking plants

 

[lljdma06]

Pale tells me that your plants are basically hungry. Do you dose any fertilizer? I use TPN+ so I can dose my macro nutrients (nitrogen, potassium, & phosphorus) and micro nutrients. How long is your photo period?

 

[dayzofspeed]

i am currently dosing with waterlife tropiflora liquid fertiliser on a weekly basis with my waterchange lights are on for 8 hours a day sometimes a little longer. its only the elodea and the pygmy chains that are looking pale, the twisted vallis appears to be doing well at the moment and is a good colour