A few questions

[Fish_Mike]

Well i finally bought the Nutrafin CO2 system because i found it on sale, yay!

But now i have a few questions about it after reading the instrutions.

1. When first making the solution, do you add tap water? Or dechlorinated tap water? It said not to use aquarium water so now i'm just wasking what type of water.

2. Should i store the Activator and Stabiliser packets in the fridge? (said to keep at temps of about 4'C, so would that be the frdige temp)

3. I currently have fish in this tank, and if i was to add the CO2 injector, with a gh of 9, would it flunctuate the PH too much to stress them out? If knowing the gh does not help, and you need to know the KH, what would be the minimum KH to not really stress the fish out?

Thanks for your help, mike

 

[danski]

hello..well i run 2ladders in my aquarium and i cant see using aquarium water since it has to be pretty warm water yet not scalding to activate the yeast. i just use the sugar, hot water, yet not too hot water and the yeast.


Should i store the Activator and Stabiliser packets in the fridge? (said to keep at temps of about 4'C, so would that be the frdige temp)
^^^^^i always keep my yeast in the fridge but im using a diy method of this mixture. you should look it up in the diy forum to save some money and get better results since sometimes the yeast in the packages is not always fresh.
i have pretyy bad water with a high gh and kh and yes the co2 will affect the ph and probably bring the ph down but i saw no real major affects to my fish however a couple times they did seem to be gasping for air at the top of my tank which i discovered in the middle of the night and corrected with an air pump till everyone was okay but that went away after a couple days, dont really know what that was about but i assumed it was co2 and the fact that i went to a cannister filter and had practically no surface agitation hence a shortage of oxygen. ive since went back to my aquaclear filters and everything seems stable now. been a good while now...hope this helps.....dan

 

[danski]

i use this help a bunch
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=101380&hl=

 

[BLASK]

1. I add regular tap water from the tap without any chemicals, the temp is lukewarm.

2. i store the packets at room temp, which is currently 77 F

3. im no expert, but the ph will raise, but imo slow enough for the fish to get used to it, unless u have some ph sensitive fishies!

gl hf

 

[Fish_Mike]

Ok i woke up and came straight to this thread, thanks a lot Dan and Blask!

I do have a canister filter, but if my fish seem to be gasping for air i'll add an air pump

 

[BLASK]

an air pump will agetate the water with air bubbles and push the co2 out of ur tank rendering ur injector useless, you have to make sure ur plants are photosynthesizing to make oxygen.

in my 20gal planted tank, it seems that co2 leaves a film on the surface, i have a whisper20 filter and the water level is high enough so that the water is pushed at near a 90 degree angle (almost horizontal), this way the filtered water penetrates the surface minimally so that gas exchange can take place, but not strong enough to force all the gasses out quickly.

lastly, do your plants have all the req's to perform photosynthesis? if not, then injecting co2 while the plants dont take it might be harmfull since it would build up faster and cause ur fish to gasp for air, the lights wavelenghts have to be perfect, not to forget substrate, water temp, plant nutrients....

after the plants are happy with their needs, they will make plenty of oxygen for ur tank mates. and you sure get a good feeling when you see that you created oxygen in ur own tank, at least i did. B)

 

[zig]

The Ph will drop not rise, but the fish will adjust quite well, folllow the guide Danski gave you and maybe consider ditching the satchets that came with the unit and make up your own mix, it is much more effective, i can almost guarentee you wont get enough co2 from the premade satchets they are pretty useless and will only frustrate you, enivitably you will end up binning them anyway as you find out how useless they are.

Keep surface agitation to a minimum to avoid the loss of the co2 from the water column.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Alright thanks, i guess i'll just skip the air pump. Now, i know about the lights and such, however my gravel is just... gravel. It's not the flourite or any other realy beneficial substrate for plants. Is that ok? Or should i actually go for flourite, which i CAN, but would really like to avoid

Edit: also this is my first time at a planted tank so bear with me. what i can tell you is: my temp is 81*F (27*c), the injector came with macro fertilizer (iron) and i have 2 25 watt bulbs shining into it, it's a 20 gallon, would that mean 2.5 WPG or 1.25 WPG?

 

[BLASK]

oops sorry, ya the ph goes down, i was thinkin of limestone rocks, hehe

if ur gravel is fine, the roots will be happy to develop in that, but if the gravel is large then it will be harder.

you can get these seachem flourish tabs and stick em in ur gravel to give the plants a nutrient boost from the bottom, also dont forget to add liquid nutrients, however not right away - unless u want an algea bloom

 

[zig]

Flourite would be better but i suppose it comes down to your budget, plain gravel is inert and wont contain any benifical minerals that the plants can use.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Hmm, i'm now seeing the endless amount of money that goes into a planted tank so now i'm just considering upgrading to a 55 and moving everything into there, with the flourite. I mean, i was thinking of also setting up a 55 along with the planted 20, but that won't work

 

[BLASK]

its not really endless money, its endless time effort to keep up maintenance, these are basically the things u will buy for a 20gal:

1x65w coralife aquarium compact plus legs = $64

15lbs bag of seachem flourite = $20

15lbs of estes small fine gravel in any color = $6

hagen co2 thing = $21

plants for 20gal = $22

diy tank lid made from lexan glass = $8

im asuming u have the tank, heater, filter and fish budget

lastly the only reocurring bills are the hagen packets, which can be substituted with a homemade sollution and then the macro and micro nutrients for the plants - but if u buy large amounts in the first place, you will save in the long run

 

[Fish_Mike]

Alright fine, i've decided to just upgrade the tank first to the 55, and get flourite and the proper bulbs. Are there any links you can give me to research the bulbs and WPG?

 

[Fish_Mike]

So would you suggest using flourite and the fine gravel? If yes, than which substrate goes over which?

 

[BLASK]

you can go shop the online place I got everything, they have the best prices for it all in my opinion www.bigalsonline.com

the lighting section might be a bit confusing at first, but those ppl are more than glad to help you, either email them or call their 1800 number and ask away all your questions