Adding new plants to my co2 established tank

[Brie]

Hi guys,

I have a 36 gallon tank and was wondering what do you guys normally do/how is it suppose to be done when adding a new plant that wasn’t living in a co2 tank and transferring it into one that I dose daily with liquid co2. If that even makes sense?

It’s a Madagascar lace
Unfortunately I don’t have a co2 system I use the liquid flourish co2.

Would love to get a co2 system but my plants seem to like the flourish for now

Any opinions would be great, thanks

 

[Colin_T]

just plant it in the tank

 

[Brie]

just plant it in the tank

Yeah but won’t it melt… since it was never in a co2 tank to begin with.

 

[Brie]

just plant it in the tank

I want to know if I should continue with how much co2 I put in my tank or put less because of the new plant.

 

[Wills]

With a plant like a lace, the Co2 shouldnt be an issue. Its a bulb so you may find it sends out new leaves and shed the older ones but the bulb should live on.

One thing to add is that those liquid Co2 products are not the same as injecting pure Co2. The liquid type uses some pretty nasty chemicals that ultimately are toxic to any living thing but in such small doses that plants and animals can survive but single cell things like algae should die off, with the lack of algae it forms more space in the nutrition of the tank for the plants but at a cost to the health of the fish. You would be better off using an all in one fertiliser.

If you want to inject the Co2 thats a different route and you need to take into consideration the kind of fish you keep and how many as Co2 tanks should not be heavily stocked.

Wills

 

[Lynnzer]

I bought one of these in April and it's great. I bought one for another tank after that.
Inexpensive compared to some CO2 kits and s[peedy de;ivery

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The best advice i ever got when I decided to add CO2 gas to a planted tanks was to go with pressurized CO2. Which I did. I refilled my 1- gal bottle about twice a year it ran on a 50 gal. tank.

I try not to buy nade in China when I can as they often make poor quality stuff. Sometimes it can be harmful due to materials and quality control. I will even pay more to be able to do this. Just my feelings re things made in China.

I got my cot set-up years agove for well inder $200. No solendoid but very expesive needle valve. I sold it for $100 about a decade later.

 

[StevenF]

The liquid in liquid CO2 is glutaraldehyde. It is used a disinfectant for medical i tools. Apparently is it similar to a chemical in plants but I have not seen any scientific studies indicating it actually helps plants. The chemical is dangerous to fish if overdosed and does damage some plants. A long time ago i used it but didn't see any benefit. Most on this site don't recumbent it.


There are 2 ways to get CO2 information your aquarium:

• Use pressurized CO2
• aerate your water.
• More fish.

Aeration is basically a decorative water fall. increase water surface agitation or use an air stone and air pump to pump air through the water. Surface agitation involves water movement at the surface that is contact with the air. TYpically want enough movement to creat ripples on the surface . OR the output of the filter is sprayed onto the surface. The key idea is to maximize water contact with eh air.

For Pressurized CO2 many people use a CO2 diffuser but you have to be careful. To much CO2 in the water will kill fish and the CO2 output must be monitored daily and adjusted needed to prevent killing the fish. When I was Using this methode I had to refill my bottle once every 4 months. Best way to used use pressurized CO2 is to use Passive CO2.

Passive CO2 is basically an inverted bottle filled with CO2. The pressure in the bottle and waters naturally ability to bind to the gas pulls it into the water. This is the most efficient way to get CO2 into the water. IT is also impossible to kill your fish with a Passive CO2 system. When I switched to PassiveCO2 my same bottle of CO2 can now go 18 months witout a refill.

Note there is no accurate way to measure CO2 in the water. Liquid test kits or strips are available but only work reliably with pure water. Normally all the additives in tap water,fish waist and fertilizer makes these tests inaccurate at best or comply unusable. Others use drop checkers or PH probes but these have the same issue.

The last way to get CO2 in the water is more fish. Fish and fish waste produce CO2 naturally. since you cannot measure the amount of CO2 produced by fish and the amount of CO2 needed it is impossible to say how many fish you need. But since you have a 36 gallon tank and the one inch of fish length per gallon recommendation many people use you might be able to get 30 small schooling fish in the tank with your plants. And the schooling behavior of the fish might be interesting to watch. Combined with good surface agitation you might get enough CO2 in the water.

Note the only indication of Low CO2 levels is slow growth. But in my experience lake of nutrients (fertilizer) is often the cause of plant growth problems. If the new growth of your plants doesn't look right or you have bad algae issues you likely have a plant nutrient issue. Just buying a fertilizer at the store is no guaranty that you will not have nutrient issues.

 

[Brie]

The liquid in liquid CO2 is glutaraldehyde. It is used a disinfectant for medical i tools. Apparently is it similar to a chemical in plants but I have not seen any scientific studies indicating it actually helps plants. The chemical is dangerous to fish if overdosed and does damage some plants. A long time ago i used it but didn't see any benefit. Most on this site don't recumbent it.


There are 2 ways to get CO2 information your aquarium:

• Use pressurized CO2
• aerate your water.
• More fish.

Aeration is basically a decorative water fall. increase water surface agitation or use an air stone and air pump to pump air through the water. Surface agitation involves water movement at the surface that is contact with the air. TYpically want enough movement to creat ripples on the surface . OR the output of the filter is sprayed onto the surface. The key idea is to maximize water contact with eh air.

For Pressurized CO2 many people use a CO2 diffuser but you have to be careful. To much CO2 in the water will kill fish and the CO2 output must be monitored daily and adjusted needed to prevent killing the fish. When I was Using this methode I had to refill my bottle once every 4 months. Best way to used use pressurized CO2 is to use Passive CO2.

Passive CO2 is basically an inverted bottle filled with CO2. The pressure in the bottle and waters naturally ability to bind to the gas pulls it into the water. This is the most efficient way to get CO2 into the water. IT is also impossible to kill your fish with a Passive CO2 system. When I switched to PassiveCO2 my same bottle of CO2 can now go 18 months witout a refill.

Note there is no accurate way to measure CO2 in the water. Liquid test kits or strips are available but only work reliably with pure water. Normally all the additives in tap water,fish waist and fertilizer makes these tests inaccurate at best or comply unusable. Others use drop checkers or PH probes but these have the same issue.

The last way to get CO2 in the water is more fish. Fish and fish waste produce CO2 naturally. since you cannot measure the amount of CO2 produced by fish and the amount of CO2 needed it is impossible to say how many fish you need. But since you have a 36 gallon tank and the one inch of fish length per gallon recommendation many people use you might be able to get 30 small schooling fish in the tank with your plants. And the schooling behavior of the fish might be interesting to watch. Combined with good surface agitation you might get enough CO2 in the water.

Note the only indication of Low CO2 levels is slow growth. But in my experience lake of nutrients (fertilizer) is often the cause of plant growth problems. If the new growth of your plants doesn't look right or you have bad algae issues you likely have a plant nutrient issue. Just buying a fertilizer at the store is no guaranty that you will not have nutrient issues.

Hi steven thanks for your reply, so is something like this a passive co2 system? I heard that it’s is for smaller tanks would this be ok for larger ones? I do use fertilizer, only liquid ones, and I dose everyday with micro and macro nutrients (hope I got that right) I am planning on re-doing my tank and switching to a 50 gallon tank, and will be adding tons of root tabs and continuing with the liquid fertilizers.

But I’ve always wanted to try the co2 in the picture I sent, if they last long like you are saying maybe I’ll switch!

 

[Brie]

The best advice i ever got when I decided to add CO2 gas to a planted tanks was to go with pressurized CO2. Which I did. I refilled my 1- gal bottle about twice a year it ran on a 50 gal. tank.

I try not to buy nade in China when I can as they often make poor quality stuff. Sometimes it can be harmful due to materials and quality control. I will even pay more to be able to do this. Just my feelings re things made in China.

I got my cot set-up years agove for well inder $200. No solendoid but very expesive needle valve. I sold it for $100 about a decade later.

I’ve always wanted to try using an actual co2 system, I’m just always worried I’ll do something wrong and kill everything

 

[Brie]

With a plant like a lace, the Co2 shouldnt be an issue. Its a bulb so you may find it sends out new leaves and shed the older ones but the bulb should live on.

One thing to add is that those liquid Co2 products are not the same as injecting pure Co2. The liquid type uses some pretty nasty chemicals that ultimately are toxic to any living thing but in such small doses that plants and animals can survive but single cell things like algae should die off, with the lack of algae it forms more space in the nutrition of the tank for the plants but at a cost to the health of the fish. You would be better off using an all in one fertiliser.

If you want to inject the Co2 thats a different route and you need to take into consideration the kind of fish you keep and how many as Co2 tanks should not be heavily stocked.

Wills

Thanks for replying I might switch to the passive co2 system, will definitely have to do more research. If they last a long time I will probably switch over.

I do use fertilizer everyday on all my tanks, I have a 15 gallon and that one is doing so much better than my 36 and all the water conditions are the same it’s frustrating haha.

 

[StevenF]

Hi steven thanks for your reply, so is something like this a passive co2 system? I heard that it’s is for smaller tanks would this be ok for larger ones? I do use fertilizer, only liquid ones, and I dose everyday with micro and macro nutrients (hope I got that right) I am planning on re-doing my tank and switching to a 50 gallon tank, and will be adding tons of root tabs and continuing with the liquid fertilizers.

But I’ve always wanted to try the co2 in the picture I sent, if they last long like you are saying maybe I’ll switch!

When I saw a video of it the tank was probably in the a 30 gallon But (they didn't say) and they used a empty soda bottle to in the tank to hold the CO2. I honestly think it will work in any aquarium but I only a have 5 gallon shrimp tank. Also in my oppinion you water flow around the belll to encourage will bring more CO2in contact with water.

That CO@ kit you attached to has a 95gram disposable CO2 container. That's is 3 oz. It is a diffuser system so you would be lucky to get a months out of that one cylinder. You would end up spending a lot of money for the disposable 95 gram containers. If you convert it to passive system you might get 3 months out of it.

I have a 21 once paint ball container and used attached that to Nilocg.com CO2 regulator. MY regulator has a solenoid so I use a timer to turn it on and off to automatically to fill it. I have gone 18 months on one tank. With a diffuser I had to refill the tank every 3 or 4 months.