Cabomba Trouble

[coolie]

Well, if there was "no CO2" my other plants wouldn't be growing so well.


Here's some tanks without CO2 added:

 

[Paradise3]

Coolie, Surface movement allows Oxygen into the tank which dispels CO2... I dose mine with EasyCarbo, a carbon fertilizer and my plants are growing perfectly fine.

 

[coolie]

It's like banging your head against a brick wall.

 

[coolie]

I only have one plant with this problem, I am not instaling or adding CO2 for one stem. I would like to investigate what are the possible causes of cambomba to loose fronds.

 

[Paradise3]

I only have one plant with this problem, I am not instaling or adding CO2 for one stem. I would like to investigate what are the possible causes of cambomba to loose fronds.

I know what your saying and I wouldn't either, especially since Cabomba does not need CO2... Mine never had any problems like this. It grew perfectly fine until I was having to trim it back once a week, and that's with nothing but light added.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Coolie it could be a number of reasons but, not using CO2 means you don't need N&P, I'm just letting you know, also I never said anything about you needing CO2 but with out it and dosing N&P means those levels will be getting quite high in your tank is all. P.S. Please don't link to competing forums its against the rules. Oh and I never said you had no CO2 but with an airstone you will have a lot less.

 

[Crossfire]

Coolie, you don't need to do CO2 gas, liquid carbon is perfectly fine, harmless, and easy as long as you don't overdose.

I had cabomba, but it died after my amano shrimp took to eating it

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Only has one stem so no point, could be a million different things.

 

[coolie]

thanks for your input guys, but I wont use liquid carbon either as it damages fish eggs even at low concentration. At the end of the day I've just made a personal decision not to add carbon as I think it's not necessary.
Though if you want to research liquid carbon, look up glutaraldehyde. And you can get a 50% solution on eBay. Warning to noobs - do NOT look that up on eBay and put it in your tank, it will kill absolutely everything, and I mean EVERYTHING.

 

[SO19Firearms]

Coolie, Surface movement allows Oxygen into the tank which dispels CO2...

That isn't really accurate, but you're right in that surface movement will get rid of some of the CO[sub]2[/sub]

2 other points I saw - All plants need NPK, so try not to think of it in terms of if you don't add extra CO[sub]2[/sub] you don't need NPK, if there isn't sufficient NPK present, it needs to be...it's just harder to set a figure.
The other was that a particular plant won't need CO[sub]2[/sub] - If it's a plant that photosynthesises it's gonna need a source of carbon and like the NPK if it isn't already in the water you'll have to add it - otherwise bits are gonna start falling off/clear leaves/holes/algae etc

To answer Coolies issue with not wanting to add extra CO[sub]2[/sub] you'll have to reduce the amount of light you have to a level that runs the plant on or below the available CO[sub]2[/sub] / NPK levels - Liebig's law of the minimum.

IMO

 

[coolie]

I have taken note from this thread that airation removes CO2, and doesn't add it. I seriously didn't know that.

 

[Paradise3]

The other was that a particular plant won't need CO[sub]2[/sub] - If it's a plant that photosynthesises it's gonna need a source of carbon and like the NPK if it isn't already in the water you'll have to add it - otherwise bits are gonna start falling off/clear leaves/holes/algae etc

My cabomba thrived quite happily without anything but light... I had a 2ft tank at one point and started off with 3 strands of cabomba, within a month it was overtaking my tank and I wasn't adding anything to the tank... It was all the way across the top and everything. I had no problems growing and still don't. Plus my partner has a 300l planted and he only ever adds EasyCarbo, which is liquid carbon basically, like me...

 

[SO19Firearms]

My cabomba thrived quite happily without anything but light...

This was kind of the point I was trying to make (and failed ) We know that your statement can't be true because of biology and science and stuff. But we can with certainty deduce that in your tank there is adequate CO2, NPK etc for you Cabomba to thrive quite happily given your lighting. I know it looks like I'm being anal, but I'm really not, it's pretty important.

IMO

 

[Paradise3]

My cabomba thrived quite happily without anything but light...

This was kind of the point I was trying to make (and failed ) We know that your statement can't be true because of biology and science and stuff. But we can with certainty deduce that in your tank there is adequate CO2, NPK etc for you Cabomba to thrive quite happily given your lighting. I know it looks like I'm being anal, but I'm really not, it's pretty important.

IMO

Well like I say, I added nothing to the tank. I have a picture somewhere of it after 3 weeks of being in there. No added NPK or CO2 or anything.
There may have possibly been traces of NPK, CO2 etc in my tank but it thrived whatever there was.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Basically all plants need NPK and CO2 but not injecting CO2 and having low light generally means there is enough NPK and CO2 to keep things ticking over from fish/food waste and the CO2 already dissolved in the water. If there was none of the above then the plants would not survive. Not dosing doesn'tmean there is none in the tank but in most low light cases there is enough from natural sources to not need to dose it.