Co2 System

[blackghostknife]

HI All

I got some beautiful plants about a week ago, on Friday last week, they started to go brown and look like they were going to die, so I went to the LFS to find out what I can buy for it, and he suggested a CO2 system, which would cost me about R4000 South African Rand, that’s about £360 or €450, which to me is a lot of money to spend, so I Goggled the alternative and came up with a DIY system with sugar and yeast!

Has anyone tried this before, and what was the success rate and does it really work?

Thank you

 

[ian]

i'm going to move this over to the planted section. The LFS will suggest an expensive C02 system, that's how business works, you may not actually need one though. Give use some more details about the tank specs (ie lighting and if you use any ferts) and the plants you bought.

 

[blackghostknife]

i'm going to move this over to the planted section. The LFS will suggest an expensive C02 system, that's how business works, you may not actually need one though. Give use some more details about the tank specs (ie lighting and if you use any ferts) and the plants you bought.

Hi

My plants are as follows

1.Vallisneria spiralis
2. Dwarf hygrophilia
3. Java fern
4. Amazon sword

Tank size
4 foot, 100L tank.

Lighting
flo-glo brightens fish colour helps plant growth its a daro product 20W, thats all it says on the box, also what my LFS sold me for my plants!

I hope this helps

 

[ian]

with 1x 20w bulb you will not really need to go down the route of pressurised C02. You are running low light so there's really no need for a carbon addition in your tank. I will bet one whole British pound that the sword looks the worst affected? This is because the majority of swords are grown out of water, and it can take some time for them to get used to their submersed surroundings. What you need to do is strip the affected leaves off, by either stripping them from the crown at the bottom of the plant or taking a pair of sharp scissors and cutting the effected leaves of at the crown (bottom white part) of the plant. You should start to see new growth within a month ish.

 

[blackghostknife]

with 1x 20w bulb you will not really need to go down the route of pressurised C02. You are running low light so there's really no need for a carbon addition in your tank. I will bet one whole British pound that the sword looks the worst affected? This is because the majority of swords are grown out of water, and it can take some time for them to get used to their submersed surroundings. What you need to do is strip the affected leaves off, by either stripping them from the crown at the bottom of the plant or taking a pair of sharp scissors and cutting the effected leaves of at the crown (bottom white part) of the plant. You should start to see new growth within a month ish.

yes you are 100% coorect it looks really bad! i will do that this afternoon, must i get another light for my tank?

 

[ian]

no need at all to get another light...i would recommend getting a basic fert and feeding the plants once or twice a week. To keep on top of them looking good. The plants you have should do OK with the light you have.

 

[blackghostknife]

no need at all to get another light...i would recommend getting a basic fert and feeding the plants once or twice a week. To keep on top of them looking good. The plants you have should do OK with the light you have.

Thank you will do, what is the best to use for feeding my plants and what Fert must i get?

 

[ian]

I'm unsure what you can get hold of in S.A? Can you get hold of Seachem products? If you can your best bet would be something like Seachem Flourish.

 

[blackghostknife]

I'm unsure what you can get hold of in S.A? Can you get hold of Seachem products? If you can your best bet would be something like Seachem Flourish.

Thank you, Will have a look this weekend coming!