do i need CO2?

[jewels]

I have a juwel rio 400 litre tank in which i have 1 silver arrowana 1 black ghost knife 2 golden severums 1 geophagus brazilansis, 2 angels and a couple of small plecs. (and i know that ill have to rehouse the arrowana when he`s bigger) anyway up until 2 weeks ago i had a very large golden plec who had the habit of wrecking everything so i never bothered having many plants, he`s now got a new home so id like a nicely planted tank but everyone who i talk to says that id need a CO2 injection system to get the plants to grow but i know nothing about them!!!! would it harm my fish? any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Nisha]

You won't require CO2 unless you want to heavily plant your tank. A few plants here and there won't need any extra CO2.

Initially, you simply need to worry about having sufficient light in your tank and a good substrate for your plants to root in. Perhaps as time goes on you might find that you need a CO2 reactor which can be easily made at home or bought.

Here's some good info when considering Your First Planted Tank.

CO2 is generally harmless to fish in moderation but if you have too much in your water it can suffocate your fish and you will see them gasping at the surface.

Hope this helps.

 

[rvm]

The plants in my tanks seem to go brown after a couple of weeks of having them in my tanks, so I added a DIY CO2 system to 2 of my tanks about 2 weeks ago. in the smaller tank it has made a massive difference, and I have lush green leaves, and am actually having to trim the plants back now, but in the bigger tank, it hasn't made such a massive difference. I think this is simply because I need to inject more CO2 as the tank is 55g.
I would suggest trying without the CO2, and if you get brown leaves/ dead plants, then give the DIY one a go, it's really easy to set up and cost about £2!!

 

[ryan]

You don't need to inject CO2 to have a nicely planted set-up, however, it does help. But for a tank of that size you are going to need to build a rather large set-up to keep it going at a level to improve plant growth so IMO its not worth it. If you are moving into the relms of larger fish with the Arowana etc then plants don't last to long. IMO for larger fish Bogwood and attractive pieces of Driftwood with a few carefully selected plants and stones etc makes just as nice attraction and you can then keep a small well planted tank with CO2 and a few fish alot easier.

 

[yhbae]

One thing that I find inconvenient about injecting CO2 is the fact that you must make sure there's less water disturbance. Normally, I deliberately create more whenever I get a chance to improve gas exchanges, but as soon as you inject CO2, you must do the opposite.

Also, I have to admit I am also a little worried about pH change - adding CO2 will significantly lower pH (depending on your KH buffer I guess). I doubt platies will be happy in pH of 6.5, so in some cases I may need to adjust the stock, although that does give me excuses to buy more fishes...

 

[jewels]

Well thanx for all your help
Im gonna get a T5 lighting system installed and ive put a much deeper and finer substrate in now, so im gonna wait and see how that goes. The CO2 system can wait for a while now as i dont like the idea of suffocating my babies!