Easycarbo--Is It Worth Using

[Fishmanic]

this is a carbon supplement----is this worth using in a planted tank----I use carbon in the filter media and do not use CO2

 

[fishprotector]

We used to dose this (and ferts) daily in a heavily planted nano tank which we had. Plant growth was impressive and they were a lot more lush than before we started using it.

 

[coolie]

I used it before going CO2 but if your flow and ferts aren't right then it's not a miracle you might think it is.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

It did nothing for my tank.  A weekly fert did a lot better for me.

 

[Blubble37]

i used this with ferts and got mild success, a proper CO2 diffusion system worked much better however

 

[daizeUK]

this is a carbon supplement----is this worth using in a planted tank----I use carbon in the filter media and do not use CO2

I would say it depends on how heavily you want to plant your tank. My 64L (see sig) is very heavily planted and I have been dosing EasyCarbo right from the start with good results. A couple of months ago the plants started to struggle, turning yellow and weak. I realised that I was simply not adding enough carbon for the sheer amount of plant biomass in the tank, so I doubled the EasyCarbo dosing and the plants had picked up and were putting out healthy new growth within a week.

This is a picture I took of some hygrophila polysperma, showing the weak growth further down the stems when there wasn't enough carbon, and the vibrant healthy growth at the tips when EasyCarbo was doubled. That's the effect it can have.

By the way the carbon in your filter does absolutely nothing for your plants - it's just for removing toxins or medications from the water.

 

[Blubble37]

i will say, it's probably cheaper than running a full-blown CO2 system, i havent finished planting my tank yet due to the fact some of my plants turned out to be non-aquatic, but i'll be using easycarbo when i'm done tbh

 

[KittyKat]

It's nor worth dosing if you have activated carbon in the filer because the activated carbon should adsorb any fertilisers.

 

[Fishmanic]

wouldn't the activated carbon in the filter media add some carbon to the tank water?   So you're saying if I use a liquid fertilizer, I need to remove the carbon media.

 

[daizeUK]

wouldn't the activated carbon in the filter media add some carbon to the tank water?   So you're saying if I use a liquid fertilizer, I need to remove the carbon media.

No the carbon media does not benefit plants.
I've never heard of activated carbon absorbing liquid carbon but they can certainly absorb some other nutrients so you may as well take it out. Keep it for when you need to soak up medicines or similar. Plants are very good at absorbing heavy metals and toxins so they will do a similar job to your activated carbon in any case.

 

[SO19Firearms]

It's nor worth dosing if you have activated carbon in the filer because the activated carbon should adsorb any fertilisers.

Activated carbon won't make a difference in a planted tank - Don't worry about it.