How many of you with plants use CO2

[bunjiweb]

Lots and lots of people on here seem to have planted setups, most with very nice results. I just want to know what percentage of you with plants actually use CO2 to help your plants grow?

If you dont have plants, please dont reply... If you dont use CO2 with a planted setup please state why... if you do, no need to say why really.

Ben

 

[OohFeeshy]

I did when I had no fish, but TBH it was pretty pointless. The light wasn't working. Its only worth using when you have plenty of light, so the plants can photosynthesise.

 

[rdd1952]

I am using one small CO2 setup on my 75 gallon and the plants seem to be doing quite well. With my tap pH at about 7.0 and no buffering capacity, I can't use much CO2 for fear of having a pH crash. I have a bag of crushed coral hanging in the 75 gallon to keep the pH up. I have had it running like this for about 3 weeks now and the pH seems to be pretty stable at aroun 6.6 to 6.8. My 29 gallon without CO2 definitely isn't doing as well so I would say that the CO2 is a good thing if your water parameters can handle it.

 

[Angry_Platy]

I have a planted 30gal and I use CO2. I have high lighting (3.2 wpg) and without CO2 the plants become really leggy....i.e. they grow up to the light but don't have enough carbon to develop new shoots along the way. I see this when I get too lazy to change the DIY CO2 thingy.

I also fertilise weekly with a trace elements fertiliser. No nitrate or phosphate which could potentially cause algae. Though peeps here have recommended using nitrates and phosphates. Before fertilising I could get away with pruning once a fortnight. Now with ferts, I am needing to prune once a week. The plants just grow and grow and grow.....etc.

I try and keep my CO2 between 15 and 25ppm...any higher and the fish won't be happy, any lower and the plants start to get leggy.

Before adding CO2 I had a very low KH and GH.....I was worried that the CO2 may drop my pH too much since it had little buffering capacity. After adding CO2 my KH and GH have increased telling me I have something in my substrate dissolving with CO2 (someone here explained it to me once but it was way too technical)......my pH dropped from 7.0 to 6.8 which is pretty much nothing.

HTH

 

[Dubby]

I use CO2 cause I have a heavily planted tank and love to see the wonderful lush growth I use a DIY CO2 generator.

 

[NikkiY]

I use CO2 for my planted tank.

Nikki

 

[squirrelrabbits]

I am just getting into co2 on my planted tanks because without it, the plants were pretty inert but also because I was getting an algae bloom from adding light and not having enough co2. Right now I have a Hagen Natural Plant system (basically a DIY) on my 15G and a diy on a 30g. The 15 gallon is doing great.... One Amazon Sword in there looks like it really is from the amazon! The huge leaves make lush shade for my fish, and I noticed a difference in really just a few weeks. In the 30G however I have had less success. I think I need a more pwerful diffuer, as co2 levels in the tank continue to be too low to matter.

For me, biggest plus to co2: it really does make a difference and if you do diy it is pretty cheap.

Biggest drawback: it's a bit complicated and scary. I always fear when I start on a tank on it that the Ph dip or a co2 spike will kill my fish! If youre a worry wort like me, you have to do a lot of testing to monitor PH and KH in order to prevent this.

 

[Nyte]

*puts up hand* "me me me"

29 gallon planted, with Hagen's C02 set up. Not too sure on how much though.

 

[houndour]

Yep, I have CO2. But I've only had plants 3-4 weeks. I use the hagen one.

The only thing that puts me off is it's uncontrollable. During the height of my last CO2 mixture my pH was changing from 6.4 to 6.7 everyday. At present my pH is 6.9, and i finally got the kH kit today and have worked out that my CO2 is 18.8ppm.

My fish appear to be fine though.

 

[SimonA]

My mum uses a really good co2 system on her planted tank and I dont due to lack of money, I just use plant fert.

 

[Toadfish]

I guess I'll be the odd guy out, I DO NOT USE CO2 in my tank. The reason is mainly because I prefer the fish aspect with plants as an accent (not vice versa as some like it), therefore my fish produce enough co2 for the few plants. I only keep 6 medium plants in a 55g. It all depends on the type of plants, generally Echinodorus species (in particular 'ozelot') like a lot of co2. The plants that do well in low co2 are things like microsorum species (they also do well in low light).

Check out tropica.com and take a look at the species info, those that say that the demands are easy or really easy are great for lower co2 enviroments. Although this isn't always the case it depends on the density of the pants in the tankl aswell, but hey it a good place to start. Oh and if you can try and obtain tropica plants I find they have the best quality and selection.

 

[Silly me]

I dont have a tank without CO2 currently..

As far as growing plants, CO2 is very very usefull to create a heatly amount of plant without worring to much about algae taking over.

 

[chibi]

I don't, and my plants grow quite well. I do add some Tetra FloraPride every so often, but that's it. Keep my light on 14 hours a day, very very little sunlight. My plants grow almost too fast! I'm always having to cut them back...

 

[Themuleous]

BTW did you realise this thread is from 2005? !!

 

[john starkey]

wow this threads bin kikin around for some time regards john