Nutrafin CO2

[Alien Anna]

Hi Guys,
just got myself a Nutrafin CO2 dispenser for my "Amazon" tank. I know it can adversely affect pH but I'm a little foggy on what the effects are likely to be in my tank. I have very hard water so all my previous attempts at lowering pH have been miserable failures, and I lost fish.

Any tips before I set it up? I'm slightly concerned I haven't got enough light because I have a 110L Juwel corner tank and the light fittings are rather naff (2x15watt tubes with light-doubling reflectors). Part of the problem is that the tank is deep - 22". I had Sun-glo's for a year or so, but have now replaced one with an Aqua-glo.

For plants I have Java fern, two huge dwarf anubias, some dwarf vallis (that looks like it's dying because my neighbour turned the lights off for a fortnight when I was away over the heatwave) and two pathetic Amazon swords. I have a heavily stocked tank with a Juwel column filter. Before the heatwave, my plants were growing OK apart from the damage done by snails but didn't look fantastic. They have recovered somewhat in the last couple of weeks, but not fast.

My goal is to have a lush, green jungle of a tank with my tetras and gouramis weaving through the folliage. Not sure it's achievable with my current set-up, but it seems all my fishy friends have been saying "Get CO2, Get CO2" like a mantra so I obeyed.

 

[mrV]

just got myself a Nutrafin CO2 dispenser for my "Amazon" tank. I know it can adversely affect pH but I'm a little foggy on what the effects are likely to be in my tank.

It's quite safety to add CO2 passively. If your KH is over 4, CO2 probably doesn't effect pH so much. However, you should measure is more than one in daily before you know, how it affects pH.

And when adding CO2 it's highly recommended to use airpump at night, when plants don't use CO2. Timer and air-pump is good combination.