Ok, I've Had It. You Guys Win.

[coolie]

Can anyone remember when they started CO2 which micro or macro nutrients were first impacted by switching on the gas? I don't want to just use a shotgun approach and add full dosing of all ferts until I see some result  from the CO2?

 

[levahe]

Start dosing full ferts, micro and macro as soon as you start using co2, the plants will need it straight away. If you don't you may get a algae outbreak

 

[DrRob]

Depends a lot on the plant. Crypts melt, almost every time, and grow back thicker and faster. Stems tend to do nothing for a few days and then start to grow like triffids once you get the balance right, 
 
Several of the carpeting plants spread faster with thicker growth, but it's difficult to really quantify it.
 
Some just stop dying.
 
Overall though, it's all a balance, once you add lots of energy (light) then if you don't provide the right nutrient and CO2 conditions for the complex plants then the algae will have a party. High tech is all, nothing, or an algae farm.

 

[coolie]

It's just that , the plants I have are more or less dormant, which is why I got CO2,and only number about 6 plants so I can't see them needs a lot of fertiliser. Looking carefully to see if I can see any buds or new roots or leaves, nothing as yet.

 

[DrRob]

For me the ultimate question is, what's your lighting like? The risk is that the plants will consume the macros very quickly, resulting in a sudden die back, releasing organics into the water in a low nutrient state. This situation is a recipe for BGA, which is the thing that you really, really don't want, hence the need to fertilise. If the energy input is low enough then you can get away without the fertilisers, but it takes quite a bit of willpower to not light the tank that much.

 

[coolie]

So the setup has two tubes, I got the setup second hand but was told one of the tubes was  a new grow type light. But they are nothing that special really from my own  judgement.
I cut down the number of hours per day to just 6.5 due to the fact the tank gets about half hour a day of sunlight at a 45 degree angle, and string algae.
 
I am at high risk of string algae (blanket weed) because twice I've introduced plants from the wild.
 
There is currently a few strands of that, but it's not blooming with the addition of CO2 three days ago. If it does I have the correct preperations to deal with it.
 
I know I'm impatient, but I've been thinking of getting CO2 for over a year and finally it's here. I dosed Potassium Phosphate last night.

 

[DrRob]

The numbers off the tubes would help, annoyingly the human eye and chlorophyll have fundamentally different views as to what's bright, hence the obsession you see with PAR meters, which can make it tough to tell what's special. LED growlights for hydroponics aren't all that bright to look at (all things are relative), but boy do the plants grow fast.
 
You'll want nitrate from somewhere. It'll crash if you keep doing this and you'll end up in trouble. There are other things in the list, but I'd start there. You will eventually want sources of magnesium/calcium and a whole pile of micronutrients as well, given that the whole thing with high tech is that you're getting plant growth far beyond what would normally be expected which results in usage of nutrients far beyond what would normally be expected.

My regimes are a mix of calcium sulphate, magnesium sulphate (epsom salts), potassium nitrate and monopotassium phosphate, along with TNC trace elements.
 
For growth I can see a myriophyllum mattogrossense go from 12 inches tall to 24 inches tall in about 2 weeks, once it's established, and boy is it thicker growth with the CO2 and ferts.
 
One of these days I'll make my mind up where I want to put it.

 

[coolie]

Thank you rob, you've answered so many questions.
 
The only thing I didn't say is that I only set my new setup to bubble every 4 seconds, although two small bubbles seem to go through together so, say a bubble every 2 seconds which is as low as I can get it.
This is so as not to rock the boat with a new gas setup and introduce it slowly.
 
I know I have an experimental approach to everything, but I would rather understand the effects of everything I do first hand than follow receipes. It's just the way my brain works I guess.

 

[Sophie]

I have the JBL m603 (co2, diffuser, solenoid, pH sensor, pH monitor) the whole kit. Paid like, £400 for it all brand new.
I took it out, set it up, looked at it, took it back down and now sits in the box, waiting for the day.. Haha.
 
http/www.swelluk.com/img/shop/original/jbl-m603-image.jpg
 
pH sensor is £70 separate too.
 
 
My T5's and JBL AquaBase soil was enough to grow what I wanted.

 

[DrRob]

Personally, I'd start with the, what can go wrong, approach.
 
Other than fish dead, blue green algae is on the top of my disaster list, so avoiding that it my worry.
 
Overall, good CO2, ferts and flow allows you to put more energy in by way of light without things breaking down. There is always a balance to this, as with anything, and there will always be a point beyond which your maintenance regime cannot go, but one weak link in the chain will always be the limiting factor, and lack of light is rarely the problem, and too much light is almost always an algae farm. To give an example, my water change water either ends up in a tank for my daphnia or on the garden. With little other than sunlight it's an instant algae farm.

 

[coolie]

Day 6 ... everything is .... turning GREEN!