Planted Tank

[Angry_Platy]

OK...Part 1 of my planted tank adventure is complete....I now have lighting.....3.2 WPG!!! Man its bright, I need sunglasses to look at the tank (I wonder if they make bolles for fish? )

What I need to do now is get carbon dioxide going (I have a DIY thingy for that) and, of course, plants!!!!

So my question for now is.....Do I need to get the CO2 going before I start putting plants in? Will it matter if I start planting tomorrow and didn't get the CO2 in until a day later? Or should I wait till the CO2 is going properly before I think about planting?

CHEERS

 

[Mr Miagi]

I dont think it would matter much.

Waiting until after you have your plants in may be better in one way. You might find it annoying having them in there and then nocking them out trying to get your CO2 system running. (very frustrating)

However, if you decide to put your Co2 in after, plants do produce there own co2 (not much), and the lack of co2 in the water will not effect them that greatly. As u probably know, when your plants dont have any light at night and stop photosynthesing, they start to resperate, which requires the use of oxygen taken up from the water. This is why co2 systems dont run all day long. (other wise your fish will suffocate because of lack of oxygen, and excess co2)

You probably know all this stuff laready..... but, ahwell, it doesnt hurt.....lol

Best of luck!

beny

 

[Angry_Platy]

Thanks for that beny....

OK, so I need to find a balance between CO2 and oxygen....would it help having airstones turned on?

The CO2 method I am using uses the power filter (HOB) for dissolving into the water...if I had extra airstones would it drive CO2 off the water? Would it help the fish?

I have a LOT to learn....but am loving every bit of it

Any other suggestions would be greatly helpful

 

[Nospherith]

Sooner rather than later.

If you started the CO2 now you could get a jump on building up the dissolved CO2 level, thereby giving your plants a jump on algae, my guess.

But, in order to set up your aquascape, you might want to empty most of your tank water; you know move things around a bit, maybe set up a terrace here or there, so then adding CO2 before that would be almost pointless. But then again you could save your tank water so whatever. nature aquarium set-up

With that many wpg, if you don't add CO2 the algea is going to attack like killer tomatoes, that are made of algae.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Well, i have always been of the opinion that having an air stone DOES help oxygenate the water. A smaller surface area to volume ratio means the quicker and easier transfer of oxygen into the water from the "bubbles" you see coming from the airstone. Hence the smaller the bubble the better.

But recently on here i was TOLD, , that bubbles dont do anything put help by agitating the water.

I still think im right, lol, but id wait for more replies, or go to a few good sites on the web like Nospherith has given u!

Goodluck.

 

[Yenko]

Yeah, airstones are useless for oxygenating water; you want as much flow into the tank as possible to agitate the water as much as the fish can tolerate.

 

[The Mohave Kid]

This is the way I understand it ...

Gases including Oxygen and carbon dioxide leave and enter the aquarium at the waters surface via diffusion. Diffusion occurrs because there is a concentration gradient that is more Oxygen in the air above the water versus the concentration of Oxygen below the surface ... hence Oxygen moves from the air into the water.

But ..

Diffusion is SLOW ... very slow .. in order to speed up the process we use convection ... convection carries Oxygen into the tank ... by circulating the water we can speed up the movement of Oxygen into the deeper or far away parts of the aquarium ... much faster then diffusion. Diffusion gets the oxygen in convection delivers it .

Try placing a drop of ink in a glass of very still water .. it moves slowly mostly via diffusion .. stir it with a spoon and the ink moves very fast filling the glass quickly with ink. Bubbles move water and so create convection or currents to carry water throughout the tank thats the big advantage. Anything that increases the surface area of the water will result in larger amounts of diffusion in a given time period. This is why a fish has folded gills ... more surface area per unit volume ... or why an air cooled engine has "fins"... more surface area for heat to leave ...

A bubbles small surface area limits the amount of diffusion that can occurr in the very short time period the surface of the bubble is in contact with the oxygen deprived aquarium water. However ... if you were inside an air bubble at the center ... the bigger the surface area of that bubble the more Oxygen would enter the bubble ... BUT .. the bigger the bubbles surface area the bigger the volume and the longer it would take for the oxygen to get to you in the center ... and who really can wait for Oxygen ... so you would need a fan to speed things up a bit.

In terms of fish this engineering dilema can be quantified and compared to other tanks by the tanks surface area to volume ratio ... the bigger the ratio the better but then we would all have long shallow aquariums ... those that want height must find another way to increase surface area of our waters surface.

Good Day ... B)

 

[longhorn13]

definitely get that co2 going though, i upped my lighting (quadrupled it) and didn't do anthing about co2 and i got a massive attack of algae. i've got a co2 system in the mail right now i'm going all out on it, no DIY, the real deal. hopefully i don't blow my house up somehow...

 

[George Farmer]

Personally I would get the CO2 running to a stage where you know exactly what your CO2 level is, know how to keep it stable, when to change the mixture etc. before adding plants AND keep the lights off.

If you add your plants before CO2 then you WILL have a massive algae bloom unless you have masses of really fast-growers and floating plants. It is likely that the plants will do well initially but soon the balance will tip in the algae's favour and it will smother you new plants rendering them pretty useless (and ugly).

As a side point, I would recommend getting some floating plants initially to help keep things balanced. These will provide some shade against the initial harshness of your new lighting for your fish and help absorb algae feeding nutrients.

edit - unless your tank is over-stocked then oxygen shouldn't be an issue. I keep my co2 running 24/7 with no aeration to no ill effect.