Who Is Right

[nitro7]

hi everbody do you or do you not need co2 for live plants. some people on here say yes some say no,(heads done in at the moment

 

[Bungy]

I set up a 70Gal tank one year ago, I always intended to use live plants thus I covered the base with a suitable plant fertiliser subtrate before adding the sand layer on top. This has worked well and my plants were doing ok.
Then I had a bit of a die back, my Guppy's and Plattys started to eat the fine leaved plants and thus I replaced with giant vallis and amazon swords together with sculptured java moss on the surface and bottom and floating Frogbit for cover and Algae prohibitor. Things were ok....but thats it, they were'nt doing GREAT.....Until I made up some DIY CO2 bottles (Sugar/Yeast/water) and coupled these together feeding into the intake of the filter. After around 3 weeks my plants started to green up and grow like crazy - you can read into this what you wish but id say it worked for me....!!!

My 2 x 38w strip lights also need replacing as they are also a year old and this too will help with plant growth.

Bungy

 

[Dave Spencer]

hi everbody do you or do you not need co2 for live plants. some people on here say yes some say no,(heads done in at the moment

It is the carbon from CO2 that plants need. Plants need carbon, end of story.

The question is, is there a need for you to add carbon via CO2 injection (it can also be done organically via Flourish Excel)? Most planted tanks will benefit from CO2 injection, but it is possible to run tanks without this, relying generally on ambient CO2 and whatever the fauna of the tank give out (or Flourish Excel of course).

As the light levels of a tank increase, so does growth rates, so does the demand for carbon, along with several other nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium etc.). It is the light that drives the growth, and as it increases, so does the necessity for CO2. You will finally arrive at the point where my tanks are, that require CO2 at around 30ppm to avoid major algae issues.

Unless your tank is very low light, it should benefit from adding carbon. Increase the light, and you will eventually reach a point where CO2 injection is vital.

Dave.

 

[Mr Bliss]

You don't "need" CO2. I used to have live plants (swords, vallisneria) in my kribensis tanks for years before I had even heard of CO2 injection and they did just fine (by which I mean they survived, and grew a bit, especially the vals, although I did have to add an iron supplement to keep the swords alive in the long run). Many stem plant species apparently grow like weeds without either good light or CO2. And some plants are specifically adapted to low CO2 concentrations in the water: floating plants won't need CO2 in the water as they take their CO2 from the air, and lobelias take their CO2 from the substrate (you need a fairly thick layer of substrate for this, though).

However, a DIY CO2 generator is extremely easy to make (a few minutes really) and costs almost nothing, so you might want to use CO2. The difference in plant growth is absolutely stunning, and people report huge improvements as a result of CO2 even in fairly dimly lit tanks (which makes sense, since plants no longer need to expend energy on efficient CO2 intake and/or bicarbonate utilization, and can focus more energy on efficient photosynthesis).

 

[nitro7]

thanks for all the info,still a lot to take in lol plastic or real that is the dilema

 

[Mr Bliss]

thanks for all the info,still a lot to take in lol plastic or real that is the dilema

Real plants help with the water quality, and they preferentially absorb the more dangerous phases of the nitrogen cycle (ammonia and nitrite). But presumably this effect is negligible unless they also have CO2 and/or good light. On the other hand, dead plant parts can cause a severe ammonia spike in the tank. I'd say that if you don't find live plants particularly interesting, fake plants make things easier.

I for one never was interested in live plants even though I always kept some out of habit. Then I stumbled upon the planted tank subforum here a few months ago and saw the awesome pictures (and the surprisingly low maintenance and cost of many setups), and now it seems I'm more excited about the plants than the fish.

 

[tyyrlym]

A DIY CO2 set up is also pretty easy to get going.
http/www.fishforums.net/content-page/117...ination/page/0/

 

[Rooster]

you can grow plants without CO2 ... but it is such a boon, I would probably not try without again !
As for plastic plants - they are the work of the devil, and should be stricken from the face of the earth ! (in my opinion...)

 

[Corleone]

Unless you've got fish that would destroy plants, there's really no dilemma. There's no drawbacks with real plants - light to moderately planted tanks can be run without special equipment, they become a part of the biofilter and absorb ammonia. Individually, they're often cheaper than quality fakes, and most of them can be propagated to make more plants. Some fish stores will even buy back plants you grow this way.

 

[raptorrex]

hi everbody do you or do you not need co2 for live plants. some people on here say yes some say no,(heads done in at the moment

i would suggest that you do not need co2, if you just want a few live plants, i would not worry. however, if you want an aquatic garden, it would defiantly help.