Plant Growth after CO2 injection

[Slojo]

To monitor plant growth afer starting CO2 Injection on 2 July 2009

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Sorry guys but i have to see for myself :notrust: before i can believe it.

[butcherman]

do you have a control tank? otherwise what are you comparing your results to?

[veegal]

Good point butcherman. The control tank should ideally have the same lighting etc as the tank with CO2 being added in order to have accurate results.

[butcherman]

Good point butcherman. The control tank should ideally have the same lighting etc as the tank with CO2 being added in order to have accurate results.
as well as same fertilisation same surface area same filtration same sybrstate. ideally identical in every way except for co2 injection.

and even better would be to do several tests

[Slojo]

LOL
Yeah ok so this is not highly scientific but i'm sure i'll notice IF there is a difference between CO2 injection or not.

[butcherman]

are you using fertilisers?

[Slojo]

:confused:
are you using fertilisers?

What fertilizers.Wont my Fishes be affected by it.

[butcherman]

ok lets see in no expert. but if there isnt enough food for the plants ie nitrates potasimum etc(there are fertilizers avaliable for use in aquariums) or if there isnt enough light avaliable for the plants to photosynthesis putting co2 into the water has no point. you might notice a slight improvement but nothing fantastic.

[Slojo]

I'll get some fertilizers for the plants Saturday.Any suggestions as to Brand/Type?

[butcherman]

i heard all the guys on the forum talk about florish excel. maybe someone with more knowledge will be able you help us out here

[solex69]

CO2 will definitely make a difference to plant growth as carbon is a vital component for plants to grow. I've added CO2 to my tanks after serious thought and since I've done it, I'm not looking back. I'd recommend CO2 to anyone wanting to have a nice planted tank. Some plants are near impossible to grow without CO2 whilst others grow fine (not optimal) without it.

For ferts, you can check the whole Flourish range of products. Alternatively, you could get ferts from Prof Dirk (I use his ferts)

Cheers
Dale

[speedz]

we need a new poll:bigsmile:

[johan008]

Slojo are using DIY Co2

[Gareth]

I use D.I.Y Co2 and it does work for me... plants are showing signs of growth and I have been using it in the tank for a few weeks

[Ferryman]

so, what ever happened to the end results?

[Slojo]

No exccess growth detected.Stopped using CO2 and started dosing with Flourish Excell and Flourish Trace.BIG difference.

[Ferryman]

thanks for the info, what dosage, schedule, price?

[Slojo]

R89.oo a bottle.Lasts 3 months in my Community tank.
So it is much cheaper in the long run.

[Ferryman]

3 months on a 600+ liter tank... might stretch 6 in my 180... thanks

[Sean J]

You should use the flourish AND Co2. Both the Excell and Trace. What else are you dosing?

[Philfarm]

That wont really help the Grass type plant isnt aquatic and wont grow at tall so you might get skewed results :)

[Slojo]

You should use the flourish AND Co2. Both the Excell and Trace. What else are you dosing?
I'm only using Trace and Excell.

[Sean J]

Well, the trace is good stuff, but it is not a complete fert solution. You should also look at the normal Flourish. Dosing Flourish, Flourish Trace, Excell and Injecting Co2 into your tank should be enough to see a good increase in the plant growth.

What is your lighting in the tank? How many Watts per gallon of water do you have?

[Slojo]

What is your lighting in the tank? How many Watts per gallon of water do you have?

LOL I do not have a clue.Do you calculate the watt of the globes(say 40 w x 2) or the light intensity.Because the old incadescent lamps had a watt rating of lets say 100 and the new globes something like 11 but the new globes produce more visible light?

[Sean J]

Are you running T5 lights, T8, or are you using the energy saving CFL bulbs?

You measure the watts of the lights combined. So if you have 2x 40 watt lights in a 120l tank, you have 40 gallons and 80 watts of light. That would give you 2 watts per gallon.

When using CFL energy savers, you work it on the actual wattage on the globe. So the globe that says 11 watts = 60watts, you still use the 11 watt to do the calculations...

I fear that you have too little light for the Co2 and ferts to make too much of a difference. Ideally you should be between 2 and 3 watts per gallon.

To work out how many gallons your tank is, just divide the liters by 4.

[Slojo]

Thanx will do now.Worked out at 2.5 watts per gallon.BUT my tank depth is 700.
Might be a problem.

[neilh]

Definitely not enough. I run 4 20W CFL with a reflector over a section of my 6ft tank which is 600 deep. Equivalent of close to 400W incandescant. No way that it comes even close to how well my 4X39W T5 pendant penetrates

[Sean J]

Absolutely... I agree with Neil. You've got too little light in your tank.

I would upgrade to T5 or possible, budget willing, Metal Halides. My main 400l tank has 2 x 150watt metal halides. They are strong enough to penetrate the 800mm to the bottom of the tank. I can grow Glosso with this light. I have just over 3watts per gallon.

[Laure]

Any tank with a water depth of more than 45cm need HID to grow carpet plants well. No arguments; I am convinced. HID can be MH or mercury vapour or sodium street light bulbs. You get the latter in "colour corrected" versions these days and they are quite cheap and hell of a bright. And you can DIY nice pendants to hang from the ceiling and keep the ballasts in the ceiling too. Mmm, more I think about that I may even consider it!

[Sean J]

There are some nice lighting units going around these days, you could find a good deal around here. Liaquat has some nice goodies I believe.

But 700mm... as Laure said... If you want carpet plants, get something more powerful than T5's even...

[Kuhli Loach]

Slojo - where did you get the Seachem products in PTA?

[Ferryman]

Animal Kingdom Imports their own stock, the have a wide selection
Moolis also has some of the products, then Pet City Montana has just started stocking one or two of their products, and then that pet store in the centre down simon vermooten also has one or two of their products

[Sean J]

Liaquat (ALTUM) also stock Seachem products.

[Ferryman]

yeah he does as well, though isnt he in capetown?

[Sean J]

Nothing wrong with speed services or a reliable courier...

[Ferryman]

also true, i'm just a skint keeper though, i need him to set up shop here in PTA too, lol, hint hint:D
the only Pta-based sponsor on here, Moolis, almost never comes on here either, sigh, but anyway he sells the flourish/excell stuff as well
(petstop)

[Kuhli Loach]

And I still have not been able to find Moolis - where is the shop ?

[Ferryman]

Pet Stop SA. Shop no 15/17 Rietfontein Pavilion Centre. C/O Jacobs str and Frates rd Rietfontein Pretoria Gauteng South Africa. Tel +27 12 3298965
Fax +27 12 3298965. E-mail moolis@petstopsa.com or moolman@lantic.net
Trading Hours: Weekdays from 10hoo - 18hoo. Saturdays from 09hoo -14hoo

http://www.petstopsa.co.za/

[Kuhli Loach]

Thanks Ferryman - very kind of you. Will visit Pet Stop soon.

[Gebhardt]

Hi

Just one thing...
Anybody use Peat?
I use Peat, Tetra Substrate, Flourish Trace, and CO2 Injection....
All i can say is Wow..
Just be ready to do extra trimming.... ;o)

[Slojo]

Just to Clinch this thread......................

CO2 + Good Lightning and Good Fertilisation = NICE HEALTHY PLANTS!!!