first attempt at 3 foot planted tank

Dont forget the non return / check valve... Althought the bottle is pressurised , problem comes when you disconnect to refill the mixture.. tank water pumps out and at a fast rate !

 

Thanks guys. I will do a DIY trial/attempt on 1 of my smaller tanks when I have time.

 

i actually wanted to ask you about that when i added it i found it reduced my bubbles quiet drastically.. is it a matter of time till its starts bubbling at the same rate again? would it be because there wasn't enough gas build up or maybe that valve is faulty... not too sure, i will check it again tonight to see if its back to normal

 

It does take a bit of time to build up pressure , easiest way is to hold the outlet pipe from your co2 bottle tight , then give the bottle bit of a shake , huge pressure comes out , blows lots of bubbles into tank but it eases off after a minute or two then your bubbles should stabalise .
Not sure about the valve being faulty , if u can blow through it one way and not the other , it should be fine hey .

 

lekker will give it a try.. thanx

 

any signs of growth yet?

 

howzit @byronb yes the one is growing quiet well, the one that looks like elephant ears.. no idea what the name is. the other kind that i used at the back is getting a bit brown at the top, not sure if it is dying or if its normal, i will post some pics.

 

this is what its starting to look like..

 

Mine also go a copper color when they get to the surface

 

oh ok cool, so that means mine are doing well, i will snip it and replant. i need as many of these as possible for my 2 meter tank. could i bug you again for some clippings soon? not very soon as it will be at least a month till my 700L is ready to run.

 

Your tank looks really good.I am newb to the whole planted tank too, and got some valuable info from this thread! The DIY CO2 works like a charm.

 

@Ammar ... photo updates bro ?

 

@dkj glad it helped, what are you using at the end of your pipe as a diffuser? air stone or nano diffuser? have been monitoring my air stone and i found that i get bursts for a few minutes and then it calms down then another burst, i assume its because the build up of c02 is not keeping up with the release from the air stone. i will be investing in a nano diffuser as suggested by @byronb, i think that will regulate everything as well as release smaller size bubbles which the way i understood it is what you looking for.


@byronb i will post updates this weekend, i actually did a big trim last night i might have gone a bit over with the trim, but i think was for the best. hopefully will promote more growth, but definitely new growth and the red plant has settled nicely as well.
can i ask you to upload a pic of that diffuser you have, just need to make sure im buying the right one.

 

btw @byronb, your snipping and the ones i did last night have now planted 3 other tanks as well. thanks again.
1 question.. would you advise 1 or 2 diffusers in a 3 foot?

thanx

 

I see dory pets has some decent prices on their diffusers , you could definately get away with using one medium to big size , I use the two nano ones as they were dirt cheap, also When the one is soaking / cleaning the other is still running .. After lots of googling , I found that some of the diffusers dont work so well with the DIY , not sure if the pressure is not sufficient.
take a look at this link , pretty decent prices :

CO2 Diffusers

I got mine from here :
Nano CO2 Diffuser Live Aquarium Fish Tank Special Deal | eBay

 

thanx, have pmd them, my sister is also in dubai at the momment, asked her to have a look there. will see what she can do.

 

2 weeks later comparaison, and after a good trim last week, my valis is also doing well and those moss patches are getting fuller.

 

Looking very good. What is your substrate? Looks like a mix between pea gravel and silica? Is there not too much surface agitation for CO2 in your tank?

 

ill be dead honest, i have no idea what it is, i got it with the tank, but would love to know, i will take a handfull out and take pics and repost.
as for the CO2 im also complete new to that, are you saying there is too much agitation? should i be cutting down on the number of airstones?
if you look at the bottom pic on the left of the boat, thats where my CO2 bubbles and it seams like the growth there is slightly more then elsewhere, thats y i assumed that it was doing the trick.

any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

I will leave the answers to these questions to someone running CO2. I only know what I've seen posted and that is minimal agitation in the tanks to allow the plants to absorb the CO2 before it is lost to the atmosphere. Anybody with CO2 please help?