Nice growing plants or suffocating fish??

Hey.

I have 10 angels, medium size, 6 rummy nose and 5 corys in my 250 liter tank.
I also have 6 medium sized plants, 2 java fern and the rest i don't know. My question is that if i take out the air pump will the fish give enough co2 for the plants to grow and will the plants in return give enough oxygen for the fish?
Thanks.

 

Maybe ,but I would dose some flourish exel for carbon and some ferts for the plants .if you do this you can leave the airpump on and still get great growth .

Cheers

 

yes.

but another question b4 u take out the airpump is, do u have a filter of some sort?

u need a filter not only to clean the water but also to ensure theres water circulation in the tank.. if u dont, it could cause problems for ur plants, fish and could cause algae..

back to ur question, i got one filter, plants and lots of fish without an air pump and they livin hapily so from personal exp, its fine as long as u hav a filter..

also, just monitor them by eye as well.. like on a sunday when u goin to be home the whole day.. take out the airpump and after a while if they at the surface "gasping" for air then u'll know u still need the pump..

 

Remember, plants use oxygen when the lights are off....

 

I have an internal and hang on filter so that should cover it. I'm using Seachem Flourish.
@neilh Should i then increase the light cycle to 16 hours?

 

You just need to get a bit of surface agitation. That is basically the only advantage air bubbles give and it can be easily achieved with a filter or powerhead as alternative.

 

No. Too much light will increase the chances of algae blooms. As a general rule of thumb I always adive between 8 and 10 hours light.

The surface agitation definately helps with putting O2 into the water, but it is also the chief responsibility for loosing CO2. It's a balance between the 2 that you need to get. And no 2 tanks are the same.

 

Only if you want stressed fish and lots of algae. What about running your air pump while the lights are off? Put it on a timer

 

But will there then be enough co2 in the water the next morning?

 

It doesn't really matter.I inject Co2 for 11 hours a day,so it is switched of before lights out.Even in that 2 hours most of the Co2 is either used up or it dissipates due to water movement.In the morning the process starts again.The plants are still "asleep" so it takes awhile for them to start photosynthesizing.In that time the Co2 will start to build up.
This will be the same for your tank.

 

if u worried abt co2 and want a cheap soln, y dont u build a DIY yeast and sugar water co2? only problem is that 250L u'll need alot of these.. but atleast it'll be better than nothing