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should I do c02? Pros, cons. My life story :)
Hi. I just started up with aquariums again since in the last few years I
didn't have the time or ability to. I currently have a 15 gallon aquarium that my wife had sitting in her parents basement for years and also the computer store in which I manage had purchased a 48 gal. tank a few months ago. Years ago when I had planted tanks I only used to keep java fern. It seemed to be the only thing that would grow in low light conditions with no fertilization and easily propagated. Now in my 15 gallon I have setup 2 15w bulbs, a LifeGlo broad sun light spectrum and a PowerGlo blue intense light bulb. I have planted some java fern (because I know it will grow no matter what.. ) and another low lying bush plant in which I have forgotten the name of (has broad 1.5 inch dark forest green color). I have had the aquarium for about 2 months now, populating it with a couple corys, 3 otocincluses, and my wife's much-wanted siamese fighting fish. In the near future I plan to introduce a small school of blue neon dwarf australian rainbowfish. My javas are growing slowly and my bush plant has put about 6 or so new leaves. I had also put in a beautiful peice of driftwood from a lake where I'm trying to get the java to attach and grow off of. I've been occaisonally noticing an increase of algae here and there on some of the leaves. These leaves I've been cutting off. I'm hoping that eventually by some miracle the plants will flourish and expand to the point of eliminating all algae in stiff competition. I know that usually planting a great amount of foilage is great for instantly out-competing the algae growth..but I don't want to spend tonnes of money of buying more plants. At my 48 gal. aquarium at work, one of my co-workers(also an aquarium enthusist) and I have setup a planted tank with lots of java fern..most of it successfully attaching to a huge peice of driftwood, big amazon sword (growing great but leaves stay their intial reddish color instead of turning green), big tall great growing grass, and this bulb plant with long leaves with lazagna-noodle-like edges and fast growing tall flowing stalks that grow out of the water. We also wish to introduce C02 in the equation since the plants are growing, but not flourishing rapidly. I need a cost efficient way of getting big time plant growth. I've seen lots of stuff about C02 injectors and how one can make a homemade solution relatively easy. It's just all the complications and "bewares" that are intimidating me: such as huge PH drops towards acidity, too much C02 for fish, accelerated algae growth etc. What can anyone tell me about this subject, if not only to dampen my paranoias and assure me that even beginners like me can grow a dutch aquarium ! Thanx for any help!! Dave. |
#2
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should I do c02? Pros, cons. My life story :)
I live in southern BC, Canada. I was wondering where one could access a
really good aquarium plant wholesaler on then net? All of the pet stores locally charge like 4 times too much and don't keep any popular types in stock and don't know too much. I've been starting to collect some pictures of the plants I want: Smaller Plants: Water Cabbage Afzeli Anubias Medium Plants: Giant Anubias Java Fern Big Plants Afzeli Anubias Water Sprite Amazon Sword Where could I order these from Canada for great cheap prices?? THANX!! "LeighMo" wrote in message ... If you have more than 3 wpg, you should have CO2, otherwise algae will be a constant plague. You should also plant some fast-growing stem plants, like Hygrophila, in addition to the java fern. A lot of beginners make the mistake of putting massive amounts of light over the tank, but no CO2, thinking they can add it later. That's a recipe for trouble. If you don't want to do both at once, it would be better to add CO2 first, then upgrade the lighting later. See this article: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_newtank.htm I know you've already set up your tanks, but the article gives you a good overview of the general principles of running a planted tank. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
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