Poll: Do You Use CO2?

[DAlberta]

Does anyone here use CO2 in their tanks? What are your thoughts???

Dave

[Vallisneria]

I use DIY co2 on some of my tanks(a 58g and a 20g)

[jvision]

I have a small 14oz CO2 tank on my planted 55 gal. I wouldn't do a "Planted Tank" w/o pressurized CO2 again - that's how much I like it!

Now, I do have other tanks that have plants in them w/o CO2. Plants do well, and so do the fish.

I've also had some tremendous success w/ DIY, too - I've only used this method on smaller tanks, tho (<20gal).

Edited April 11, 2006 by jvision

[Vallisneria]

I have a small 14oz CO2 tank on my planted 55 gal. I wouldn't do a "Planted Tank" w/ pressurized CO2 again - that's how much I like it!

Jason, why dont' you like your pressurized system? Have you had problems with it? I thought it was supposed to be a lot better and easier.

[Mighty Prawn]

I used C02 when my 55g was planted as seen here. It's no longer planted, however.

I have another tank, a 17 gallon that isn't running any C02, the plants look okay here, but are not doing as well now.

I also have a 15 hex, and it has never ran C02. This is from a few months ago, and it was very lightly planted.

And here's the same tank today. I heavily planted it around the start of February, and it's doing pretty fantastic. The bulb is just whatever came with the hood, and we don't use ferts or anything like that.

As a note, on my 55, I had C02, ferts and constant attention to pruning, but the plants just were not happy. I think the light simply wasn't doing enough for them. If I ever planted another large tank, I'd give pressurized CO2 a try, and do my best to give off enough light.

I haven't had much luck with C02, but the nicest tanks I've seen have all had a lot of attention to what the plants need.

-Hideo

[cgmac]

I use pressurized CO2, after having diy for about 5 months. I like the convenience of pressurized, it makes maintenance time alot easier and timely. Now if I could just get a balance on my ferts and get rid of the bit of hair/fuzz algae that seems to grow, I'd be doing great!

I am thinking about adding another tank (I only have the one 33 gallon).

I would like to try a non CO2 tank with anubias and some other easy growing plants.

[jvision]

I have a small 14oz CO2 tank on my planted 55 gal. I wouldn't do a "Planted Tank" w/ pressurized CO2 again - that's how much I like it!

Jason, why dont' you like your pressurized system? Have you had problems with it? I thought it was supposed to be a lot better and easier.

Oops, small typo gives an ENTIRELY different meaning ... I've edited my originaly post to read "w/o pressurized CO2"

The trick to getting a nice looking planted tank from the get-go is to plant heavily from the start with fast-growing plants. Use stem-plants, Swords, Wisteria, and the like, in abundance.

I really like the Estimative Index of fertilizing - add a little bit every day, then do a large WC each week. I do no testing, and plants thrive!

Once you get the hang of things, you'll start to recognize difficiencies and nutrient shortages. Have algae? Up CO2 a bit. Do a bit of research to find out what's missing:

Spot Algae? Add a bit more PO4.

Blue Green Algae? You're deficient in NO3.

Holes in leave? Probably a K deficiency.

Pour coloring in leaves? Likely a problem with micronutrients - possibly iron.

These have been my findings, so far.

I also noticed that once I started feeding CO2 through a powerhead, hair aglae disappeared completely.

Edited April 11, 2006 by jvision

[vic]

Just got pressurized CO2 running in 125g on Sunday morning. There has been a change already in the cabomba in both colour and height. Will need to be clipped this Sunday and were 2 to 3 inches from the water surface. I really like the system. I tried the DIY yeast system. Had no trouble getting it to go, it just wasn't producing a volume that had much impact on the tank and I wasn't up to running 2 or 3 at a time.

Getting all the bits and pieces together was a time consuming adventure, to say the very least.

Cheers;

[jvision]

Here, here, Vic! I definitely wouldn't run a planted tank w/o pressurized CO2!

If you do your homework, and search a bit, you can get a good system for around $200. A bit expensive up front, but it'll more than pay for itself with the time you save, and the amount of plants you'll be selling b/c they're growing so much!!

BTW, anyone want any Red Tiger Lotus, Java Fern or Anubias Barteri var. nana?