My Aquarium Plant Greenhouse/ DIY CO2 Questions, Noob Please Read/Help!!!

[Mantis_22]

Hello everyone, im the biggest plant noob ever so bare with me lol. A few days I came up with an idea to make a greenhouse like container in which I could just grow plants alone till they are matured from seed or even new ones I just bought which need healing. Everything is well right now, Here is all what is on it at the time...

Container - Styrafome Box (Sp.)
Lid - Aluminum sheeting over plastic lid (keep all light in the greenhouse)
Lighting - 15watt Blue Grow Plant Bulb (Left on 24/7)
Aeration/Circulation - 500 Elite Air pump with small stone
Substrate - Half inch small/medium river pebble gravel

Chemicals used - Water Fertilizer, etc...

Plants at the time,

I added 4 Ulva's seeds the other day and I already see Three of them already sprouting!

Also today I went to a LFS downtown to buy a Burning Sword which will stay put till needed.

My question, is this all correct and working well? Anything I need to add? Pics below of the small little greenhouse. Details are listed in all the pics. Give all opinions....

-Pic of the greenhouse...
http://www.imahosting.com/sigs/may1406.jpg

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Heres my question on my first DIY CO2 project...
Today I was on the internet and thought what a great Idea it would be to have CO2 (DIY) running into this little greenhouse I made, It probobly will add alot of potential to the growth of the plants too if you ask me. Anyways Look at the pic I took below. What I done was get a 1 gallon container from a Gatorade bottle (I cleaned it out well) As for the lid I cut a perfect hole for a tube to go through. Now all I need to do is all a little silicone around the hose to lid part and then move on and add all the goodies inside and connect a small air stone to the hose.

Heres the recipe I'll be running....

1 Small Package of Jello
2/3 cup of sugar
1/8 tsp of bakers yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm (Not hot) water.

Over look everything I have said, also the pic of the container, does everything look correct and operational? Any tips? As for the hose that stays inside the container to bring the CO2 out, Does it matter how High/low it is? Should it not be touching the liquid base?

Pics of the Project -
http://www.imahosting.com/sigs/may1405.jpg

Thanks for helping and I hope you can answer this...

Mantis_22

[Starry]

The tube should NOT be touching the liquid! Leave only an inch or so inside the bottle, you don't need more than that.

You shouldn't leave the lights on 24/7, it's actually not good for the plants. They need a light/dark cycle, try 12/12.

Other than that, good luck!

[Mantis_22]

Oh ok, I'll stop the 24/7 light thing today, Also fix the tube a inch into the bottle. Im gonna start mixing the ingredients for the DIY CO2 in about 3 hours...

Also once I have all the ingrediants in the bottle how High should the liquid mixed be? About 1 to 2 inches or so?

As for anything else give more opinions, im a big noob and still need more to know about plants and how to make them thrive...

[cpr4cpu]

hey, that's pretty nice so far.
I don't like the incandescents as primary lights for plants, but they are better than cheap fluorescents.
I set up a 10 gallon tank as a nursery for plants as well, and I have the aquarium/plant fluorescent bulb from Home Depot, it looks pinkish red so it tends to emit better red spectrum than blue which works best for the plants from what I have read and experienced.
You might also consider a nutrient richer substrate, like adding laterite to the gravel. You can also use root tabs, I prefer SeaChem's the best. Root tabs increase iron in the water down at the roots where plants utilize it.
Also keep up with water column fertilizers like Flourish.
If you want to learn everything you can, Tom Barr (Plantbrain) is the man, and he has many many pearls of wisdom.
http://www.sfbaaps.com/reference/barr_02_01.shtml

[carpguy]

Here's a great little thread (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2529) to get you pointed in several right directions.

Most folks use soda/pop bottles in part because they were specifically designed to not leak CO2. Gatorade-type drinks don't use carbonated water so the lids, for instance, don't come with those handy built-in gaskets. You may experience problems with leakage. Leakage was one of the problems I wrestled with early on and it can be very frustrating.

Agree with Starry about the light: the plants need to rest.

You'll want more water. Fill the bottle up at least halfway, even higher, just stay below the curve. You'll find more than you ever thought it was possible to know about DIY CO2 if you follow this very excellent link (http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html).