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View Full Version : Setting up 14g Biocube - Help sort CO2 information overload!



mahcksein
01-29-2008, 8:21 PM
Hello hello! I'm new and want to say thank you for this awesome site! :clap:

My generous sister gave me a Biocube 14 for xmas and, just like many semi-informed ambitious newbies, I am in love with ADA style tanks. I have experience with fish-only tanks in the past, have all the Amano books and have spent the past month lurking here for research. My question is: how far can I push the liquid co2 like Excel in terms of plants and growth? I think I have enough light (one 24w 10000K and one 24w 6700K) for the plants I want. And, yes, the more light, the more co2 is used, but I am pretty maxed out in terms of money and would prefer not to mess with DIY infusion for right now. Let me know what you think of the following setup:

Flora:
hc
xmas moss on driftwood
blyxa jap. / Pogostemon helferi to highlight midground
Cuban Ludwigia

Fauna:
~small school of Celestial Pearl Danios (my lfs has success breeding them - no wildcaught for me!)
-several amato and cherry shrimp
- what do you rec for a cleaner/snail annihilator?

So, yeah, the plants are all high light. Can I even think of keeping the cuban without co2 infusion? What similar-looking background plant would you recommend? I'm ready and willing to do frequent wc's and daily fert and excel dosing, but would that work? It's a pretty small tank.

In the first NAW, Amano jokes about dumping carbonated water into his tanks to give them co2 (not that I would do that) so I figure this may be possible. Thanks. Love you guys.

jm1212
01-29-2008, 9:32 PM
follow the directions on the bottle, and try not to overdose...to much. you can have to much of a good thing.

it sounds like a good stocking plan.

why do you want something to get rid of snails? if you have a snail infestation, you can just take out the snails you can see, and then leave a piece of lettuce in the tank overnight and in the morning take it out with the snails still crawling all over it.

mahcksein
01-30-2008, 2:58 PM
Thanks! I'll be nice to any snail co-habitants.