Plant diagnosis and DIY CO2 ?s

T

TLT

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May 6, 2008
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Hi everyone, I was wondering if someone could tell me what is wrong with my plants of late. The lower leaves are rotting from the bottom up. I'm not sure which kind of deficiency is causing this. I thought maybe it was lack of CO2 (my 28 g is 50% planted) so I made a DIY C02 setup with a 2L bottle. I haven't seen any bubbling and it's the 2nd day. How long does it take? Thanks!

P.S. My lighting is also very low, only one 18 inch T8 Eclipse over my 28 g bowfront. Are there any upgrade options available for bowfronts?
 
Describe your co2 set up a little more. What is your mixture, and how is the co2 being mixed into the tank? I agree with BK. 1/2 of a watt per gallon is to low.
 
Hi! My CO2 setup is as follows:

2 L pop bottle with tubing inserted through cap with smaller hole
2 cups of sugar
1/2 tsp yeast
half a tangerine in juices
Edit: And the warm water of course! Filled up to about 3 " from the top.

I read that the yeast need other nutrients than the sugar so I squeezed in the juice. The big bottle is connected to a 500 mL water bottle to prevent the brew from getting into the tank. A tube from the smaller bottle goes into the tank and is attached to an airstone.

I didn't seal around tubing since I thought the holes were smaller than tubing diameter. I'm not sure if CO2 is escaping :S When I shake the bottle vigorously, a lot of bubbles come out of the airstone, but there's never a steady flow--and it's day 3! Thanks for any suggestions. Also, can anyone tell me if the C02 will alter my pH drastically?
 
I don't know about the juice for sure. Citric acid may lower the ph enough to injure the yeast, but I'm not sure. I don't know what kind air stone you are running through, but if there is a lot of back pressure, it could be leaking through the unsealed connections. I sealed mine, inside and out, with hot glue. I run mine into the inlet of my cannister filter, no back pressure. I have also used a power head to disperse it. Ph changes due to co2 will not injure your fish, especially with a diy unit, but it will lower it.
 
Thanks guys, I'll seal the cap and read up more. Before setting up the CO2, I looked up some setups on Youtube, and people had everything from plain tubing to cool bell shaped cup/chambers that had sponge bottoms. I have a ceramic airstone and, unfortunately, and HOB filter so I can't really attach the C02 tube to the filter can I? I guess this project was kind of a failure, but I'm learning! Perhaps I shouldn't order those DIY light fixture kits to solve my low lighting problem just yet, lol.
 
CO2 will do nothing with only 1/2 a watt per gallon; the plants can probably not even use the equilibrium CO2 in the water, never mind extra that you add. The key to plant growth is balancing so that there's no one factor which is the limiting one. In your setup, lighting is the limiting factor by far. Increase that first.
 
I'd stick to Java fern/moss plants & Anubias species as Vals, Egeria and certainly Cabombas need more light. Marimo balls, if you want to take the risk of clado algae going nuts in your tank, would also survive in that light though they prefer more.
 
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