Questions on a co2 diffuser pictures of tank included.

[Darkness9876]

I have a 13g water area in my paludarium and I would like my plants to be doing a little bit better, I am planning on buying some flourish but I might as well go all the way and set up a co2 diffuser, right?

I have at the moment one unidentified red plant, An anubis nana petite, a clump of Java, a dwarf red lily, and I am planning on getting some hairgrass or some guppy grass. For critters I have 8 danios, well actually I have 3 red glofish,3 green glofish, and 2 plain zebra danios. I also have a few ghost shrimp and soon to be an army of Mts.

I don't know how to measure wpg as my tank is not a full tank. I do know its a 48x18x26 90g breeder, It has roughly half the bottom covered in water 7 inches deep with a peagravel bottom. I have a triple tube t8 flourescent light running 3-32w aquarium lights and have been told that lighting shouldnt be a problem.
Anyway, to my questions.

Do I have enough light?
What would be a good fertilizer?
What would be better hairgrass, or guppy grass?
Do my plants need a different substrate mixed in around them?
And lastly how do you set up a co2 diffuser?



For some reference here are some pics of my tank,

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[Bk718]

before anything whats your filtration??


Do I have enough light? enough to grow plants yes just depends on what type

What would be a good fertilizer? for plants that are emersed i would add a root tab near them. For the submerged ones you can try adding regular flourish once a week.

What would be better hairgrass, or guppy grass? two different looking plants. Why not get both??

Do my plants need a different substrate mixed in around them? normal substrate is fine. Just for emersed plants they depend on the nutrients in the soil/substrate this is why i suggested root tabs.

And lastly how do you set up a co2 diffuser?
with you it may be tricky, I do see a powerhead pumping water on the right. Normally what one would do with co2 and powerhead is feed the co2 into the intake of the powerhead and the powerhead will chop up the bubbles throwing it all back into the tank.. but in this case once the bubbles exit they will just escape into the air instead of staying in the water..

[Darkness9876]

I have a fluval 2 running at 105gph and it provides quite a little current in that one corner of my tank and a gentle one thru out the rest. I love to watch my fish swim right up to the base of the waterfall and then coast back on the current for 5-6 inches.

I don't know about the co2. Hmmm... I wonder anyone got any ideas?

This is a link to some pics of my filter housing as well as quite a few other pics, (I didn't forsee that the slate around it would transfer so much water to my substrate in the dry are, Have since completley encased interior of slate with silicone.) Also the brown pitcher has been removed as it didn't protect my baby fishies as I had hoped and just restricted waterflow. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162246

Thanks for the help though Bk, could you post some pics of hairgrass and guppy grass.

Anybody else got anything to say?

Oh this is a planted tank section but what do you think about a few RCS?
I need to check my params but I think I have it set up right. Also what about a zebra nerite? (I would love to see pics of yours)

Again, Thanks for all the help.

Ha aquiring co2 is not a problem, my dad is a welder and my best friends dad works at co2 so I have access anywhere from a small propane bottle size to entire tanker trucks they use at boeing to fill multi thousand gallon tanks. Also I don't know how plants absorb nitrogen but I do know its vital to their growth and I know that you can buy a sheilding gas to prevent corrosion on your welds that is comprised of 25% N2 gas and 75% co2 gas. If they absorbed it through the water then I wonder if that would work well?

[Riiz]

Instead of CO2, could go with Excel as a carbon source. Its a chemical you add daily and it wont gas-off, but certain plants like vals, riccia, and anacharis are sensitive to it though.

[MrGoodbytes]

Air is 78% Nitrogen to begin with so you won't need to add any molecular nitrogen nor would it do much good. Your plants will get most of their nitrogen from nitrate compounds in the water and soil and anything you supplement which has nitrates in it.

[Bk718]

Well first here are the photos
Dwarf Hairgrass
http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/categories/product/p-80693-Dwarf-Hairgrass.jpg

Guppy Grass (very brittle stem plant)
http://www.cmnaquatics.com/NajasGuadalupensisakaGuppyGrass.jpg


For the plants you have the co2 isnt really necessary. crypts and swords wont all of the sudden blow up just from getting some of it. But i agree with Riiz that you can dose Flourish Excel.

Snails and shrimps would be good there, though not sure how zebra danios are with shrimps..

[Darkness9876]

I really should remember that air is 72% nitrogen by volume. I just seem to forget all those things they taught me in advanced chem, Ah I do remember those cycloalkanes but I think thats just because I hated them so much.

Still haven't thought of a solution to the co2 problem though. I wonder how much co2 will be transfused at the surface by the agitation?

[ciaobella7122]

No clue just wanted to say I LOVE your tank! Do you use it for other things beside fish???

[Darkness9876]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163662

Well theres a link to a pic of my stand.

I like the hairgrass a lot better and I think that it would hold up better in my tank as where I want to put it is right where the inlet to my filter area is so I don't want anything to fragile.

Is there any special kind of root tabs or brand you prefer?

Also I have never seen one of my zebras even nip once at a shrimp, however they sure did disapear quick the week I had a pictus cat.

As for keeping different things in the tank I am soon to be getting rid of my newts that I currently have as it is much too hot in my tank for them, stupid girl at lfs, thats why I always deal with the manager. However I will be getting some tree frogs and house geckos. I'm really excited. I also have a 20g that will soon be home to some viper geckos (it was free from a science teacher at my school), a 10g for my male viper gecko when I get him, A 5.5g breeder for my zebras, and a 5.5g for just plants.

Ah for my breeder I am looking for some low light plants, java moss is already on the list, it will only have an airstone, some snails, a piece of driftwood and a fine bottome coars top substrate to hide the eggs, any suggestions?

[ciaobella7122]

Java moss, Java fern, Anubias, Hortwort and Crypts... Those kinds of things do really well in my low light setup. I can't wait to see the end result :)

[Darkness9876]

Ah I forgot to mention duckweed. I really love duckweed don't know why but I do.

Thanks for all the help, Also I have no experience with water plants so I would love some pics of them so I have an idea of what people are talking about in this forum and all the others.

Thanks.

[Bk718]

www.plantgeek.net
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/all.php

enjoy the nice photos + the names of plants

[Darkness9876]

Thanks that will be very helpful.

[Squawkbert]

I'd try dwarf hairgrass first - if you have enough light for it, it would be a better choice than guppy grass as the later will tend to completely fill the wet part and send out lots of long tendrill-like roots that make it tough to remove the excess w/o uprooting nearby plants & decor. For more spacious & sparsely decorated tanks, guppy grass is great but I suspect you'll have enough maint. chores w/o having to deal w/ that.

[Darkness9876]

Yeah I think I will go with the hairgrass. Thanks.

I think I will also just go with root tabs and flouish for now.

Everything is starting to grow in nicley so I think I am almost done. Just some more wood and then mt frogs and geckos and it will be done. Then on to the next tank.