No co2 with Medium light?

red_wall

red_wall

Whoosh! feel the onomatopoeia
Jun 15, 2008
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SE Georgia
Is co2 needed for medium-high light setups?
Co2 is for making the plants grow faster, from what I understand, to make the plants outcompete the algae for nutrients.

Now, if you don't have co2 the plants grow slower, and the algae takes over the tank.

That's the general idea, to balance co2 with lighting and ferts.

On MFK, there's a thread that has tanks with no co2, and medium light. The owner of the tanks does dose dose ferts, but still, no co2.

How does the algae not take over the tank, I pm'd the person, and he said he has absolutely 0 problems with algae.

Does dosing the ferts help in some way, I know they make the plants look nicer, and allow them to grow to their full extent, but do they help in outcompeting the algae?

If this is true, and you DON'T need co2 to have a healthy (yet very slow growing, with no specialty uber-high light plants) planted tank, then why is everyone saying "OMG CO2 MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND!!"

Thread link http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247023&page=4
 
How much lighting are you talking about? I run 2.1 watts of t5s over a 40 gallon. No CO2, just trace ferts. It's heavily planted with low to medium light plants. No algae to speak of, the plants grow slow for the most part, but that's OK with me. Other than giving the jungle val a weekly haircut, the tank pretty much takes care of itself.
 
It's all about the balance of light, nutrients and CO2 (which is technically a form of the nutrient Carbon). CO2 just happens to be the most rewarding fix for people who have too much light and/or too much (or is it many) nutrients because of the dramatic results it delivers. Who doesn't like actually seeing their plants have visible signs of growth daily?

There are other ways to correct an imbalance without CO2. Reducing the light and lowering the nutrient import are two that are never really discussed. Floating plants and emergent growth will help also by screening the light and exporting excess nutrients. Not everybody likes the way they look, though.
 
gmh said:
How much lighting are you talking about? I run 2.1 watts of t5s over a 40 gallon. No CO2, just trace ferts. It's heavily planted with low to medium light plants. No algae to speak of, the plants grow slow for the most part, but that's OK with me. Other than giving the jungle val a weekly haircut, the tank pretty much takes care of itself.
Click to expand...

You dose no macro's? Only trace? Is the tank heavily stocked, or average?

I'd have 2.2 WPG, a little less when considering CFL's, around 1.6 - 1.8.

Thanks for the input.




schaadrak said:
... Who doesn't like actually seeing their plants have visible signs of growth daily?...
Click to expand...

I'll save a few hundred dollars vs. watching the plants grow :]
Hahah.
Maybe when I actually get a job, and move out of my parents house... and finish high school... college too.
 
I have 2.4 WPG, and just use Excel. I dose Flourish right now, but I might switch to fry ferts, and will definitely be adding Iron. I had some hair algae for a while, but spot application of Excel and shorter photo period took care of it.

Oh, and my plants grow fast! Some more than others, but lately I've been trimming weekly, and I'm filling my 10 gallon with clipping. Plus I get tons of baby swords.
 
i have a 135g with 192 watts of light. all my plants are growing fine. no co2, dose fertilizer once a week after water change. no algae problem. only algae i get is the diatom from the glass but thats it. to me co2 just makes plant grow a lot faster and healthier but its not neccesarry, atleast to me.
 
I dose only Kent Freshwater Plant, similar to Flourish I think. I do have a heavy fish load and I use Floramax, a laterite based substrate.
 
i have a number of plants i would consider needing medium light in my 55 that has no special substrate (just sand/gravel mix, varying from one to two inches deep), i don't dose any ferts, i don't use co2, and i don't even know what the wattage is on my Eclipse 'daylight' florescent lights, i run my lights an average of 12 hours a day. my plants grow well and i have to trim every couple weeks. water change schedule is 40 to 60% every week to 10 days, and i only stir up the substrate if i'm rescaping or replanting trimmings or new plants. no algae problems whatsoever.
 
I am currently running 60w over my 30 gallon with no Co2 (I got fed up wit DIY) but the occasional dose of excel. I am still dosing some macro's though, but on a smaller scale than before. The plants are doing well, not a whole lot of growth except some minor BBA is creeping in again :swear:
 
BettaFishMommy said:
i don't even know what the wattage is on my Eclipse 'daylight' florescent lights,
Click to expand...

Your system sounds like mine was before I upgraded- was it a so called "all-you-need" kit?

If so, those bulbs I think are 17w each... I had the same setup and my plants were looking fine at .62wpg. Granted I hunted down plants that were classified as "hardy" and "low light" to make sure I had success. High light requiring plants would probably have died... and indeed, the one plant that didn't do well was an Amazon sword.

Since upgrading to 2.2wpg I've noticed greater growth- but it wasn't that bad to begin with.


(I also have algae on the glass that I never had before- so I need to do some balancing! ;) )
 
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