Plant Care Without Co2

[krucialkey560]

How do all my people who dont have co2 keep up their plants?Cause is there any way to keep a luscious green tank with out co2???I use fertalizer but slowly the plants get smaller and smaller.So for all my peeps out their without co2 what do you use, what have you learned about keeping plants without co2,what fertilizers work best, which dont work good,anything at all.Holla!Much love
krucialkey560

[Richer]

Check out the archives for info on how to raise plants in non-co2 tanks. Its on the main forum page near the bottom under "Archives."

Actually, here's the link.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=996

HTH
-Richer

[Bruddah Chrispy]

Aloha e krucialkey,

If you don't want to do the CO2 thing, you can also just tone down your lighting to less than 1.5w/gallon and go with low-light plants such as sprites, crypts, or java fern.

[Fishiebusiness]

Ahh plants are just so much more fun with CO2, you oughta get it if you can, it doesnt cost THAT much.

I've kept a CO2 less planted tank with the likes of java moss, java fern, hornwort, and aponogetons, but it was no where near the fun of watching plants pearl and grow in my CO2'ed tank.

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by Fishiebusiness
Ahh plants are just so much more fun with CO2, you oughta get it if you can, it doesnt cost THAT much. .
I have to say -- adding CO2 is such an improvement! And yes, Ahh, the pearling... :)

[d_b]

What co2 system is recommended ? I'd like to try it, however the ones Ive seen are hundreds of dollars is there a better or good system ?

[Bruddah Chrispy]

There is always the DIY option for CO2. There are a number of articles about it at The Krib (http://www.thekrib.com). The basic approach I used was:


Get a 2L plastic soda bottle (cleaned)
Drill a hole in the top large enough for some air tubing (I used a hot nail)
Insert a short piece of tubing into the top and seal it with silicon caulk
Add warm water to the bottle to within about 4 inches of the top.
Add 2c sugar
Add 1T flour
Add a pinch of baking soda
Shake the bottle like it ain't no thang
Add 1/4 teaspoon of baking yeast
Place cap on the bottle
Insert a stop-valve into the air hose
Add a length of air hose from the stop valve to the tank
Wait for bubbles


This mixture should last about 3-4 weeks.

It's best to run the air hose in the tank into something that will diffuse the CO2 into the water. I originally used one of the decorations in the tank that was hollow. This trapped the CO2 under water. Some people run the CO2 into the update of their filter. I've since bought a diffuser that breaks up the CO2 quite nicely.