Livebearer Tank now a Plant growing tank, Qs

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secuono

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Aug 12, 2009
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VA, USA
I have opted to grow plants in my 55g livebearer tank. The fish arnt going anywhere, but I will be growing plants and the trimmed sections too. I have one shop light, 2 bulbs 4ft long and a total of 80watts, I add liquid plant food weekly or so. I was wondering if I should get more light and what the best liquid plant food is?
thanks.
 
co2 is the limiting factor in plant growth in most situations...find a way to inject co2 before you upgrade your lights.

80W should be enough light. the lights are ~6700K right?

Dry ferts FTW!. they are cheaper and more flexible than liquid. ifyou want liquid, seachem flourish, and seachem Potassium, Seachem Nitrate, Seachem phosphate i think are the names of the ones you need. price them, and then price ferts at aquariumfertilizers.com. remember that the dry ferts will last a year+, liquid a few months.
 
From what I've seen in stores, the root tab stuff is far more expensive. I don't put the recommended amount since that would make me buy new bottles far more often, plants don't seem to need it and most would end up in the sink during w/c. The lights are regular cheap 2 for $4 shop lights from Lowes. I got a CO2 kit, but the new packet of tabs cost far too much, and for my tank size, I would need 7 tabs or more a week. I used to do 1 tab a week, the air sits in the clear container until the water absorbs it or something. The other kits cost hundreds, so no way I'm getting that. What is the recipe for the diy co2 mix?

These are the tabs, I will try to get a link to the actual container.
http://www.petco.com/product/13339/...tions-CO2-Fizz-Tabs.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch


http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=6318
 
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a good recipe for DIY is as follows.....
1 teaspoon of dry yeast
2 cups of sugar
and if your tap water is acidic,
1 tsp baking soda

fill a two liter bottle 3/4 full of old tank water. add yeast, sugar and baking soda if needed. Shake the bottle vigorously to dissolve the contents completely. this mix will begin to produce co2 in about 12 to 24 hours and will continue to make a good amount of gas for about a week. make sure you run your airline into another empty bottle before it goes into the tank to separate the gas from any yeast/sugar. you do not want the slurry in your tank at all.
 
either one of those root tabs will work. many have reported using just regular old house plant tabs(jobes) cut up into pieces and had success as well. i use the flourish tabs with good success but i don't like paying for them.
 
Scrap the jungle labs thing. There are tons of DIY CO2 Projects that are well documented both on this forum and elsewhere online. All you are gonna need a couple of juice bottles, some airline tubing(preferably silicone or CO2 resistant) and a drill or something to make holes in the lid of the bottles. make sure all your connections are air tight or you will lose most of your co2 through the leaks. Good luck.
 
Really, with your current set up, you may want to consider just dosing excel. It would be a lot easier. But excel does cost money, less than fizz tabs though. Spend the thirty bucks for a 2 liter bottle and you'll have enough to last you for probably a year. In the long run, pressurized co2 is the cheapest option. It just requires you spend a good deal of money in the beginning. A refill on a 20lb tank costs about twenty bucks and will last you for more than a year if you are dissolving properly.;)
 
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