I,m curious if having an airstone in a planted tank is bad? this is my first time with live plants. I have only standard lighting 2 15w florescent and 2 blue cold cathodes I run all day w/ the lights for the little extra light and I like the color w/ it on. I got plants that I believe are low light plants and I use a liquid supplement every week or so. the plants seem healthy but I figure they're not really going to grow all that much/just sort of stay where they're at and not produce all that much oxygen. so I supplement w/ a 10 bubble wal in back. I have a whisper 60 and 40 on the tank but I keep the water return below water level to keep noise down so agitation at surface is mininmal.
Air stone with plants bad?
- Thread starter rjrevers
- Start date
I'm not sure if the supplement i'm using has any co2 in it or just ferts I'll have to check when i get home. Do you think i need co2 w/ that low of light and a few plants? Petco has these fizzy tabs that say they have nutrients and co2/ i think they're by jungle labs. are these any good?
Oh boy....fizzy tab?
All plants need a carbon source, If you are low light and a few plants, look into getting some Seachem Flourish Excel. Dose as recommended. You can use an airstone if you wish. Without carbon, your plants will die. How many gallons is your tank?
All plants need a carbon source, If you are low light and a few plants, look into getting some Seachem Flourish Excel. Dose as recommended. You can use an airstone if you wish. Without carbon, your plants will die. How many gallons is your tank?
)also will having carbon in my filters remove the liquid supplements. They don't say to remove carbon in the directions
ok to dose a 55 gal with Flourish excel may get pricey. eeek. <just noticed the sig, sorry> anyway...talk to me about lighting...what do you have under your hood?
The carbon in your filters are not a carbon source for your plants. It is unavailable..it is merely for filtration purposes.
When dosing anything in your tank, you should have that carbon removed. Carbon is good in planted tanks for two weeks following dosing medicine too sick fish...that is about it.
The carbon in your filters are not a carbon source for your plants. It is unavailable..it is merely for filtration purposes.
When dosing anything in your tank, you should have that carbon removed. Carbon is good in planted tanks for two weeks following dosing medicine too sick fish...that is about it.
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lighting is standasrd/ 2 15w flourescent/ge fresh/saltwater bulbs and 2 blue cold cathodes. lighting is very low. I hope to eventually get a 48" strip to bring it up to 40w possibly a twin 48 but not likely to be able to do much more.
That is extremely low lighting hovering around .5 WPG. The anubias should be okay, I've kept them alive them without lighting at all (just ambient room light). The java fern should be able to survive, but may grow very slowly if at all. I'd be surprised if the sword lives long at all. I'm not too sure about the green/red plant you have in your sig. If it's a stem plant, it may not live in that low of light.
Since you aren't injecting CO2, you should be fine to run an airstone. Don't go crazy with ferts or anything, your fish should be able to provide for the plants since the lighting isn't strong enough to drive them to grow. Too much ferts and you get algae in this type of situation.
Since you aren't injecting CO2, you should be fine to run an airstone. Don't go crazy with ferts or anything, your fish should be able to provide for the plants since the lighting isn't strong enough to drive them to grow. Too much ferts and you get algae in this type of situation.