Alright, I am familiar with the Flourish tabs since I use them too, but what does API Leaf Zone provide? Before I was using dry ferts I was using Flourish, Flourish Iron, and Flourish Potassium and am only familiar with them. You want to talk about getting confused, it took me a week+ to figure out dry ferts, but in the long run it has saved me a ton of money.
Confused about co2
- Thread starter Alicia
- Start date
10$ reactor to use with your pressurized co2. I use it in a 75g, my drop checkier is green, plants are growing nicely. This is a really long thread (over 300 posts), but you need to read it all. Over 2.5 years, there are several modifications that might interest you. It works and is cheap.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...s/44053-tiny-super-efficient-co2-reactor.html
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...s/44053-tiny-super-efficient-co2-reactor.html
I missed the part about it being a 72 gallon tank. If you are running 110 watts, the answer would be that you cannot remove any of them. That is only 1.5 watts per gallon, which is pretty low. If you want to stay with that level of lighting and still do plants, I would suggest something like anubias or other low light plants.
On my 75, which is 21 inches deep, and my 55 which is the same depth, I run 260 watts of Compact Flourescent ("CF") lighting, all of which is 6700K on the 75 (i.e., fish and plants) and 6,500K on the 55 (i.e., plants and snails).
Generally, it is all a balancing act. The more light you have and the faster the plants grow, the more you need to worry about ferts and their balance. It is trial and error at first. Me, I thought I could just throw some plants in the tank and everything would be fine. The only thing I thought I needed was the correct lighting so I went with the CF lights and plenty of it. Things were good for about 6 months before they went really, really, really bad and I found myself doing a ton of reading about CO2 and ferts.
API Leaf Zone provides Iron and Potassium... but apparently not enough sence I am having all of these problems.
Yeah, it really does not seem like you have a CO2 problem here if the leaves are turning yellow. It seems to be more of a nutrient problem.
Here is a good list of deficiencies and their symptoms:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/plant_problems.html
My CO2 issue was with the plethora of vals that grew into my 75. Without any CO2, the vals scavenged all the KH from the tank and the ph was going crazy. I didn't even know what KH was before that. My brothers saw me testing the water like crazy and they told me I looked like a mad chemist. I have a pretty good handle on all of it now, with the exception of yellow shrimp which have frustrated the heck out of me.
go dry ferts. use riiz's recipe for root tabs. figure out your lighting... more will definitely help... at least 1, maybe 2 t5ho bulbs across the entire top of that tank will make a world of difference. play with height until things level out... and call it a day.
if you decide to go co2... more light won't hurt and you'll have more plant options.
if you decide not to spend the money on co2... add a couple powerful air stones and adjust the height of the lamp on the tank to tweak your light.
don't skimp on ferts... there's no answer in a bottle... the closest so far was pmdd and that's history too.
if you decide to go co2... more light won't hurt and you'll have more plant options.
if you decide not to spend the money on co2... add a couple powerful air stones and adjust the height of the lamp on the tank to tweak your light.
don't skimp on ferts... there's no answer in a bottle... the closest so far was pmdd and that's history too.
I know there is no answer in a bottle. Almost all plants need fertilization, and I thought that Leaf Zone looked like a good one. I will read up on Dry Ferts and try that too. I will also change my substrate to help my plants out a bit more. I don't know when I will be able to afford to change over to T5 but I will as soon as I can. BTW, what do you mean when you all say t5 ho? I know what t5 means, but what's the ho?
Very sound advice. I think the lights and the ferts are the most important things. However, CO2 at some point ends up being required if the plants cannot get enough from the water itself. Before going the CO2 route, I would switch to canister filters, or some other type of filtration that prevents the agitation of the surface water and the resultant gas off of CO2 that is naturally found in the water. Lastly, I would go with pressurized CO2. Nowadays, whenever I set up a new tank I just immediately go with a canister filter and pressurized CO2 since I have plenty of ferts on hand. Lighting depends on the depth of the tank, but I would use some serious light on anything 24 inches or deeper. Large planted tanks are expensive to setup correctly, but well worth it in the long run.
High Output. There is a huge difference, and t5ho is expensive. Try to pick something up on e-bay used, or maybe something on the classified section here. I think CF would work for you too since that is what I am using. However, I will use t5ho on the next large tank that I set up.
Co2 and ferts aren't really needed in a low light tank(well I should say you need a little bit of trace here and there) I got a little 5 gallon with some camboa, moss and some fissedens that is just beautiful, I dose maybe once every two to three weeks and do a WC every three weeks. My friend has a tank that I set up for him with sunset hygro, camboa and anubias, he never doses and the tank looks awesome!
I also have a high light pressurized tank. My high tech needs a lot of attention with weekly trimmings, EI dosing every day 60% WC every week, I guess what I'm getting at is it all depends on what type of plants you want to keep.
You CAN keep a really nice planted tank with what you have already
BUT if you must have a high light tank do it right.
I would do in this order:
1. Change your substrate to Eco, ADA AS, Flourite, mineralized top soil, whatever nutrient rich substrate you want.
2.Get a canister filter, look for one that will turn your tank volume at least 5 times over per hour, you can find good deals on craigslist or go with that sun sun Chinese knockoff for the cheap route.
3.Get the Co2 regulator,tank,diffuser/reactor. Milwaukee makes a decent all in one (Regulator/solenoid/bubble counter) for around 80 bucks, Azoo makes one as well in this price range.
If you can afford it go with a high quality reg from Sumo, GLA, Rex Grigg, they are worth every pennie.
Get a 10 pound tank at least for the 72.
4.lastly lights, with your deep tank go with T5HO, 2X54 should be plenty, you can even retro fit your lights with your existing enclosure.
Oh and yull need dry ferts, Macros shouldn't cost more than ten bucks, I dunno how much Tdurden bought with 75 dollars LOL he should never have to buy ferts for the rest of his life for paying that much
Hope this'll help ya!
I also have a high light pressurized tank. My high tech needs a lot of attention with weekly trimmings, EI dosing every day 60% WC every week, I guess what I'm getting at is it all depends on what type of plants you want to keep.
You CAN keep a really nice planted tank with what you have already
BUT if you must have a high light tank do it right.
I would do in this order:
1. Change your substrate to Eco, ADA AS, Flourite, mineralized top soil, whatever nutrient rich substrate you want.
2.Get a canister filter, look for one that will turn your tank volume at least 5 times over per hour, you can find good deals on craigslist or go with that sun sun Chinese knockoff for the cheap route.
3.Get the Co2 regulator,tank,diffuser/reactor. Milwaukee makes a decent all in one (Regulator/solenoid/bubble counter) for around 80 bucks, Azoo makes one as well in this price range.
If you can afford it go with a high quality reg from Sumo, GLA, Rex Grigg, they are worth every pennie.
Get a 10 pound tank at least for the 72.
4.lastly lights, with your deep tank go with T5HO, 2X54 should be plenty, you can even retro fit your lights with your existing enclosure.
Oh and yull need dry ferts, Macros shouldn't cost more than ten bucks, I dunno how much Tdurden bought with 75 dollars LOL he should never have to buy ferts for the rest of his life for paying that much
Hope this'll help ya!
