Carbon Supplements instead of CO2

I agree with everything said above. Hard to say if your specific setup would benefit from a glutaral product or not. You'd pretty much have to do a side by side comparison, and watch the results.

That said, I've always added a glut product to my planted 10g and have more red cherry shrimp in there than I can count. Started with API's liquid CO2, now use metricide 14. I don't dose every day, but close.
 
I suggest you take a step back and think this through.

First, as others have mentioned, with the current plant species you do not need added CO2. I grow these plants fine, and have for over 20 years, and never added CO2.

Second thing is that if you do add diffused CO2 you will need to up your light, as what you now have is insufficient to balance. And you will also need to add the other nutrients. One can have a "planted" tank using different methods, from low-tech or natural up to high-tech, but with whichever method there must be a balance between light (intensity) and the 17 nutrients (of which carbon is just one). Plants grow via photosynthesis, and they will photosynthesize to the full provided everything they require is available. As soon as any requirement is lacking, photosynthesis slows and may stop completely--what we call the law of minimum. Algae then takes advantage.

Third point is on the liquid carbon supplements. You mention Excel and copper; there is no copper in Excel. Excel is water and gluteraldehyde (Seachem call it something else, but the product fact sheet gives this chemical). I personally would never put this toxic chemical in a tank with fish or invertebrates. It will kill some plants outright (Vallisneria for one) even at the recommended dose. At higher doses it will kill plants, bacteria and fish. This chemical is used in hospitals to disinfect, in embalming fluid to kill bacteria, and in antifreeze. The fact sheet from the government warms of not inhaling and burns to the skin. Now, I know that some aquarists do use this product, and have no issues. Fine. But I do not recommend adding something like this to an aquarium when it is not necessary. This is just my view, to set out the facts, not to get into another argument over Excel. Each has to decide what does or doesn't go into their aquarium.

Byron.
 
FreshyFresh said:
I agree with everything said above. Hard to say if your specific setup would benefit from a glutaral product or not. You'd pretty much have to do a side by side comparison, and watch the results.

That said, I've always added a glut product to my planted 10g and have more red cherry shrimp in there than I can count. Started with API's liquid CO2, now use metricide 14. I don't dose every day, but close.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the helpful post! I'll take a look into the supplements you've recommended!
 
Byron Amazonas said:
I suggest you take a step back and think this through.

First, as others have mentioned, with the current plant species you do not need added CO2. I grow these plants fine, and have for over 20 years, and never added CO2.

Second thing is that if you do add diffused CO2 you will need to up your light, as what you now have is insufficient to balance. And you will also need to add the other nutrients. One can have a "planted" tank using different methods, from low-tech or natural up to high-tech, but with whichever method there must be a balance between light (intensity) and the 17 nutrients (of which carbon is just one). Plants grow via photosynthesis, and they will photosynthesize to the full provided everything they require is available. As soon as any requirement is lacking, photosynthesis slows and may stop completely--what we call the law of minimum. Algae then takes advantage.

Third point is on the liquid carbon supplements. You mention Excel and copper; there is no copper in Excel. Excel is water and gluteraldehyde (Seachem call it something else, but the product fact sheet gives this chemical). I personally would never put this toxic chemical in a tank with fish or invertebrates. It will kill some plants outright (Vallisneria for one) even at the recommended dose. At higher doses it will kill plants, bacteria and fish. This chemical is used in hospitals to disinfect, in embalming fluid to kill bacteria, and in antifreeze. The fact sheet from the government warms of not inhaling and burns to the skin. Now, I know that some aquarists do use this product, and have no issues. Fine. But I do not recommend adding something like this to an aquarium when it is not necessary. This is just my view, to set out the facts, not to get into another argument over Excel. Each has to decide what does or doesn't go into their aquarium.

Byron.
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Just to add some experience behind this for Byron, i did overdose my CO2 ( API liquid CO2 Booster) in one of my tanks and the fish became very lethargic. After a way change and the addition of an airstone my fish started behaving normally once again. So becareful when adding things to your tank because all it takes is a single mishap for things to go south.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
ktrom13 said:
.. So becareful when adding things to your tank because all it takes is a single mishap for things to go south.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...

The key phrase here being "adding things".

There's plenty of aquarium products we add to, or use in our tanks every day that will cause things to go badly if not used as directed.

There is a recent thread on here in regards to someone accidentally overdosing a glutaral product by something like 25x the recommended dosage. Of course things are going to go badly from that.

I'm with Byron though.. Do your research and don't add what you don't need to.
 
You've got an army of people suggesting that you don't have to worry about it... I think you are safe to rely on the advice you've received here. I've NEVER added a chemical to my tanks, and mine grow out beautifully. As Byron said, it's all about balance! (if I may paraphrase)

P.S. Byron is a plant guru... listen to him. His tanks are breath-takingly beautiful, and we are lucky to have him give us free advice as freely as he does.
 
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