CO2 ? and fertilizers & lighting ?

[AnnetteG]

I picked up this hYdor CO2 green NRG Natural kit last night at PS. On sale for only $20! What do you all think of it? I'm going to put it on my 75 and see if it will help my plants out compete the algae. I'm doing everything I can to get rid of the algae - scraping, water changes, vacuuming up the poo off the top of the sand, no overfeeding. Reduced hours lights are on by giving the tank a siesta every day when the kids and I take our nap. Have Amano shrimp and a BN & a chocolate pleco in there. Last night, added 4 otto cats. Not JUST for the algae, they're cute little things and I wanted them anyway, so why not let them dine on all the algae. They're in Hog Heaven, lemme tellya!

I can't remember the wattage on the lights. The system is a retrofit type dealio, we got it from this engineer guy who knew what he was doing and we pray it never dies because there are about a zillion wires in the ballast and we'd never figure it out. I can tell you it's incredibly bright, like, when I open the front of the canopy to feed the fish, I need sunglasses, the cat puts her paws over her face and the kids leave the room because it's too hot.

So do you think this hYdor thing will help? Also, what type of fertilizers do you all recommend? Keeping in mind that I have shrimps and snails and I like them. :1zhelp: Every time I start looking at ferts, I get confused and give up. I keep thinking of buying that box of laterite at PS, but haven't yet.

My other question is about my 28 gallon tank. It's a tall tank, 17" or so, I think. The hood on it only has one bulb. I switched the bulb from it from a 17w to a 20w 18000K bulb that says it's ideal for planted tanks. I don't have any plants in there yet, but I want to plant it and turn it into a shrimp & snail tank. (once I move the cichlid babies out) Do you think this light is going to be good enough? Should I stick with low light plants?

Thank you!!!

 

[livingword26]

If your light is very high, with no co2 or fertilizers, that could definately be your problem. It is going to be difficult to say anything for certain without knowing how many watts it is. Here is some good information about planted aquariums.

http://www.rexgrigg.com/

 

[AnnetteG]

Okay, it's got 2 40w and 2 32w bulbs. They're just regular cheapy fluorescents right now. I want to replace them with plant lights soon. So that's almost 2 watts per gallon. That's good, right?

 

[phanmc]

Unfortunately, the CO2 system you linked won't be sufficient for the 75g tank, it's more suited for smaller tanks like your 28g one. Your lighting on the 75g is good, borderline on needing CO2. I'd try a light dosing of ferts first and see if it helps, if it doesn't then the best thing to do is to invest in a pressurized CO2 system. The alternative is to use multiple units of the CO2 system you linked or a bigger DIY yeast setup.

For ferts, you can either go the very much cheaper method and use dry goods or you can use the pre-mixed prepackaged bottles. For dry goods, visit www.rexgrigg.com or www.aquariumfertilizers.com. Both sites are run by plant enthusiasts that will be happy to answer your questions. For the prepackaged stuff I recommend Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel to start off with.

If you eventually want to take the next step and get a pressurized CO2 system, Rex's site also sells the components.

As for the 28g tank, you might get away with the hardier low light plants but I would recommend finding a way to add a little more lighting, aim for around 30w. Perhaps replace the hood with an incandescent hood that allows you two screw in 2 15-20w spiral CFL bulbs.

 

[AnnetteG]

Thank you! Very helpful! I'll probably just return that co2 thingy then and get some ferts instead to start out. I'm not ready to deal with the 28 yet anyway and it's still full of baby cichlids, so no hurry there.