CO2 questions

C

Cichlid Guy

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Aug 30, 2002
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VA
I am very much interested in setting up my 30 gallon tank as a planted one.I`ve kept all types of fish from livebearers to cichlids and am cautiously weighing my options of doing a planted tank.

My questions are..
1. Honestly, is maintaining a planted tank alot more work than your typical tropical fish setup?
2. I`ve seen where you can buy complete CO2 systems for smaller tanks.Do they work? Would I be better buying the equipment and trying to make my own?


Thanks for the input!
 
Generally Tanks over 30 Gallons should look into pressurized systems. The reasoning is it's harder to acheive the higher rates of CO2 with DIY. I'm not saying its not possible, but the amount of sugar, yeast and time adds up to what it costs to get a pressurized system very quickly.

Maintaining a planted tank can be easy and can be hard. Depending on how heavily planted you want to get and what you want to grow. Most people start off with little or no equipment and then suddenly realize their plants aren't growing like they wanted them to. So they end up forking more money into it then what they would have if they started off right. which includes adequate light and co2 and ferts.

The Nutrafin CO2 Hagen ladders works very well for smaller tanks under 30 gallons provided that you use you're own yeast recipe. For a tank that size you can try DIY and see how they goes, or you can just jump into pressurized. Most recommend going pressurized. Right now my recently setup 29 gallon tank is running on DIY CO2 using glass diffuser and this is what it currently looks like.

10000286ma.jpg


I have pressurized CO2 on hand, but realized I can acheive good results using this current method. I'll use the pressurized for something larger in the future.

-John N.
 
Planted Tanks=Work!

Yep, planted tanks are much more work, imo. Especially if you are just going to start one up. Do yourself and big favor and start small with easy to grow plants and not alot of high lighting. They are more work for many reasons;
1. Keeping water quality balanced for the needs of the plants and the needs of the fish.
2. Algae, algae, algae
3. Nitrates - good for plants, BAD for some fish even in small amounts.
4. Trimming, grooming maintaining plants.

As to when to use co2, if you choose to have more than 2 watts per gallon lighting, you will need it. Not sure about mechanical or not, if budget is an issue, you can set up 2 diy yeast reactors... if money is no object, well shoot get your self a system!

Cathy
 
Most of my tanks are planted. I do not consider them any more work than FO tanks, if fact I consider them more stable.

Getting started can be a PITA. Pick one technique and follow that. If you try a bit of this technique and a bit of that one and somthing from another, it is awfully hard to figure out.
 
I reccommend going with live plants. Your fish will be so much happier and so will you. I went to live plants when I was about 12 years old and still have them today. I do not go all out, but the plants I have look great. There are plenty of plants out there that are easy to care for. I suggest you starting out with some simple plants. After you get a feel for it, try the yeast co2. You should be able to tell a difference if you have a plant bulb. After using that for a while you will get sick of it and want get a co2 tank and all the fancy stuff to go with it. I'm at the getting sick of messing with the yeast right now. If you are going to do live plants I would use some type of gravel that is for plants. It should greatly cut down on the amounts of fertilizers needed in the long run, thus actually saving you money. I am by no means an expert with live plants, but I have learned a lot so far.
 
the only reason my planted tank has been more work for the past couple of months is that I am pruning carefully, bundling the prunings, and taking them to the lfs for store credit. $25-$30.00/week.

I guess you would call it work. When it is just prune and plant down, then throw away the excess clippings, it is really no more work.

and the tank is much nicer to look at. as to happier fish--no idea. they don't talk much to me--lol. don't even laugh out loud. but, i do keep fish in there that do best in planted environments. so, i guess you would call them happier because they are healthier.
 
RTR, which technique would you recommend to be the most succesful for beginners? I know I'm jumping into it a little quickly (3 wpg, pressurized CO2 and little experience), but my tank is only a test one, so no fish (so if I screw up, I'll just start over).
 
I'd vote EI (Estimative Index) as per Tom Barr:

www.barrreport.com/

Scan the open sections to get the concept. If you want all the detail and philosophy and references and/or custon suggestion from TB, subscribe, but that is not really required to get the concept.

It is simple, straightforward, and it works.
 
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