Need CO2?

[Riven02]

I have a 45 gal. tank. W/ 51Ws of lighting.

I have recently started planting my tank and have 6 anarchais, 2 anubias, 4 crypts, 2 moneywort, 1 watersprite, 1 Val, 2 hornwort, banana plant, java moss, and a moss ball. And I will be adding more in the future. This will be a heavily planted tank when I get it all put together and things grow out.

My Ph is on the high side and lowering it would be good.

I am considering trying the DIY CO2 injection.

How much and how will the CO2 injections benefit the tank. (plant growth, color, lower ph???) I have read many threads on this but since most of the plants in my tank are low light easy plants I was usure of which if any would benefit and how much they would benefit.

I have the tank stocked with some sensitive fish (dwarf cichlids) so I would need the PH to be stable. How stable will the PH be with DIY C02?

How often would the 2L bottles need to be changed? I figure I would use 2.

For refence my PH is 7.9 and my KH is 4.

If the benefit would be small with my low lighting I dont want to go to the trouble, but if things will sigificatly look better grow better etc. it would be worth it.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

you can try but you should think about adding more lights first. diy runs out give or take 2 weeks.

 

[Riven02]

This weekend I will be adding another compact flourencent light in the form of a moddified desk lamp. This will add another 25W bringing me to 76Ws. The desk lamp will be localized light though and likley will not reach the entire tank.

 

[quadpants]

That's still not that much light but should be fine.

If you do 2 bottles for DIY CO2, you can alternate them every month to keep a steady bubble rate going. Try and find champagne or brewer's yeast and each bottle will go 6-8 weeks.

 

[Riven02]

There is a possiblity of adding 2 more desk lamp set ups so about 50 more Ws.

BUT I figure these will only add light to a small area and will likley not benefit any plants other than those directly under the light. Is this true?

Or is it just a matter of how many Ws I can cram into the tank regardless of how diffused the light will be?

I can not fit another fixture of any length over the tank (It is a corner tank) so my only options are the add these desk lamps with 6500K CF lights.

I could buy another AHSupply kit and put it into my other light aswell. This would give me another 16Ws.

At what point will I reach to much lighting for a DIY CO2 setup? I dont want to be forced into constant ferts either. I just want a good balance of work to healthy plants.