tired of messing with CO2

montanafish gal

montanafish gal

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Aug 1, 2009
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I have a 46 gallon bowfront that over the past month I have been converting to planted. I ordered a plant pack that included:
Dwarf Hairgrass,
Anubias Nana,
Java Fern,
Green Cryptocoryne,
Water Sprite, and
Anacharis.

All the plants are small hardly take up any space in my tank. I have slightly less than 2 wpg of light and am using eco-complete as my substrate.
I recently ordered three 9 inch amazon swords, Willow hygro (6 stems) and Giant hygro (6 stems) to fill in my tank better.

I have been trying diy CO2 and frankly find it a giant pain in the butt, not to mention pointless seeings how everything I have read about diffusers suggest that there is no such thing as a "good" diffuser for DIY CO2. I won't spend the money on a pressurized system.
I don't want extreme growth or anything, just a nice looking planted tank.
I was going to buy some flourish and flourish excel (liquid co2, right?) to fertilize the plants.

Is that the best thing to do? Or should I say, what IS the best way to take care of these particular plants so they do well in my tank? what should I give them? Any help would be appreciated!
 
With your plant selection, excel could work. But a pressurized Co2 system is actually very easy and does reduce maintenance, if you use a good needle-valve. Its a system you just adjust a few times when you get started and maybe not touch again for 6months. And if you dont want growth that requires weekly trimming, that can be controlled through lighting levels or duration.
 
thank you for your reply. It's not the set up or maintanance of the pressurized CO2 system; it's the cost of purchasing one. Several hundred dollars from what I've seen. I can't/won't spend that, not for a one aquarium hobby. So I need to know what I can do to optimize my plants health without a CO2 system. Thanks!
 
You could always look into using one of the paintball systems. Little cheaper.
 
a complete (including co2) pressurized setup can be obtained (new) for aprox $180 + shipping. this will last you about 1 year on average and then you have a 27 dollar (aprox. expense per year for c02). other than that you have excel or florinaxis. and you will probably spend a lot of money on that per year
 
montanafish gal said:
thank you for your reply. It's not the set up or maintanance of the pressurized CO2 system; it's the cost of purchasing one. Several hundred dollars from what I've seen. I can't/won't spend that, not for a one aquarium hobby. So I need to know what I can do to optimize my plants health without a CO2 system. Thanks!
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If you see yourself staying with planted tanks for over a year, a good pressurized setup will pay for itself with lack of maintenance and costs actually. Excel and DIY might be cheap per use, but it adds up in the long run of things.

But if want to go uber cheap and less hassle, change your plant selection and stick to low-light setups. Where all the fertilization/nutrients come provided from just feeding your fish, and you might never need to trim for months to even years.
 
**sigh** ok, I see your point on the cost over the long run, and yes I plan on having this planted tank set up for many years (hopefully). SOOOO ok, where do I find pressurized systems? I'll tell you, this may seem completely irrational and stupid, but I have this fear of these things blowing up in my face because I don't have a clue as how it works/or how to set one up and run it. Is finding a used one somewhere reliable?
 
Let me see if i can help you. I had DIY on my 72 BF before i went pressurized. I had 3 bottles going at one time and i fed the CO2 into my intake pipe to my canister. this certainly did the trick, i dont know if this is an option for you though. The bottles lasted about 1.5 weeks before i chnaged them out and made new batches of mixtures to try and keep the co2 concentration consistant. Its way more time consuming then pressuruzed but has low initial costs by far in comparison.

The next cheap suggestion i have for you is purchasing a powerhead with a venturi on it. I am doing this instead of the canister method and am waitig for it to come in the mail. PH's are cheap and can cost around the same as diffusers sometimes.

On the note of pressurized. You have 2 wpg and have dwarf hairgrass which likes highlight of 3wpg or more, in your case it will grow up towards the light and not reallly grow out and spread at any fast pace. CO2 concentration at your wattage doesnt have to be too high because you dont have enough light to balance things. The anacharis and watersprite are nutrient hogs and will grow rather quickly just as an FYI, i had both of them in my tank and took them both out. CO2 will be beneficial though as long as you couple it with ferts too, really help things grow. I would invest in a pressurized system, i spent about 240 for a 20lb tank, milwaukee reg with solenoid and bubble counter, co2 proof tubing, and a nice cal aqua double check drop checker. It also cost about 32 bux to have it filled. I filled it in may and i am still using the same cylinder, no refills yet and i have a high bubble rate due to how i have things configged. IMO i think the reg that i have is great because the solenoid always u to turn off the reg without shutting the cylinder off or turning the dials down, each time u would have to recalibrate things and the bubble counter is nice to you can see your bubble rate. In the end though you could do without both the bubble counter and solenoid. I used to watch the bubble flowing in my intake pipe to see my bubble rate and judge from there, this isnt possible wthough in ever situation. You can purchase small co2 bottles for cheaper but tbh, a 2lb bottle for 50 vs a 20lb bottle for 100 and far fewer trips to refil the co2 tank (keep in mind they charge you fees for haz materials, disposal, transport) so the fewer the trips the better. It pays off in the long run but depending on how you want to do things, a drop checker is a necessity to check co2 concentration, a bottle obviously, choose your size as necessay and as for the reg, milwaukee is always suggested but there are many other brands out there as well.

Alot of people have used excel with no probs and others have used it and sad their plants have melted, i prefer to steer away fro excel as i am doing it a more natural way and the gas way i havent heard of any issues.
 
most of the plants you have are plants that will do FINE without CO2. the DHG is the only one that would be iffy. Other than that, you can grow all those plants as is without doing anything, just don't expect a lot of growth, or any visible growth really. I maintained a 55 with various swords, hygro, java fern, anubia, etc without any ferts or CO2 for many years. low hassle.

If you WANT to trim weekly and have a forest, there's no replcement for pressurized co2. And I understand the fear of it blowing up in your face. I made my friend stay on the phone with me as I turned the knobs on the first time in case it exploded HAHAHA

excel works good too if you wnat to start there.
 
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