Stopping the easy carbo

[Mattant1984]

Hi all,
I daily dose 1.5ml of easy carbo along with 4ml TNC complete into my 70 litre and all plants are doing really well with next to no algae.

I was thinking about stopping the easy carbo as it's just something extra to remember daily and also is it really good for the fish?? (I don't think so)

My question is if I stop dosing it will it have any negative affect as I have been using it for a while??

 

[PARAGUAY]

I did do away with it altogether and am using TNC Complete on my low techs. No issue really. Still got some in case of a BBA issue (treat the BBA with a brush)could arise. Have you soft water,if so your adding "background" CO2 anyway at water change

 

[Mattant1984]

I did do away with it altogether and am using TNC Complete on my low techs. No issue really. Still got some in case of a BBA issue (treat the BBA with a brush)could arise. Have you soft water,if so your adding "background" CO2 anyway at water change

Thanks for the reply and glad you didn't really get any issues, my water is actually fairly hard so will that make a difference??

 

[PARAGUAY]

What l understand is soft water has more CO2, that's one of the reasons as plants prefer soft water and water changes is adding CO2, the need for adding things like example easy carbo is not even needed. I assume adding it in your water may be helpful but others may a have different take on it but is it really necessary , l doubt it myself

 

[Mattant1984]

What l understand is soft water has more CO2, that's one of the reasons as plants prefer soft water and water changes is adding CO2, the need for adding things like example easy carbo is not even needed. I assume adding it in your water may be helpful but others may a have different take on it but is it really necessary , l doubt it myself

I am also doubting it does anything via water column dosing myself to be honest, I think I will stop adding it and see how it goes. Thanks for the help

 

[Connswater]

fairly hard

Your tank currently looks very attractive.

I would think your water is in reality very hard, I used to live down the road from Canterbury. The the Amazon swords will using biogenic calcification to get CO2 so regular water changes will be very helpful to supply CO2 indirectly, to stop your water being changed by the plants as they crack the bicarbonate, to stop limescale deposits and to keep Nitrate levels low but watch out for Nitrate spikes in your tap water, particularly in the summer when run off is high in farming nutrients and concentrated as the reservoir levels fall - Bewl reservoir. You will need to add chelated iron - which TNC products have - and make sure they have enough nutrients available overall, swords grow extensive roots and like a rich substrate.

By easy carbon I guess you mean glutaraldehyde. It is not CO2 and does not in any meaningful way increase CO2 levels, happy to be put right by the more scientific. It is a disinfectant. In much of Kent hornwort is about the easiest plant, loves hard water and grows across the surface and extracts CO2 from the atmosphere. Lilies and egeria also do well. Some crypts also thrive in hard water but the species that really like hard water are not that commonly commercially available, especially ciliata.

Good luck.

 

[Mattant1984]

Your tank currently looks very attractive.

I would think your water is in reality very hard, I used to live down the road from Canterbury. The the Amazon swords will using biogenic calcification to get CO2 so regular water changes will be very helpful to supply CO2 indirectly, to stop your water being changed by the plants as they crack the bicarbonate, to stop limescale deposits and to keep Nitrate levels low but watch out for Nitrate spikes in your tap water, particularly in the summer when run off is high in farming nutrients and concentrated as the reservoir levels fall - Bewl reservoir. You will need to add chelated iron - which TNC products have - and make sure they have enough nutrients available overall, swords grow extensive roots and like a rich substrate.

By easy carbon I guess you mean glutaraldehyde. It is not CO2 and does not in any meaningful way increase CO2 levels, happy to be put right by the more scientific. It is a disinfectant. In much of Kent hornwort is about the easiest plant, loves hard water and grows across the surface and extracts CO2 from the atmosphere. Lilies and egeria also do well. Some crypts also thrive in hard water but the species that really like hard water are not that commonly commercially available, especially ciliata.

Good luck.

Thank you for your reply it's much appreciated, I keep the tank well fertilsed and use root tabs for the swords and they seem to be growing well.
Will TNC complete contain enough Iron or should I be adding that separately?
I have only really been using the easy carbo to help with algae forming however not really sure it does much??
I do have a lot of success with crypts in my tanks they seem to love the hard water

 

[Connswater]

Regular chelated Iron in hard water I found to be the most important additive, but TNC is good, but in your water, you may have to add more Iron separately, garden centres sell boxes of Iron supplement cheaply, a box of five packets will last years, a tiny pinch with a weekly water change would help keep the swords happy, just don't stain the water, that is far too much.
Glad to hear the crypts are doing well, they also like a good rich substrate and many species are hard water tolerant.

 

[Mattant1984]

Regular chelated Iron in hard water I found to be the most important additive, but TNC is good, but in your water, you may have to add more Iron separately, garden centres sell boxes of Iron supplement cheaply, a box of five packets will last years, a tiny pinch with a weekly water change would help keep the swords happy, just don't stain the water, that is far too much.
Glad to hear the crypts are doing well, they also like a good rich substrate and many species are hard water tolerant.

Thanks again I will look into that, is there a way of knowing how much of the iron you need for tank volume etc as I'm assuming the stuff you have mentioned is for gardens??

 

[Connswater]

how much of the iron

In theory around 0.5 ppm in the water column but as Darrel would say, floating plants will let you know if you need to add a little, pale new growth, slower growth, blotches, sometimes other nutrient deficiences are to blame but without Iron, the plants cannot use the other nutrients properly. I make up a pint, and literally add a teaspoon of the dissolved solution, after a water change of about 10-20% and my tank is four foot and my water here in Berkshire is as hard as your water. I've always thought that if a packet once a year or twice a year, restores a large ericaceous loving shrub in an alkaline context, so for a tank, a packet might last a year or two. A very rough rule of thumb from me I'm afraid. But you can get test strips quite cheaply, though I don't bother but I obsessively check floating plants. I don't recommend seaweed feed which is full of Iron, it seems to cause other issues - a friend, in Kent, Tenterden caused a lot of fish distress with seaweed fertiliser, I assume some toxicity issues with the multiple ingredients, but I don't know.

My advice is always tread carefully but generally don't think products in tropical fish shops for plants are much different except in price to products in garden centres and those for hydroponics. Green plants are green plants.

 

[Little]

@Mattant1984 if you would like a bottle of

“Solufeed Rapid, iron EDDHSA chelate“​

I have a pretty much full 1 liter bottle that I don’t need (I switched to RO water due to some local water contamination issues).

I’m in Ashford Kent so not super close but not that far from you either.

You barely need a couple drops to dilute into a pump bottle mixed with RO. I could even supply the bottle and RO water or you can take the whole liter of concentrate if you want a long term supply.

The use is as per Connswater advice… dosing a tiny amount (as to not tint the water pink) whenever your floating plants look a little pale and they quickly go back to being green.

 

[Andy Pierce]

What l understand is soft water has more CO2, that's one of the reasons as plants prefer soft water and water changes is adding CO2, the need for adding things like example easy carbo is not even needed.

Not true unfortunately. Soft water and hard water both equilibrate to the exact same level of dissolved CO2. EasyCarbo is a pretty good algaecide but doesn't add any meaningful CO2 either. Water changes can add CO2 but it only lasts a few hours after the water change.

 

[Mattant1984]

@Mattant1984 if you would like a bottle of

“Solufeed Rapid, iron EDDHSA chelate“​

I have a pretty much full 1 liter bottle that I don’t need (I switched to RO water due to some local water contamination issues).

I’m in Ashford Kent so not super close but not that far from you either.

You barely need a couple drops to dilute into a pump bottle mixed with RO. I could even supply the bottle and RO water or you can take the whole liter of concentrate if you want a long term supply.

The use is as per Connswater advice… dosing a tiny amount (as to not tint the water pink) whenever your floating plants look a little pale and they quickly go back to being green.

That's very kind of you I might take you up on that offer if you don't need it. Would definitely be worth a try for sure

 

[PARAGUAY]

Not true unfortunately. Soft water and hard water both equilibrate to the exact same level of dissolved CO2. EasyCarbo is a pretty good algaecide but doesn't add any meaningful CO2 either. Water changes can add CO2 but it only lasts a few hours after the water change.

Hi Andy l was going off George Farmers visit to MD Fish Tanks when he said Marc's explosive plant growth was in part due to the CO2 availability because of his soft water.

 

[Connswater]

CO2 availability

I think perhaps that in hard water it is the cracking of the bicarbonate that is beyond some plants, hence the availability concept, also that less CO2 is needed to get a good pH and that, unsaid, Iron availability is less of an issue. When pH is measured the same pH for hard and soft water means different things in dissolved CO2, or so I think, if I sort of understand..