CO2 at start of tank only, dumb idea?

[Chris_Homan]

Hi,

I’m planning for my new 90l tank and was planning to go low-tech. However, I was thinking to kick off with a cheap CO2 solution to get the plants off to a good start and then to stop with CO2. Is this just a dumb idea?

 

[Nick potts]

If you plan on removing the co2 then I just wouldn't use it in the first place.

The plants will love it, but you risk upsetting the tank and causing algae etc when you remove it.

 

[Chris_Homan]

Thank you! Something to consider. Maybe I will try CO2 first with plants as suggested and take it from there.

 

[Majsa]

I've done this before with reasonable results. If you make sure to taper off the co2 supply rather than stop it abruptly and allow floating plants to grow across the surface as you reduce the co2 it can work without many problems. I was only using very slow growing plants that can also cope in low light like anubias, java fern, bolbitis moss and buces though and used the co2 to give them a boost before essentially transitioning the tank to low light and low tech. None of the leaves grown with co2 addition melted away or anything like that but it's almost impossible to overstate how drastic the difference in growth rate is between these slow growing plants in a low light low tech environment versus a high tech setup with pressurised co2. Probably in the range of at least ten times slower in my experience. Going from one to the other you're going to end up wondering why your tank doesn't appear to have grown at all for two years.

I’ve done it the same way, with easy plants and low light. Used Dennerle bio-CO2, so the CO2 level reduced naturally towards the end.