Well here I go, armed and dangerous paused on the precipice of a brave new world. Wish me luck, I'm going in...if I'm not back before teatime send in the Marines! 
-
You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
Does the "Walstad Way" involve using C02?
- Thread starter Tim Harrison
- Start date
Watch out for mutant plant growth. Forget the Marines, instead we might have call in the X-Men. 
Cheers,
Cheers,
John S
Member
Keep us all updated Troi.
ceg4048 said:Watch out for mutant plant growth. Forget the Marines, instead we might have call in the X-Men.
Cheers,
davem said:
I will keep you up dated, warts an' all; I hope there won't be too many though...warts that is.
Hi Troi,
are you setting up a new tank for the pressurised c02 or putting it on an existing one?
Good luck,
Ady.
are you setting up a new tank for the pressurised c02 or putting it on an existing one?
Good luck,
Ady.
Ady34 said:
Thanks Ady I think I'm going to need it. I'm going to give what remains of Georges shallow scape a blast for the time being. But the idea wasn't ever to preserve it in aspic; I'ld be foolish to even try (it's a tall order to live up to). So at some point I'll be starting afresh and experimenting with a soil and CO2 combo.
Cool, if you can grow plants without c02 im sure youll take to it like a duck to water.
Keep us posted.
Keep us posted.
I'm really liking this CO2 malarkey. I've been following Clive's advice in his articles "C02 Measurement Using a Drop Checker", and so far all is well; I'm at normal C02 levels at the moment and have just hitched the needle valve up a notch, hoping for the lime green without too much yo yoing; slowly slowly catchee monkey.
The Up-aqua inline atomizer took a while to get going and I gave up messing around with it per instructions and set the reg working pressure at 2 bar, which seems to give a consistent bubble rate; I'm at about 2/sec.
It's probably my imagination but already the plants appear happier. And something else I wasn't expecting, the colours of the fish have become twice as vibrant. I can only put this down to a lowing of the pH, from a consistent 7.4 to a hitherto never achieved 7.2, and falling. If anyone knows better, I would be interested to hear from them.
The Up-aqua inline atomizer took a while to get going and I gave up messing around with it per instructions and set the reg working pressure at 2 bar, which seems to give a consistent bubble rate; I'm at about 2/sec.
It's probably my imagination but already the plants appear happier. And something else I wasn't expecting, the colours of the fish have become twice as vibrant. I can only put this down to a lowing of the pH, from a consistent 7.4 to a hitherto never achieved 7.2, and falling. If anyone knows better, I would be interested to hear from them.
Hi Troi,
Glad it's working out well for you so far. It's more likely that improved appearance by the fish is due to increase dissolved O2 levels rather than pH drop. increased O2 also help the bacteria to lower NH4 more quickly by increased nitrification rate as well.
Cheers,
Glad it's working out well for you so far. It's more likely that improved appearance by the fish is due to increase dissolved O2 levels rather than pH drop. increased O2 also help the bacteria to lower NH4 more quickly by increased nitrification rate as well.
Cheers,
Thanks Clive, now you mention increased O2 levels it all makes perfect sense; it was hovering somewhere way back in my subconscious. Good article by the way, it's really useful to have that kind of resource at your finger tips.
foxfish said:
doh!...science 101...
hinch
Member
I hooked up co2 to my soil low tech tank the other week too so it'll be interesting to see how yours fares in comparison to my attempt. although i dare say i'm using alot less light than you only 18w over a 60l 2 foot tank
hinch said:
You've beaten me to it; I'm not using soil yet but plan to soon. Obviously it was a deliberate ploy so that you can give me the benefit of your expereince
I'd be interested to know how it works out.I've also modified my luminaire by adding a few LEDs - but more on that later.
hinch
Member
I did the whole tank on a budget thing and use john innes no3 soil under a gravel cap. had it up and running for a week or 2 then stuck on co2. using APF's all in one I put 25ml in a day though its also diluted to a 2:1 from what it should be so its not actually alot of ferts relying on the soil to provide alot of it. Also have a scattering of osmocote under the soil.
Lighting is a 18 watt plant glo T8 (though I may change this in future to a t5 luminaire). Filtration and movement is done by a eheim aquaball internal plan is to upgrade this to an APS 1000l/h external in the future to help me increase the overall water volume the filter holds 10 litres so its quite a large increase in water overall.
There's no additional PH for movement yet and flow seems to be good getting nice circulation all plants waving around in the flow etc and the co2 bubbles are getting all over the tank.
The tank its self is in a darkish corner so doesn't get much direct or indirect sunlight. co2 comes on at 2 lights come on at 4 co2 goes off at 9 lights off at 11. I may yet reduce both the co2 and light period but its only been a couple of weeks so I'm still monitoring it all keeping an eye on it.
So far the tank parameters are nice and stable and I've not had any algae outbreaks yet (I do have the injection rate quite low though not chucking tonnes of the stuff in yet don't think I need to with the low lighting level), Only thing I've really noticed so far is PH has tanked down at 6.5 now so I may yet need to buffer it back up to neutral again though not really been running long enough to make a positive decision either way just keeping an eye on it at the moment.
Lighting is a 18 watt plant glo T8 (though I may change this in future to a t5 luminaire). Filtration and movement is done by a eheim aquaball internal plan is to upgrade this to an APS 1000l/h external in the future to help me increase the overall water volume the filter holds 10 litres so its quite a large increase in water overall.
There's no additional PH for movement yet and flow seems to be good getting nice circulation all plants waving around in the flow etc and the co2 bubbles are getting all over the tank.
The tank its self is in a darkish corner so doesn't get much direct or indirect sunlight. co2 comes on at 2 lights come on at 4 co2 goes off at 9 lights off at 11. I may yet reduce both the co2 and light period but its only been a couple of weeks so I'm still monitoring it all keeping an eye on it.
So far the tank parameters are nice and stable and I've not had any algae outbreaks yet (I do have the injection rate quite low though not chucking tonnes of the stuff in yet don't think I need to with the low lighting level), Only thing I've really noticed so far is PH has tanked down at 6.5 now so I may yet need to buffer it back up to neutral again though not really been running long enough to make a positive decision either way just keeping an eye on it at the moment.
Sounds like you've made a positive start. Look forward to reading more as it develops 
hinch
Member
Troi said:Sounds like you've made a positive start. Look forward to reading more as it develops
knowing my luck probably either badly or not at all
hinch
Member
thought you may like an update things seem to be going fine no sign of algae yet, tank now has some fish in it and I've not gassed any of them which is a bonus.
I'm getting a fair amount of crypt die off on the old "low tech only" leafs however there's alot of new leafs shooting through especially on the wenditii green's the browns don't seem to be suffering the same amount of die off or regrowth. All in though so far so good
I'm getting a fair amount of crypt die off on the old "low tech only" leafs however there's alot of new leafs shooting through especially on the wenditii green's the browns don't seem to be suffering the same amount of die off or regrowth. All in though so far so good
