If you dont want loads of co2 bubbles in the tank place your diffuser under the external filters inlet pipe that way your external filter acts as a reacter, more effiecent for the co2. Also Amazon both do 2k fire estingiusher's for about £30 iam 6 months in on a similiar sized tank and still going.
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Is CO2 really worth it??
- Thread starter Mattant1984
- Start date
Andy Pierce
Member
There is no clear right or wrong answer. I keep both a CO2 injected aquarium and a non-CO2 injected aquarium and I'm perfectly happy that way and not at all tempted to switch either one over.
Mattant1984
Member
Thanks John, to be honest with you my main reasons for giving it a go would be to get better healthier growth and to try plants I would usually never have attempted
Mattant1984
Member
Ive never heard of this but sounds very interesting, have you tried this method yourself?? If so did it work well?
John q
Member
The addition of some co2 (insert arbitrary ppm number here) would make this goal easier. Can the above be achieved without elevated levels of gas? Sure, but it's a nut I've never been able to crack.
I used to have inline CO2 on the suction side of my filter which meant no tiny bubbles in the water. Generally worked well.
Yes its how i do Co2 otherwise theres just to many bubbles all around the tank and it looks unsightly.
Mattant1984
Member
Definitely sounds like something I'd try for sure, i take the CO2 then dissolves in the filter and pipework and then comes out invisible?
Does the co2 going into the filter do anything to the beneficial bacteria? Would love to hear more about this
Yes to the first question and no i don't think so.
background lighting makes the CO2 bubbles effectively invisible.
regarding the maintenance issue, I guess it boils down to what plants you want to grow. and how much maintenance you are prepared to do.
having a tank with slower growing plants like A. Pedicatella means fortnightly instead of weekly maintenance.....
regarding the maintenance issue, I guess it boils down to what plants you want to grow. and how much maintenance you are prepared to do.
having a tank with slower growing plants like A. Pedicatella means fortnightly instead of weekly maintenance.....
LondonDragon
Member
Depends how much work you want to put into it and how fast you want things to change! If you want to turn out a scape often then CO2 is essential, if you want less headaches and easy life then low-tech is the way, just things will grow slow and take time to look their best, and some plants will look different with CO2 or without CO2 (size, shape).
I have 5 tanks running and 4 of them are no CO2 injected and no dosing. 3 of them been running like this for over a decade! Like Andy says there is no wrong answer, just depends what you are trying to achieve and how much work you want to put into it 😉
I have 5 tanks running and 4 of them are no CO2 injected and no dosing. 3 of them been running like this for over a decade! Like Andy says there is no wrong answer, just depends what you are trying to achieve and how much work you want to put into it 😉
_Maq_
Member
If you are attracted to fashionable "scapes", you can't go without CO2. But it takes with a lot of time dedicated to permanent maintenance, and quite a bunch of money. And yet there's another hook: You'll have to start (and spend money) many times over and over until you become a true master and succeed to create something worth the effort. In a way, all that Amano and aquascape stuff is above all a grand business. Many too many believe that the way is to purchase advanced equipment, but only few are working hard enough to learn how to use it efficiently.
I think going the conservative "low-tech" way is easier, safer, and equally rewarding as long as you can simply enjoy it and don't get trapped in a competition for the most amazing tank of the Universe.
I can tell you that very many demanding plants can be kept successfully in low-tech. And very often the most demanding are not the most beautiful. Again, if you resist temptation to compete, you can make a beautiful tank with quite undemanding plants. An example: About fifteen years ago I had a 200-liter tank comprising just of sand, a few pieces of wood, and a lot of Microsorum pteropus (standard form). It was truly undemanding yet perhaps the most beautiful tank I've ever had. I could spend hours observing it and mentally and physically relaxing in the best imaginable way.
In fact, it probably does. These so-called beneficial bacteria are well-researched because of their economical importance for water-processing. Many of them, esp. nitrifying bacteria, are sensitive to elevated content of CO2. But in our practice, it hardly matters. It doesn't mean that CO2 injection kills beneficial bacteria. And most of them are active in the substrate, anyway.
This is something I can't quite comprehend. I've read it in this forum a few times, and - being a low-tech - I can't speak from my own experience. However, unstable concentration of CO2 (and O2) is the most natural thing imaginable. Why should plants suffer from inconsistent concentration of CO2?
Not so much that plants suffer but that algae can prosper, e.g. BBA.
_Maq_
Member
I think such a thing is very hard to prove. But if many aquarists make the same observation, then I believe.
Mattant1984
Member
So guys thanks for the brilliant response to this post.
I have been thinking a lot more into it and think I am possibly chasing perfection that you see in pictures of master aquascaped tanks on instagram etc, in reality at my level of experience its not going to happen for now.
I still think I am going to look more into the low dosing co2 side of things (10-15mg/l) without going full high tech and focus more on keeping easier plants but growing them as best and as healthy as I can without chasing those Instagram pics etc.
So my next question is are there ways of adding a lower dose of co2 that will be reliable and accurate without going full pressurised??
I have been thinking a lot more into it and think I am possibly chasing perfection that you see in pictures of master aquascaped tanks on instagram etc, in reality at my level of experience its not going to happen for now.
I still think I am going to look more into the low dosing co2 side of things (10-15mg/l) without going full high tech and focus more on keeping easier plants but growing them as best and as healthy as I can without chasing those Instagram pics etc.
So my next question is are there ways of adding a lower dose of co2 that will be reliable and accurate without going full pressurised??
Not really, pressurised co2 is easy and you can get some decent deals on second hand gear so it doesn’t have to be expensive either. I was put off for ages but once I took the plunge it was straightforward and allowed me to grow a lot of species I couldn’t previously. Word of warning though if you do go full high tech the growth rate of some species can be hard to handle and can be a lot to keep on top of. I don’t do co2 anymore as Im more interested in fish than plants. I still get decent growth from moss easy species in my tank but it’s nothing like what you get with CO2.
Just make sure you keep it consistent whether you go for low or high co2 levels otherwise algae will soon be on the scene.
Cheers
John q
Member
Andy Pierce
Member
Even if many aquarists make the same observation, I still don't believe it. 😉 I had a very bad experience with BBA in a low tech tank so "consistency of CO2" had nothing to do with anything. I blame elevated organic waste from an ill-conceived hardscape setup that introduced stagnant impossible to clean dead spots and potentially also excessive light. Redoing the hardscape, cutting light intensity by 50% and potentially daily glutaraldehyde (which I add "just in case" but without any real evidence base) have solved this problem for me.
LightingBamboozled
Member
I will say depending on your filter it can be a little noisy, it can cause some burping if the CO2 builds up. But if you're not stretching the amount that can dissolve in the filter you shouldn't have a problem with it.
