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Providing 'just enough' CO2

For demanding Dutch stems that need CO2 for life support, many reported immediate bba outbreak running out of CO2 for just a few days.

How the plants cope will be very plant dependant, one glove will not fit all, plus one user might not reduce the light intensity as much as another.
 
instead there'll be a little contraption that just pulls in CO2 from the air into your tank!
It's already been invented by mother nature, it's called atmospheric equilibrium. You don't get anywhere near the co2 as an injection kit but it's free. Don't tell Ada though or they'll sell a stainless version of it for a grand. It'll just be a glass or stainless bucket that hangs over your aquarium on a bracket that cost another hundred. ;)
 
Hi all,
Don't tell Ada though or they'll sell a stainless version of it for a grand. It'll just be a glass or stainless bucket that hangs over your aquarium on a bracket that cost another hundred.
Cynical, but if Seachem did the advertising they might be able to sell the ADA bucket for two grand.

cheers Darrel
 
Cynical, but if Seachem did the advertising they might be able to sell the ADA bucket for two grand.
The worry is though I'd probably still buy it then put it in my fishkeeping cupboard at work with all the rest of the fad stuff I've bought. A high tecker would be like a kid in a sweet shop in my lockup although my current set up is using a £20 light with a £10 filter and a tank that someone gave me for free.
 
that I have no recollection of buying.
I know the feeling, the other day I was looking for my chihiros doctor device realised there was a 300 optiwhite cube with light in there that hadn't been out the box I'd forgot I bought it. The mad thing about it is I've been intending to set up a soiled cube for about two years now and have a scruffy old aqua one I've had since God knows when sitting with some bog wood in to sink it. Fair to say it's sank, it's been there that long java moss is starting to grow on the wood :)
The best find I'd forgot I had by far though was a set of 16mm glass spray bars!
And that's before I get into the ADA 60-h with cabinet, numerous regulators, ways of dissolving and the numerous light fittings and filters that went with that. One of them situations where the minute I sell anything I know I'll wish I kept it. Fair to say I'm a hoarder when it comes to equipment.
That's one positive side to co2 injection, people get that pissed off with the hobby they sell all their gear to me who never gets round to using it. :D
 
The £30 tank has giving me the most satisfaction though so far and not as heavy on the head as my previous exploits. If I may say so myself for a non co2 setup....
 

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Wow! Just realised that this tank has been running for nearly three and a half years. Where does the time go? I think I learned more from this tank than any previous set up. It's been from low tech, to high tech and back to low. I think the biggest thing I've took from it was not learning how to grow plants in a non co2 tank but finding out plants are as individual as we are and they all like being treat differently. I even know some of their names, well sort of I just couldn't spell it :D
The biggest plus being it's on my office desk so it's made it worthwhile going in some mornings, I hate being in the office, much prefer being out on site but it makes it tolerable if a tad distracting at times.
 
Another thing that's just dawned on me is those Cory Sterbai are probably six years old. They came from my high tech set up from home before I stripped it down and were in that from day one. Not sure how long that is in fish years but they are probably eligible for a Covid Vaccine.
 
Another reason why you don’t need 30 ppm CO2 if you keep shrimp.


According to the study on the toxicity effects of CO2 in juvenile (1.76 ± 0.36 g) white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Biologists exposed shrimp for 96 hours to one of six concentrations of dissolved CO2 (14.5, 23.8, 59.0, 88.0, 115.0, and 175.0 mg/L).

The LC50 values with 95% confidence limits at:

  • 24 h – 130.05 (104.2–162.1) mg/L of CO2.
  • 48 h – 77.2 (73.8–80.02) mg/L of CO2.
  • 72 h – 69.65 (65.47–74.32) mg/L of CO2.
  • 96 h – 59.12 (53.08–66.07) mg/L of CO2.
The highest concentration that did not induce significantly higher mortality was 23.8 mg/L of CO2. Although that experiment was not on dwarf shrimp species, it still gives us some real data.
 
Best analogy for plant growth is building a wall, you need a brick/macros and mortar sand/micros and cement/co2 as the plant grows it needs all three at the pace you build driven by light. As light increases you build the wall faster, the secret is to never run out of any of the three, adding a touch more co2 just makes sure you don't run out of that which is the easiest to run out of.
That’s an interesting way of explaining it but it definitely helped paint a picture. 👍
 
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