Quick notes for the group- these are my experiences, your results may vary.
If you want nice big plants in your tank, use CO2. Period.
If you are using an air stone in your tank because you've always used an air stone in all your aquariums- stop. Yes it really does cause the CO2 to dissipate out of the tank- trust me.
If you provide ample, ample lights and CO2 for the tank- the plants still need to eat. Use root tabs and liquid fertilizer. Use in accordance with the directions........but you may have more plants than the average fella. If you do, you may need more food for all those plants. There is alot of trial and error and you'll gain a sense for how often you should add fertilizer just by looking at the plants and looking out for algae.
It took me about two or three days to see any hint of of any possible CO2 benefit....and even then, I'm not sure.
If you have a large tank, mine is 180g, you probably ought to go big on CO2- one bubble per second was not doing it for me. Mine is much, much higher than that. And while some CO2 is likely surplus, the fish are not affected and I'd rather have surplus than deficit.
I changed the direction of a power head in the tank, which created a large current down towards the bottom of the tank. The plants like it a lot. Madagascar lace, apparently, grows in high current areas and thuse the perforated leaves. Since adjusting the power head, the Madagascar Lace, in particular, has shot up. I have several new leaves and they are near horizontal in the tank and over a foot long- in just a week.
There are all sorts of schemes and methods for trying to determine how much CO2 is in your tank, etc. And I sort of gave up and went with the advice of "just look at the fish and look at the plants". It works.
More later.
If you want nice big plants in your tank, use CO2. Period.
If you are using an air stone in your tank because you've always used an air stone in all your aquariums- stop. Yes it really does cause the CO2 to dissipate out of the tank- trust me.
If you provide ample, ample lights and CO2 for the tank- the plants still need to eat. Use root tabs and liquid fertilizer. Use in accordance with the directions........but you may have more plants than the average fella. If you do, you may need more food for all those plants. There is alot of trial and error and you'll gain a sense for how often you should add fertilizer just by looking at the plants and looking out for algae.
It took me about two or three days to see any hint of of any possible CO2 benefit....and even then, I'm not sure.
If you have a large tank, mine is 180g, you probably ought to go big on CO2- one bubble per second was not doing it for me. Mine is much, much higher than that. And while some CO2 is likely surplus, the fish are not affected and I'd rather have surplus than deficit.
I changed the direction of a power head in the tank, which created a large current down towards the bottom of the tank. The plants like it a lot. Madagascar lace, apparently, grows in high current areas and thuse the perforated leaves. Since adjusting the power head, the Madagascar Lace, in particular, has shot up. I have several new leaves and they are near horizontal in the tank and over a foot long- in just a week.
There are all sorts of schemes and methods for trying to determine how much CO2 is in your tank, etc. And I sort of gave up and went with the advice of "just look at the fish and look at the plants". It works.
More later.
