bubble wall and biofilm

[pantherspawn]

Mine is planted pretty heavily with no co2. It all comes down to your lighting and your types of plants. IMO plants will do well without use of co2 cannisters. They may grow larger and faster with it, but for me its an expense and hassle I would rather live without. There is no co2 cannisters pumped into the wild where all of these plants come from and thrive.

 

[Irish.OG87]

Mine is planted pretty heavily with no co2. It all comes down to your lighting and your types of plants. IMO plants will do well without use of co2 cannisters. They may grow larger and faster with it, but for me its an expense and hassle I would rather live without. There is no co2 cannisters pumped into the wild where all of these plants come from and thrive.

my lighting is pretty decent...i use LEDs so its hard to determine how decent my fixture is. reading other articles its "supposedly" medium to high light.

 

[pantherspawn]

Depends on the type of led. If its home made then they usually run 1-3 watts per bulb for the good ones. If its the marineland coral and reef lighting it runs just about 1 watt per. And if its the standard marineland day/night setup that comes with the hood on the store bought 10-20 gallons, then its just standard which would be considered barely low light.

 

[Irish.OG87]

Depends on the type of led. If its home made then they usually run 1-3 watts per bulb for the good ones. If its the marineland coral and reef lighting it runs just about 1 watt per. And if its the standard marineland day/night setup that comes with the hood on the store bought 10-20 gallons, then its just standard which would be considered barely low light.

ye its the reef capable lighting...and i have a 36bf...you think its would be sufficient?

 

[pantherspawn]

I think that would be plenty for a medium light setup. I wouldn't think you would need co2 with that lighting. The only time you need co2 for sure would be in a high light environment with over 3 watts per gallon give or take. I too run in a medium light setup and run about 2.5 watts per gallon and I only use root tabs once per month and flourish once per week after water changes. Not excel, just flourish. I get about 2 inches of growth or more per week on all of my plants except the anubais which grow slowly.

 

[pantherspawn]

Don't get me wrong, some people get way more into it and have amazing tanks, I for one am not that experienced nor dedicated to all of the extras. My plants grow well, my fish are happy and therefore I'm happy.

 

[Irish.OG87]

Don't get me wrong, some people get way more into it and have amazing tanks, I for one am not that experienced nor dedicated to all of the extras. My plants grow well, my fish are happy and therefore I'm happy.

+1 pantherspawn...thats all i want happy plants and happy fish w/o the extras. Tell me, root tabs are they beneficial cos i currently have vals and some chain sword leaves turning yellowish brown wud these root tabs help out?

 

[pantherspawn]

Yes. You basically have a few types of needed minerals and organics in which the plants need to survive and thrive. Yellow leaves could be a few things, maybe an iron deficiency. Root tabs are going to benefit those plants that are heavy root feeders, like your swords. You can pick up a pack of tabs at your local lfs for like $5 either an API or similar brand. Put one tab within a 4 inch diameter of your swords and like plants. You only need to putnew tabs in Inc's every month or so. Alot would have to do with your substrate as well.. finer substrate will give your plants a better shot at rooting and absorbing nutrients. I use a combination of eco complete, sand and fine gravel. Everyone has their preferences but I have yet to hear anything bad about eco complete.

 

[Irish.OG87]

Yes. You basically have a few types of needed minerals and organics in which the plants need to survive and thrive. Yellow leaves could be a few things, maybe an iron deficiency. Root tabs are going to benefit those plants that are heavy root feeders, like your swords. You can pick up a pack of tabs at your local lfs for like $5 either an API or similar brand. Put one tab within a 4 inch diameter of your swords and like plants. You only need to putnew tabs in Inc's every month or so. Alot would have to do with your substrate as well.. finer substrate will give your plants a better shot at rooting and absorbing nutrients. I use a combination of eco complete, sand and fine gravel. Everyone has their preferences but I have yet to hear anything bad about eco complete.

haha thats funny you say that...the substrate i use is eco complete mixed with aquarium gravel. eco complete works for me i like it especially the color black which goes great with my black gravel.

 

[pantherspawn]

Yeah the finer stuff will sink to the bottom and give the plants a great place to take hold. I use the red with a light brown and white river rock. The black looks amazing but I went for a more natural approach. I do have black in other tanks though. Double check the planting requirsments for some of those plants. I made the mistake of planting some too deep in the gravel at first and had some of the plant root die off. Aldo a good idea to trim the roots from time to time, especially if they've been moved. Promotes new growth and takes in nutrients better

 

[Irish.OG87]

im going to be moving alot of stuff around as soon as my dw gets here (coming from taiwan) (ebay). sotrimming the roots..u may have saved me 30 bucks in plants thx lol i thought about throwing some fine river rock around just to kinda make the substrate notboring kinda livin it up a bit if ya know what i mean. btw sry for crashin ur thread.

 

[pantherspawn]

Haha no worries. Hope it was of some help. There are alot of knowledgable people on here and you can never learn too much. Best piece of advicx I can give is to do what works for you. Some times it takes trial and error but nobody's setup is the same. Ask as many questions as you can until you have an idea about what you want to do and what direction to take and then run with it. Just be patient and persistant. If something doesn't work the first time, keep trying and eventually you'll be the master of your own domain.