co2 Help

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I just logged back on to edit the post, I meant excel.

Would my tank be stable with excel, or will I have issues like with diy?
 
Flourish is about 30-40% of the effectiveness of CO2. IMO, it's a great augment to a low-medium light tank or a tank that's riiiiight on the edge of CO2 required. It is not, however, a replacement for quality CO2.


I would also like to add that DIY CO2 isn't nearly as effective on 20+ tanks. I would peg a 29 at about the feasible limit of quality results.
 
aqua_chem said:
Flourish is about 30-40% of the effectiveness of CO2. IMO, it's a great augment to a low-medium light tank or a tank that's riiiiight on the edge of CO2 required. It is not, however, a replacement for quality CO2.

I would also like to add that DIY CO2 isn't nearly as effective on 20+ tanks. I would peg a 29 at about the feasible limit of quality results.

Would you say 78 watts of t5 ho is riiiight on the edge, or high light?
 
Do you think if I forget to add excel one day, the tank will get all off balanced?
 
This thread's been an excellent read.... been considering a lot of this stuff myself. Thanks for all the great info, guys.

Do you think if I forget to add excel one day, the tank will get all off balanced?

I was just in the store today looking at the Flourish line of products, and if I recall correctly, the Excel had a weekly dosage.
 
I agree. I think Flourish Excel is something like a weekly dosage and the Flourish fertilizer is daily or every two days.
I think it depends on several factors and is somewhat flexible, although there is a caution not to overdose.
 
Excel has a half life of around 12 hours, meaining that after 12 hours, half of it is gone, and after 24 hours, 75% of it is broken down. It needs to be dosed daily or every other day for maximum effect.

Flourish fertilizers, like all fertilizers, should be dosed as needed. Some tanks could get by with once a week, but more demanding ones need more.
 
You guys are right. I got them mixed up.
Sorry about that!
 
Change of plans, I'm going with a 55 g and I'm getting a fixture with 108 watts, 1 10k and 1 actinic. Instead of replacing the actinic, what if I left it in. Then I'd have only 54 watts of usable light. So would that be medium or low light? Or better yet, cansomeone tell me how you tell what level of lighting a tank has?
 
Thank you! This link cleared up a lot. But I am still unsure if I should leave the bulbs the way they are and have 54 watts, or exchange the actinic and have 108 watts.
 
Well if you stay at 54w on a 55g you will be only able to grow low light plants, IMO. If you got two 5-10k bulbs you would be at 108w over a 55g which would put you in the low-medium range. You can grow a wider variety of plants and you should not have excessive light that it would cause algae issues. You would probably want to plant it a bit heavy to start with and then pick what species you want in the long run.
 
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