Do I need CO2?

[puffergirl]

Hi, I'm new to planted tanks. I want to set up my 20gal guppy tank as a heavily planted tank. Í read the post about starting up a planted tank, thank you it is very imformative. Just curious though, do I need CO2 for my planted tank? I'm looking at something called the "Natual Plant System" I want my plants to be very vibrant and to get it right the first time even if it means more work. Any help is greatly appretiated.

 

[malkore]

CO2 demands are dictated by lighting intensity.

What type of lights, and what wattage are you running?

 

[travis simonson]

If you're going for a low-light, low-maintenance, non-CO2 supplemented tank you could get some good info from reading this article by the master of such tanks, Karen Randall:

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/basics-randall.html

 

[youronlysin]

you could get some good info from reading this article by the master of such tanks, Karen Randall:

There are other masters besides you and Malkore??? I would have never guessed!

 

[czcz]

Very informative link. Thanks Travis.

 

[Steve Hampton]

I love this quote from Karen.

Remember, that the information I'm giving you here is "cook book". There
are a lot of recipes out there for pumpkin pie.

Karen is one of the few experts that never professes to hold all the answers and she never seem obsessed with pushing her opinions and "style"...wish a few others would take the hint.

Anyway...like Karen I too have a recipe for a low light non CO2 injected tank, developed over many years and has been repeated successfully many times myself. It's loosely patterned around Diana Walstad's philosophy of planted tanks.

http://www.aquariaplants.com/lowlighttank.htm

 

[Guest]

I'd suggest a co2 unit made by hagen. You can find it relatively cheap at http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19237;category_id=3349;pcid1=;pcid2=

HTH
-Stewie

 

[puffergirl]

I have an Aqua Glo 15whatt bulb on my tanks now.

 

[frog girl]

At less than 1 wpg you really don't need CO2. You are more likely to be light limited than CO2 limited. There are tons of low light plants out there that are beautiful.

Best of luck.

 

[BrianNY]

JMO but a newbie to plants is so much better off starting with a low light tank. It will give you a chance to understand the water chemistry and maintenance without spending alot of money on equipment. Then if you decide you want to take on the challenge of high tech planted tank, you'll be all the wiser and much more prepared.

Here's my low light 55.

 

[travis simonson]

Here's a quick list of limiting factors in order of precedence that's always helped me understand what I need to think of first: Light > CO2 > NO3 > K > PO4 > Micronutrients. I don't claim that it is scripture but it has worked for me