Does my aquarium need co2

[Baydo]

I have just set up a 15 gallon planted tank and was wondering if I need co2 for my tank.

At the moment I have chainswords, dwarf hair grass, Amazon swords and anubias. I have fluval stratum as substarte and fluval aquasky as lighting which is on 8 hours a day. I dose easy life pro fit and easy life easy carbo weekly. I have 8 neon tetras, 4 panda cories, 3 oto cats and 10 red cherry shrimp

 

[ksimmons8001]

You do not need co2 for those plants. In fact, there are very few that you will need it for. Up your lighting to about 12 hours a day and the plants will do well. Keep the anubias trimmed as they will block light to your Grasses as they grow. There is not a whole lot of need for fertilizer for your plants. They thrive well on their own. Sit back, keep the water clean and enjoy. Patience is the key.

 

[Bert2oo1]

You do not need co2 for those plants. In fact, there are very few that you will need it for. Up your lighting to about 12 hours a day and the plants will do well. Keep the anubias trimmed as they will block light to your Grasses as they grow. There is not a whole lot of need for fertilizer for your plants. They thrive well on their own. Sit back, keep the water clean and enjoy. Patience is the key.

Disagree with you here, Amazon swords will benefit from liquid carbon and ferts in the water column. Hairgrass is extremely hard to grow without co2 (I’ve seen many people here try without success). Anubias grows anywhere with little ferts etc.

No more than 8 hours of lights on or you’ll end up with a heap of algae. I’d also keep that light dimmed and work your way up from about 60% strength until your dosing and water parameters etc Balance’s out.

100% intensity at 12 hours with no ferts is just asking for trouble

 

[flitabout]

I agree with Bert. Hairgrass is a pain to grow with out it Liquid carbon is only good in the water column for max of 18 hours so it needs to be dosed daily. The sword and the anubia will do fine without the CO2. It's the DHG that will really need it. I have grown it with just liquid carbon but you need to high dose it. The longer you leave the lights on the more fertilizer your plants will need. Swords are heavy root feeders and really need root tabs of some sort. If you want to see how your plants do with CO2 without a huge investment you can always try it out with a DIY yeast bomb set up.
Here is a video on how to set one up. Mine is slightly different and larger because I pump it in to a 55g I also have a drop checker to make sure I am getting enough co2 in to the tank along with my high dosing of glut.

Also here is the difference with high dose glut and proper ferts in one month and no ne plants where added.

 

[Caliban07]

My lights are on fairly low for 10 hours a day and I plan to take this up to 12 next week. I don’t have co2 or dose nutrients (far too many issues for one reason or another)

A side from a bit of algae that I have to scrub only once it a while it’s been doing ok. Hair grass is making the transition well. This tank is being run fairly different to the average keeper right now.

I don’t know how you would define clean but I no longer change water and just top up with RO. Really happy with how it’s turning out.