Help with CO2 Please.

[Ahmed dada]

Hi everyone

So I have a 50.3 gallon aquarium currently stocked with 5 Glowlight Tetras and lots of plants. I notice my plants are slowly dying and I want to save them as I spent a fortune on them! I currently have Tetra root tabs around all the plants and (as per the instructions) I dose Tetra PlantaMin every four weeks. Apparently what I seemed to be lacking was CO2 so 30 minutes ago I constructed a DIY CO2 setup with a 2L bottle and a smaller one with clean water.

I know I would need two bottles of CO2 for this tank but I just want to see if I can actually get this to work as I'm NOT the DIY guy!

So far I see no bubbles in the water counter thingy unless I shake the yeast mixture (then lots of large ones appear) I assume this is because the pressure of CO2 is building up? There are about 3 bubbles that have formed on top of the yeast mix. Is this normal too? What else can I expect? There seem to be layers in the mix. It is some undisolved sugar on the bottom, a yellow line of Yeast and some sugar-water on the top. Is this normal too? I plan on diffusing it into the aquarium by using an air stone and placing on the bottom of the tank under the filter flow. THe bubble will slowly rise to the top and once at the top it will enter the giant filter current. Is this OK too?

PS: I am running a Juwel Trigon 190 with T5 lighting.

Thanks so much for your help! As you can tell, I'm new to this type of plant life (I just used to have Java Fern in my old tank) and I really appreciate all the help I get from this forum! Keep on keeping on!

 

[Rivercats]

What size tank do you have? You wrote 50.3 but have no clue what you mean, sorry.

If you have a large tank, say 50 gallons as it would appear then DIY CO2 won't be enough.

Do you have T5HO or T5NO lighting? Also what plants and how many?

You can use liquid carbon such as Excel or API CO2 Booster instead of CO2 but if you want to do CO2 and have a big tank you will need to get pressurized. You also need to be using better fertilizers. If you have a large tank dry fertilizers which give you all the macro and micro nutrients plants need is very economical.

What are your nitrate and phosphate readings?

 

[jetajockey]

It takes a few hours for the pressure to build up, so just be patient. Be sure to check for leaks also when its up and running.