Mineralizing top soil

[jetajockey]

That's cool. The purpose of the bell design is to allow the co2 to have maximum contact time with the water so that it gets absorbed better than it would if you just had the co2 bubbling in there. If it works then don't fix what ain't broken. I would get a drop checker to try to get an idea of what your co2 concentration is. What size tank was this again?

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

It's a 10 gallon tank with a submersed 10 gal filter. I don have a heater currently is that a necessity for plant growth?

 

[jetajockey]

No, plants do not need a heater.

 

[aqua_chem]

You should be able to diffuse co2 through many ceramic diffusers with lower pressure like you would get with a DIY co2 setup. Only the fine pore ceramic 'atomizer' type diffusers need 25 psi.

And you won't necessarily need a heater for plants, assuming the temperature tends to stay at a reasonable level (ie above 70 or so). You might start getting unintended consequences much lower than that.

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

I will upload a picture of the tank now. Should I add fish in a few days to start getting the ammonia level up in the water to feed the plants? I wanna make this a species tank of only ghost catfish since they like planted tanks and are docile and cool looking

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

Dwarf hairgrass in the front. Red telanthera in the back. An unknown crypt on the right (it's an extra that I had from my other tank. They spread really easily. And on the left some peacock ferns

 

[jetajockey]

It just depends on how you want to go about it. You could still fishless cycle, or fish in, either way. If you do fish-in do not stock heavily, just a small fish or two for the first couple of weeks and then if everything is kosher then finish stocking.

Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

You do not need fish in the tank to feed the plants, just dose nitrate (kno3) for nitrogen if that's a concern.

 

[aqua_chem]

Your best bet is probably fish-in, or similar to it. I wouldn't trust any significant amounts of ammonia with that much light. It's super possible that you'll run into green water issues. Silent cycling may be an option.

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

If I would do fish-in it would probably be with "safe start" which is liquid bacteria. It's worked on all f my tanks so far. Also I wanted to add that there is a thin layer of dust on all of my plants. Will this impede growth?

 

[aqua_chem]

Probably not. Not unless it blocks significant amounts of light.

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

And I would add the fish mostly to help the plant growth

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

New update. All the plants seem to have this white film on them. And the top of the water has got a film on it as well

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

Any ideas on what this is? Or on how I should get rid of it?

 

[jetajockey]

It kinda looks like that fungus stuff that sometimes shows up on newly added driftwood. Does it wipe off?

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

I haven't tried to wipe it off yet. Should I? I'm planning on buying a heater next week and adding fish.

 

[jetajockey]

It might go away on it's own.

 

[Bcuzimbatman]

Some of it has gone away. But the rest is getting fuzzy. The plants don seem to care but it isn't very good looking.