diy co2 diffuser

[skyler1354]

hi i am a guppy breeder and i have 3 amazon sword plants with 1.5 wpg but i need to get a diffuser or they will die so any ideas are welcome and i have a limited budget
and i dont have a pump but could get one if needed

[BigJim]

You don't need supplemental CO2 to keep sword plants alive. I have two in my 29g with about 1.25 watts per gallon of light and no extra CO2 and they're fine. One is about the size of a softball, the other a volleyball, and they're growing fast.

[mfdrookie516]

Same here, ive got swords in my 10g, 15w light making 1.5w per gallon... the swords arent just living, theyre taking over... even the root ball that my mbuna ate (learned my lesson with them) is growing like crazy now..

[skyler1354]

thanx guys i will try that this weekend !

[skyler1354]

will i need any fertilizers such as flourish?

[JPKeenan]

fertz can't hurt... unless you over do it. If you want to spend the money on it I say go for it.

I can't say first hand how good or bad they are. I upgraded my lights the same time I bought and added some SeaChem fert. My plants have taken off and are growing like weeds. But with adding the extra light I am not sure if it is the light or the fert or both.

My plants are java ferns and anubuias so they are also low light plants. I am just trying to apply what little I know.

To me I look at the fert as like adding a healthy meal or vitamins to a diet. The fish waste seem to be good enough for the "low care" plants, but adding a vitamin always helps .

[skyler1354]

yah im going for a low light setup too and i will try it and let you know if it works or not

[FishEggs]

amazon swords are root feeders and get really big unless you want to keep pulling off the big leaves to keep it small. i had 2 in my 40 gal and the leaves were getting 24 inches long so i pulled one of them out and am considering taking out the second one. the best thing to do with your money if you want to keep the sword is to buy root tabs. no co2 will be needed with only 1.5 wpg on your tank. if it gets too big for you, you might want to try crypts which are also root feeders and low light but don't get so big.

[JPKeenan]

Like I said. I sort of look at the extra co2 and fert the same as taking a vitamin if you are feeling sick.




this monstrosity doubled my light and I have been able to notice a difference in the plants in just a week. Looks ugly as sin but it's a good stop-gap measure while waiting to save money for a fancy lighting unit .

Better tools would have helped too. Living in an apartment my tools are limited.

[skyler1354]

well i want to go all out low light tank so i think i will try the root tabs and maybe fertz
-thanx

[skyler1354]

and i take vitamins so yah

[fort384]

Careful with ferts. I would look at dosing maybe some potassium and a trace
formula and test todetermine if any extra nitrate would help. Low light means you probably won't need to add any phosphorus. If you start dumping in extra ferts that aren't being utilized by your plants you could end up with a bad algae outbreak.

[JPKeenan]

duh, yeah... Has anyone seen the other half of my butt? *being half butted*

Algae is an issue with increasing light, increasing light cycle time, and with adding ferts.

Funny thing is on the one tank I have seen a decrease in snails and in the other I have seen them go crazy with all the changes but so far no major algae blooms.

Also IMHO best to go with natural solutions for algae problems instead of dosing your tanks with the bottled algae killer. Some plants are prone to algae cause they grow slow. But on the same turn some plants will suck the nutrients out of the water enough so the algae won't go crazy.