Help my poor plants!
- Thread starter brunettebaby4571
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ok well I was thinking about the osmocote tabs for right now as they are a decent bit cheaper and see how they work. It wont hurt my fish right? I am afraid my melon sword isnt going to make it it is starting to look worse and worse and I cant get the tabs right away...Is there anything else I can do? I reallllyy appreciate your help! You have been super helpful with all this!
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
So I should leave the airstones on at night than? What about when I get co2? Will the airstones push the co2 out of the water?
richpowell1989
Aquarium Advice FINatic
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I have never used an airstone in my tanks and never will !! They are a waste of time all you need is surface movement from your filter and by this I don't mean huge splashs I mean just your filter causing ripples at the surface
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Well the air stone I have in there now is for aesthetic reasons its a long bendable tube but I love the look of it and my fish love it too they are always swimming though it and what not. But what I want to know is will the air just push the co2 out?
richpowell1989
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brunettebaby4571 said:
It will definitely diffuse a lot of co2 I use pressurized co2 and it will release a lot of it.
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ok thats what I thought. I figured it would just bubble it all away! haha so I wouldnt be able to use my airstones with co2?? 
richpowell1989
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Well a lot of people do use them but you will lose a lot of co2 that's why I don't use them at all but like I said you can use them. I think its down to you really its upto you I just don't see the point in paying good money on your co2 to just chuck it away but if your using DIY co2 its free but in my opinion completely useless
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brunettebaby4571
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Yeah I was layin in bed and was watching the bubbles and I thought about the co2 and just wondered if the bubbles would get rid of a lot of it. Thank you
richpowell1989
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No worries here to help
here to help
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brunettebaby4571
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What about flourish excel? I know its not liquid co2 or anything but would it be better than having no co2 at all? Atleast til I get the money to fork out for a co2 system?
richpowell1989
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brunettebaby4571 said:
Yeah its better than no co2 at all but it really ain't any were as good as co2 dysten plus i have heard it causes some types of plants to melt but like you said it will work untill you can get a co2 system
aqua_chem
Aquarium Advice Addict
For the last time, if you are NOT diffusing co2 into your system, either via DIY or pressurized, then an airstone, wand, or any other surface disruption will not only NOT reduce co2 levels, but will also in fact INCREASE co2 level. Oxygen levels themselves have nothing to do with co2 levels.
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Thank you aquachem I guess I was just a little confused about it :/ Was just laying there and that thought popped into my head! Thank you! You guys have been a great help! Now I just have to get some money to get all this in order! Thank you
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
So if I do use co2 aquachem will the bubbles decrease the co2? Sorry I am trying to understand all this :/
skywhitney
Aquarium Advice Addict
How long have you had the sword? I am dealing with the same issue right now and with the help of some others on the forum and some research I've found that a lot of the plants you buy form stores are actually grown in an emersed state and not a submerged state so there will be a transition period where, if like mine, the leaves will turn brown, then yellow, then transparent. When the leaves hit this transparent stage go ahead and cut them off so the plant can put the energy into the new growth instead of trying to repair the dead leaf.
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I have had the plants for probably a few months and they were in a tank when I bought them and they have been doing really well since I got them and then out of no where the leaves started curling and it started getting transparent :/ But I did go ahead and cut them off last night...How far should I cut down?
aqua_chem
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yes, if you are injecting CO2 (not Excel though), then an airstone will decrease your CO2 levels.
Here's how it works.
If you have a tank with nothing in it, then it will have a certain CO2 level, somewhere between 2 and 7 ppm. This is what we will call the 'equilibrium level' of CO2, or the level that the water tank will naturally want to return to if left alone long enough. Increasing surface agitation, whether from increased flow or an airstone, allows for gas exchange to occur much more easily than with a still surface. This gas exchange makes the tank want to return to its equilibrium level of, say, 5 ppm. Now if we have plants in the tank that are actively using CO2, then our CO2 levels are going to be reduced below the natural state of 5 ppm to lets say 1 ppm. In this case, when surface agitation occurs and attempts to restore the natural level, we are actually introducing CO2 to the tank.
Now, if we are injecting CO2, we are raising the CO2 levels ABOVE their natural levels, up to say 30 ppm. In this case, when we cause surface agitation, the natural state of 5 ppm that we are attempting to restore is LESS than our current levels, which causes a net LOSS of CO2.
This isn't to say that we can't have any surface disturbance when injecting CO2. Lets say that I'm injecting CO2 into my tank to bring my tank up to a maximum of 30 ppm, but my HOB filter is causing enough agitation to cause my levels to be less than that, say 20 ppm. So my CO2 is still elevated, but it's not as high as it could be. This is one of the reasons that pressurized CO2 is plain better than DIY CO2. DIY CO2 has a constant maximum CO2 level that can't be easily increased. So if you DIY CO2 puts out 25 ppm of CO2 but your HOB is killing 10 ppm of that and your bubbler is reducing it another 15 ppm, then your CO2 levels are going to end up being just a little more than the natural 5 ppm. If you instead have pressurized CO2, you can easily increase your CO2 output to a maximum of, say, 55 ppm which is reduced by 15 ppm by the bubbler and 10 ppm by the HOB to a healthy 30 ppm level. Of course, if you got a filter that doesn't disrupt the surface like a HOB and didn't use an airstone, you could still run at 55 ppm, of you can turn it and run at 30 ppm.
Here's how it works.
If you have a tank with nothing in it, then it will have a certain CO2 level, somewhere between 2 and 7 ppm. This is what we will call the 'equilibrium level' of CO2, or the level that the water tank will naturally want to return to if left alone long enough. Increasing surface agitation, whether from increased flow or an airstone, allows for gas exchange to occur much more easily than with a still surface. This gas exchange makes the tank want to return to its equilibrium level of, say, 5 ppm. Now if we have plants in the tank that are actively using CO2, then our CO2 levels are going to be reduced below the natural state of 5 ppm to lets say 1 ppm. In this case, when surface agitation occurs and attempts to restore the natural level, we are actually introducing CO2 to the tank.
Now, if we are injecting CO2, we are raising the CO2 levels ABOVE their natural levels, up to say 30 ppm. In this case, when we cause surface agitation, the natural state of 5 ppm that we are attempting to restore is LESS than our current levels, which causes a net LOSS of CO2.
This isn't to say that we can't have any surface disturbance when injecting CO2. Lets say that I'm injecting CO2 into my tank to bring my tank up to a maximum of 30 ppm, but my HOB filter is causing enough agitation to cause my levels to be less than that, say 20 ppm. So my CO2 is still elevated, but it's not as high as it could be. This is one of the reasons that pressurized CO2 is plain better than DIY CO2. DIY CO2 has a constant maximum CO2 level that can't be easily increased. So if you DIY CO2 puts out 25 ppm of CO2 but your HOB is killing 10 ppm of that and your bubbler is reducing it another 15 ppm, then your CO2 levels are going to end up being just a little more than the natural 5 ppm. If you instead have pressurized CO2, you can easily increase your CO2 output to a maximum of, say, 55 ppm which is reduced by 15 ppm by the bubbler and 10 ppm by the HOB to a healthy 30 ppm level. Of course, if you got a filter that doesn't disrupt the surface like a HOB and didn't use an airstone, you could still run at 55 ppm, of you can turn it and run at 30 ppm.
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ok I actually understood all that!!!! Thank you for taking the time to write all that!
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brunettebaby4571
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Now about the plant. How far should I cut down on it? As far as I can orrr just take the leaf off? I assume cutting all the way down would be the best thing to do but heck I dont know anything about plants lol just that I love them!
