lighting question

[shawmutt]

Yet another question for the plant people along the same lines of my last post (varying substrate). I read in a post in here that co2 does not do any good with low lighting. I have a diy co2 injector, using 2 2-liter bottles. I change one a week, alternating between the two. I have the regular light that came with the tank, a 20 watt flourescent, which works out to .67 watts per gallon in my 30 gallon tank. Is my co2 a waste of time? Is the low lighting contributing to the weak leaf growth on my amazon (see my "varying substrate" post)?

 

[justDIY]

I'd have to say yes, the adding co2 under such low light levels is probably a waste of time / money.

most of the 'amazon' swords appericate medium to high light , 2 to 5 watts/gallon, and they're often grown by suppliers in tanks exposed to full or partial sunlight.

however, putting a sword under bright lights, without feeding it's roots and supplying it with CO2 won't result in much growth either.

all the components work together and need some sort of balance, lighting, co2, fertilizers.

 

[Biggen]

Yeah I would agree with glmclell, that your wpg is a little low for your DIY Co2. You would see much better growth if you could raise your light level up to at least 2 wpg and then use CO2.