My 55 gallon- couple of questions

[petunia100]

I have a 55 gallon tropical community tank that I LOVE! I have Anubias, Crypts, and Java Fern and Moss, and one banana plant. They've been doing okay, but I want a brigher tank. I currently have just under 1 wpg, but and upgrading soon to 130 watts. I am going to be trying to add some DIY CO2 soon also (I'm going to try to do 2 reactors so I can alternate filling them). My questions are:

Is 2 wpg a problem fro crypts? I have quite a few, will they suffer from crypt melt? And if so, will they come back and do okay in ~2wpg?

If I add co2, can I put the co2 line into the filter? I've heard that plumbing it into the filter input works (I have an eheim), but I'm a little worried about the gas locking and ruining my filter. Does this ever happen? Is putting it into the output more effective than some other options (stone, bell diffuser, etc)?

Thanks!

 

[travis simonson]

2 wpg will be fine for your Crypts. I've got close to 4 wpg in my tank and the Crypts do just fine. You may suffer some Crypt melt when you change light - it's hard to predict what might trigger it - but the Crypts should eventually adjust to the higher light levels.

I would recommend avoiding injecting CO2 into your filter input. You can build a cheap PVC reactor that fits inline on your output and is very efficient. That way you don't risk locking up your filter, as you stated.