C02 and top growth
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
Probably. You could try glutaraldehyde which is a form of liquid carbon. I'm guessing these are stem plants? They will drop older leaves in favour of new growth that is closer to the light and atmospheric co2.
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lksdrinker
Aquarium Advice Activist
Which finnex light? Chances are its not quite as strong as you may think especially on a tall tank like a 55. Typically no growth on the lower portion of the plants is attributed to a lack of light. Either caused by the light you're using not being strong enough; or the upper growth is shadowing out the lower part of the tank/plants.
Adding pressurized co2 is not something many people regret doing; but its only one part of a multi pronged approach. Plants need light and co2 for photosynthesis at its basic form. But the light intensity plays a big factor here as does co2 levels as well as nutrients in the water column and also in the substrate. You cant add any single component and expect it to work like some magic elixir without finding a balance between the various players. Too much light and not enough co2 often leads to algae. Enough light and co2 without the ferts/nutrients leads to poor growth and undesirable conditions.
Adding pressurized co2 is not something many people regret doing; but its only one part of a multi pronged approach. Plants need light and co2 for photosynthesis at its basic form. But the light intensity plays a big factor here as does co2 levels as well as nutrients in the water column and also in the substrate. You cant add any single component and expect it to work like some magic elixir without finding a balance between the various players. Too much light and not enough co2 often leads to algae. Enough light and co2 without the ferts/nutrients leads to poor growth and undesirable conditions.
Finnex 24/7. The problem started when I started decreasing the Metricide to only about once a week. I decreased the Metricide because I got some Anacharis and it was so beautiful. I didn't want to melt it. As a result I now have bottom growth and algae. This is all a learning process. I now understand that a more shallow tank is probably optimal for plants (unless you're Takashi Amano ((RIP)) I'm sure you all saw his HOME TANK on YouTube...WHATTTTT!!! My hero
).
Anyhoo...
I put the Anacharis in another tank and started dosing the 55 gallon again. I love experimenting with the tank to see what's going to work the best. This was not it. I still love it. I'm just on a different path now. I have easy plants. I love this hobby. I'm just doing extensive research before I go pressurized. I've heard some nightmares about controlling the PH after pressurized, so I'm not entirely there yet.
Thank you so much for any advice. I'm going to do the Metricide daily for several weeks before making any decisions. But on a side note, I really hate putting something in with my fish that is so toxic (you see all the warnings on the Metricide). My fish are my pride and joy.
).Anyhoo...
I put the Anacharis in another tank and started dosing the 55 gallon again. I love experimenting with the tank to see what's going to work the best. This was not it. I still love it. I'm just on a different path now. I have easy plants. I love this hobby. I'm just doing extensive research before I go pressurized. I've heard some nightmares about controlling the PH after pressurized, so I'm not entirely there yet.
Thank you so much for any advice. I'm going to do the Metricide daily for several weeks before making any decisions. But on a side note, I really hate putting something in with my fish that is so toxic (you see all the warnings on the Metricide). My fish are my pride and joy.
lksdrinker
Aquarium Advice Activist
Finnex 24/7. The problem started when I started decreasing the Metricide to only about once a week. I decreased the Metricide because I got some Anacharis and it was so beautiful. I didn't want to melt it. As a result I now have bottom growth and algae. This is all a learning process. I now understand that a more shallow tank is probably optimal for plants (unless you're Takashi Amano ((RIP)) I'm sure you all saw his HOME TANK on YouTube...WHATTTTT!!! My hero
Anyhoo...
I put the Anacharis in another tank and started dosing the 55 gallon again. I love experimenting with the tank to see what's going to work the best. This was not it. I still love it. I'm just on a different path now. I have easy plants. I love this hobby. I'm just doing extensive research before I go pressurized. I've heard some nightmares about controlling the PH after pressurized, so I'm not entirely there yet.
Thank you so much for any advice. I'm going to do the Metricide daily for several weeks before making any decisions. But on a side note, I really hate putting something in with my fish that is so toxic (you see all the warnings on the Metricide). My fish are my pride and joy.
Dont let the idea of pressurized co2 scare you. There should be nothing that needs to be done on your end to "control the ph" with or without the addition of co2. the addition of co2 will drop the ph in the tank and that is one way to measure the co2 you've added. If you choose to go down the path of a co2 injected tank just dont skimp out and think you're going to be the one to find a way to do it for half the cost of everyone else. A good regulator and the rest of the required equipment can be a costly investment. But in the long run its usually cheaper than continuing to buy and dose liquid co2.
Fresh2o
Aquarium Advice Addict
There was an AA member from a couple of years back that had the most gorgeous fully planted 220g tank. It was lit with a combo of metal halide, T-8s, and LEDs. I use to call her the "Queen of Glut" because she only used Metricide 14. Eventually she got a pressurized CO2 system. Prior to that, her tanks would rival any CO2 supplemented, high tech tank. She was my mentor, inspiration, and was a wealth of aquatic green thumb knowledge.
I say, go glut until you are ready to venture into the dark side. ?
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I say, go glut until you are ready to venture into the dark side. ?
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From memory this was pretty high dosing levels (for high light tanks)? I remember trying to get up to the dosing level as pictures showed stunning tanks but chickened out.
I must get around to working out a spreadsheet to see what level of glut I dose at but I overdose with no ill effects. Dosing level was increased gradually to let plants and fish adjust.
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
You will probably find that the faster the plants grow the more you can get away with adding. Liquid carbon is often heavily diluted by the time it reaches the shelves.
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That makes sense. I have a 10% solution here and dose 10ml. Which would make 1ppm in 1000 litres or 2ppm if I say my tank is 500 litres.
Reading some old articles I found a few that quoted 2 to 4 ppm as the limit but this was right at the start when glut dosing first came out and I don't think anyone really knows.
I think this is a lot higher than normal dosing but it's late and I need to put it into spreadsheet to check...
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
I would say pick a low number. Stick with that number until you see either reduced growth or signs of carbon deficiency. If your plants are responding to the dose then there's no need to add more. To reduce concentration you could dose half at the beginning of the photoperiod and the other half a few hours in instead of all at once. I dose 4ml easycarbo at about 6am when I'm ready to go to work. Lights don't come on till 12pm so I often wonder if it's a good things to have EC floating around for 6 hours. Nothing seems to mind.
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