CO2 needed>?

[tropicfishman]

I havea 29 gallon tank kit from walmart with flourescent lighting, I wanna do a cheap planted tank with some horn wort, a java fern and a plant I can't spell lol Do I actually need a CO2 injection setup for this size tank or will the airstone and bubble tube keep my fish happy at night when the lights go out and the plants relase gas? I rea;lly don't want to go with CO2 because its such a mess, any suggestions

 

[rich311k]

How much light? You probably will not need it if you are under 2 wpg.

 

[Jchillin]

If you are doing low light (1-2wpg), you don't need CO2 injection. I use an airstone in my tank with no negative effect on the plants.

 

[tropicfishman]

iono what my wattage is lol its the walmart special 29 gallon kit with a flourescent hood lol 24 inch bulb, the kit is by aqua tech if that helps lol

 

[Roach182]

The 29 aqua tech from Walmart is the same one I have. It comes with a regular t8 20 watt bulb. I switched my bulb to an Life-Glo 2 bulb and it help my plants greatly. But just yesterday I put a DIY 80 (4xt8x24) watt light/hood on my aquarium. I am hoping this will help even more.

 

[Macrosill]

The 29 aqua tech from Walmart is the same one I have. It comes with a regular t8 20 watt bulb.

If this is the case then You will not need any Co2 at all. I am not sure if even low light plants will grow well. You have less than 1wpg. You may get some plants that will survive but I doubt they will grow much. I would say try it and see what happens. If the plants die then at that point you could invest in a new light kit. Take a chance with a few plants at 3-4 dollars each. If it doesn't work you only lost 12-16 bucks. A new light kit will cost more than that.

 

[crazyred]

I have the same 29 kit from WM and I bought a new NO fixture with a 30" twin tube set-up. It has two fluorescent Life-Glo 6700 K tubes in it taht are 20 W each for a total of 40 W. this gives me like 1.38 wpg. I'm growing quite a bit of plants with success, including plants that shouldn't really be doin well less than 2 wpg. I do not have CO2 on my tank either. I use Flourish Excel....carefully, so as not to melt my Anacharis. I order my light fixture at Drs. Foster & Smith online for like $35 bucks. You might try that. HTH

 

[Roach182]

The 29 aqua tech from Walmart is the same one I have. It comes with a regular t8 20 watt bulb.

If this is the case then You will not need any Co2 at all. I am not sure if even low light plants will grow well. You have less than 1wpg. You may get some plants that will survive but I doubt they will grow much. I would say try it and see what happens. If the plants die then at that point you could invest in a new light kit. Take a chance with a few plants at 3-4 dollars each. If it doesn't work you only lost 12-16 bucks. A new light kit will cost more than that.

Surprisingly enough with only the 20w life-glo bulb I had several plants that did quite well. Most plants I tried didn't last long though.

 

[czcz]

To supplement member experiences here, theoretically an average 18w T8 bulb over a 29 is 4.56 lumens/sq in, and should grow at least anubias, most common crypts, anacharis, and java fern. Here are some comparable tanks based on lumens/sq in from Ozz's site, which you can then cross reference on AA: http://woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/ShowDetail.php?Lv=1

(Using 18w/24" of T8 per a google search.)

You definitely don't need CO2. I also especially like crazyred's suggestion, which should put you solidly in "low light."

 

[mr funktastic]

i grew a few different varieties of plants in my 20 when it was low light. it only had a single 15 watt light over 20 gallons and i grew differnt species of hygro quite well. flourish excell is also a good substitute for the co2. i would reccomend upgrading your light the same way roach did. u can buy a ballast for like 25 dollars then the end caps will be like 5 an build your own light. this will leave u completly open to any level of light that u want so u can upgrade without having to upgrade yuor lights in the future. HERE is a link on how to do this.it is incredible easy and well worth the money. i am not electrically inclined and it was soooo simple. wish i had done it earlier. u can run it with just 1, 2, 3 or all 4 bulbs if u want. just pick up a few cheap plants bulbs from home depot and away u go.