Co2 tank vs liquid

[KissyKatt]

Can your plants or fish tell if you have a Co2 tank or are dosing with Co2 liquid?

 

[Coursair]

Liquid only can work in smaller tanks and is better than nothing. In High light, liquid, dosed daily will NEVER compete with injected CO2. Its better than nothing, but even using Glut instead it gets pricy compared to refilling a CO2 tank.

I'm using liquid on my 55g and struggling to keep everything balanced.

My tank
grows, but not as well as it could. My water changes aren't as regular as they should be right now.

My club member who is really good at this
Tom Barr's tank with high light and injected CO2 and ferts 3x weekly ( 2-3x) and weekly PWCs
The master grower's tank


Study up, high light and CO2 isn't simple or easy. You can gas your fish if you don't refill your tank soon enough. You can still get issues. Plus you'll need to trim plants every week in many cases.

 

[Fresh2o]

Not a dude - Are you using Glutaraldehyde (such as Metricide 14) or an over the counter product? Just curious. The latter can get very costly per volume.
Rivercats used glut in her beautiful planted 220gand had great results. She eventually got a pressurized CO2 system.
I read somewhere that the liquid alternative is about 50-60% as effective as CO2 gas.

 

[KissyKatt]

How can fish live without co2 but then when you have it they can't go without it again or their " gassed " ?

 

[Fresh2o]

How can fish live without co2 but then when you have it they can't go without it again or their " gassed " ?

The CO2 is for the plants only; too much CO2 can be hazardous for the fish (I know firsthand). An improperly adjusted CO2 regulator resulted in too much CO2 being introduced into my tank. Came home and found fish swimming at the surface. Shut off the CO2, did 75% water change. Over the course of a week lost a school of Furcata Forktail Rainbows

 

[Barliman]

Over the course of a week lost a school of Furcata Forktail Rainbows

Ouch!