just can't wrap my head around co2

[Simplicity]

I have been doing a lot of reading but just cant not figure out co2.

If i heavily plant my tank i get that they will need co2 to thrive. but would a good air stone or bubble wand be fine?

how would i know if I have few enough plants to not need to add co2?

any help would be so appreciated.

[Compass]

An airstone would cause you to have less dissolved co2 as pulls it out of the water and adds oxygen instead. I personally do not think that one needs to supplement co2 just because you have a larger amount of plants. It is all about what kinds of plants you have. If you stick to hardy, slow growing, lower light plants you will be just fine. I have a ten gallon that is so choked with plants it isn't funny. Anubias, crypts, one amazon sword, water wisteria, anacharis. I have eco complete for a substrate and I've never dosed the tank with a single thing. I still can't keep it contained.
Plants are made up of carbon. They get this carbon from the co2. Light gives plants the energy needed to convert co2 into carbon and release the oxygen. So plants that need very high amounts of light will have more energy, meaning they can absorb much more co2. This is where you would have to supplement co2 because your tank on its own does not have enough to accommodate these kinds of high energy plants. I don't know what plants you have but if they look good and they show signs of growth, I wouldn't bother with it.

[Cliff]

As already stated, if you require CO2 will really depend on the type of plants you have and not the quantity of plants in your tank. You can have a heavy planted tank with easy to care for plants that can handle low light levels without ever adding CO2 as a set-up like that would not "need" CO2. Many of us here have done just that. Only plants that require high levels light would really "need" it

The below are a few pics of some of my past set-ups all without CO2. I have kept even heavier planted tanks than this in the past, and the plants did just fine over a few years as they were low light and easier to care for plants.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Cliff_Erhardt/Cliff%20fish%20tank%20pics/90%20gallon%20FW/90gfw313jan2013_zps74aba762.jpg

http://aquaticcommunity.info/comps/TOTM/March2011/TOTM4.jpg

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd461/AC-comps/2012%20Comps/April%202012%20Comps/TOTM5.jpg


Sometimes it is best to keep things as simple as possible, or at least take things one step at a time

[talldutchie]

Co2 will still be in the water, the fish produce it. Unless you got plants that are well known for needing CO2 or you run a very high amount of light or you use an estimative index fertilizing schedule you will not need pressurized CO2.
Quite a few well planted tanks can benefit from some "liquid co2" though

Have a look at my setup, that only gets some liquid CO2 when there's algae that bother me like some rampant staghorn algae last month

[Franks Tank]

I started "trying" to grow plants a few years ago. I was successfully keeping crypts, java fern, Vallisneria, Anubias barteri, Anubias nana from dying in my aquarium for a few years. I used an enriched dirt substrate and dosed micros. However, I couldn't seem to get really nice, super healthy looking plants. And every now and then I would have to fight off some algae here or there and growth was slow. Always having "some" algae on older leaves and plants that just never looked like the pictures in books started to annoy me!

I looked into Co2 but not DIY, I wanted to do it “right”. I learned about pressure Co2 at Green Leaf Aquariums website and Rex Griggs style Co2 reactor. I got it all set up and running. The reactor worked great no Co2 bubbles escaped it, meaning 100% diffusion. Right away on the first morning all may plants were reaching for the surface and just looked “different”. After the first week it was AMAZING how great the plants were looking. I came across Tom Barr over at The Planted Tank website and he told me all about Estimative Index dosing. Through some trial and error I figured out what dosing my tank needed and I haven’t looked back since.

Even under low light (1.7 watts T5 lighting) the difference with proper pressure Co2 and EI dosing has been nothing short of spectacular! I’ve had next to no algae in my tank for the last 3 years and I can hardly keep up with the growth and lush looking plants. Because the growth is so fast I’ve been able to learn so much about how to trim and clip my plants and I’m not afraid to trim right down to the roots! They just grow right back! The tank is always flooded with firts including 20-30ppm nitrate and 3-5ppm phosphate and still very little algae. Firts DO NOT CAUSE ALGAE. Phosphate does not cause algae, nitrate does not cause algae. Too much light for the available Co2 causes algae. BBA loves to grow on damaged rotting leaves. Algae dose not grow on healthy plants!

Slow growers like Java fern and crypts look spectacular and grow much faster with no algae on them at all.

Co2 is awesome, but you’ve got to do it right! Pressure. DIY is silliness.

[Franks Tank]

Two weeks!

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