Do plants really need CO2 added in the tank

[Cliff]

I have a question about putting CO2 in a tank

I’ve been reading a lot of posts about having CO2 in a tank

My water parameters are fairly constant ammo 0, nitrites 0, PH 7.6, and nitrate between 5 and 15 (15 before the weekly water change and 5 after) and temp at 79 F. I recently increased my weekly water changes to 50%. I have a 55 gallon with a 40W T8 and double 25W T5s. My plants consist a good amount of Java fern, two moss balls, and other stemmed plants which I totally forgot the name. All of the plants look good to me. I trimmed back stem plants twice now, replanting the clippings each time which are also doing well.

Although everything is going good, a friend of mine keeps telling me the plants would be doing a whole lot better with CO2 in the tank. I'm starting to wounder if I my be wrong here.

I’ve never used CO2 before, but after reading quite a few posts on the topic and lots of nagging from my friend, I’m wondering if I should have CO2 in my tank. I’ve always been concerned it would not be good for the fish.

I would appreciate any opinions you may be willing to offer.

[annageckos]

IMO co2 is optional. I do not use it and my plants grow faster than I like. If you are happy with your tank and everything is growing good and looks nice leave it be.

Also your tank looks very nice.

[Wild Turkey]

Adding more co2 is only needed for very high difficulty plants and even then there are variables that may make it possible without it.

all plants need c02, but co2 is in the water that comes from your faucet, and in the air you breathe so small amounts make their way into the tank naturally enabling growth.

[VoidParadigm]

Only the more finicky species need it.

[Oskar]

Having CO2 will allow you to keep a wider variety of plants,if you were to ever upgrade your lighting.
If you are happy with the way things are going,then adding CO2 should only help what you have already accomplished,but it is not a necessity.

[Cliff]

Thanks for all the info.

I'm going to stay the course. I tried to carefully pic plants that were easy to grow and maintain with low light.

Just wanted to make sure I was not missing something that I should be doing

[Oskar]

You have some nice looking Java ferns in that tank!

[rich311k]

Tank looks great.

CO2 always helps plant growth. Except for high light situations it is not needed. If you got a pressurized system and maintained a level of 25-30ppm your plants will respond to it. At that level the fish will not even notice it. It does promote better growth and helps the plants out compete algae.

The problem comes if the levels are not steady. Bouncing CO2 levels will encourage the growth of algae as it will be able to better adapt to the situation than the plants will.

If you have the money and can buy a good pressurized system then by all means do so but you do not have to have one.

[Sarkazmo]

For your current setup, no you don't need to supplement CO2 as you have low light plants and you're currently running at just about 2W per Gallon of water. You do have a nice tank, btw. If you were to up your wattage to say double what it is now then you should go with pressurized CO2 with a PH controller. Without the PH controller you PH will swing around quit a bit as the plants switch over from taking in CO2 and putting out O2 to taking in O2 and putting out CO2. The water goes towards acidic at night and then back toward Alkaline when the lights are on. This will happen even if you use a timer to control lights and CO2 solenoid at the same time just not as drastic.

So you're good for now, enjoy your tank! :)

Sark

[lowlight]

Nice tank. I don't use any Co2 and my plants are all low light low maintenance plants. What is your Java Fern attached to?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

With your current lighting and density of planting, CO2 would not be necessary at all. If, however, you decide to plant this tank very heavily, even with the low light plants you currently have, they would certainly benefit from the addition of CO2. When you consider the addition of CO2, your lighting level is not the only consideration, you also have to consider the biomass of the plants in your tank. The greater the biomass, the higher the demand on the CO2 and nutrients. One of the nicest planted tanks I have ever seen was planted with nothing but low light plants such as Java Ferns, Java moss, anubias, and other such plants, and they were lit with a enough normal output T12 fluorescent lighting to give 1 wpg and the user still injected CO2 and dosed ferts. It's all about keeping the balance that will provide you plants with exactly what they need.

[Cliff]

Nice tank. I don't use any Co2 and my plants are all low light low maintenance plants. What is your Java Fern attached to?

I tied off my java fern to different sized pcs of drift wood. I'm trying to get the plant to root itself to the wood so I can move it in the tank if I feel the need in the future

[Zilla]

No, they don't. I saw it said yesterday that C02 is more like steriods for plants. It may help them grow faster, but there are issues attached to it and it's up to the tank owner to decide if dealing with the problems are worth it or not.

I feel the same way with the overuse of ferts. Ferts have their place and can solve some issues, but otherwise, just hyping plants out on a constant, heavy food supply will cause other issues such as weakening the plant. Certainly there are plants that grow quickly on their own, however, forcing a naturally slow growing plant to grow faster due to the lack of patience or in some cases, the lack of impressiveness amongst peers can make people do things that they may not have considered before.

It is suggested that people use Excel as a carbon source. That's all fine and well but Excel makes some species of plants melt, Vals being the one that is discussed most often. Then of course there is the issue with copper being used with inverts. Some campaign that alittle won't hurt them, but if copper is a known toxin to inverts, it makes no sense that just alittle won't hurt.

I say before you cave to peer pressure or possibly the lack of rapid growth gets the better of you, do your research. I've been on the hunt for some inspiration for my 20 as keeping a well planted 55 is not a option for me, and I've gorgous tanks that use minimal amounts of ferts and do not use C02. It took awhile before the tanks filled out, but in the end, all the time and patience paid off for said tank owners.

[Cliff]

No, they don't. I saw it said yesterday that C02 is more like steriods for plants. It may help them grow faster, but there are issues attached to it and it's up to the tank owner to decide if dealing with the problems are worth it or not.

I feel the same way with the overuse of ferts. Ferts have their place and can solve some issues, but otherwise, just hyping plants out on a constant, heavy food supply will cause other issues such as weakening the plant. Certainly there are plants that grow quickly on their own, however, forcing a naturally slow growing plant to grow faster due to the lack of patience or in some cases, the lack of impressiveness amongst peers can make people do things that they may not have considered before.

It is suggested that people use Excel as a carbon source. That's all fine and well but Excel makes some species of plants melt, Vals being the one that is discussed most often. Then of course there is the issue with copper being used with inverts. Some campaign that alittle won't hurt them, but if copper is a known toxin to inverts, it makes no sense that just alittle won't hurt.

I say before you cave to peer pressure or possibly the lack of rapid growth gets the better of you, do your research. I've been on the hunt for some inspiration for my 20 as keeping a well planted 55 is not a option for me, and I've gorgous tanks that use minimal amounts of ferts and do not use C02. It took awhile before the tanks filled out, but in the end, all the time and patience paid off for said tank owners.

Well written. After reading all the posts on the topic, I think I'm going to leave the tank as is. There is a lot of good points made to the opposite, but I don't think it's for me or my currently skill level. I don't really care about how fast my plants grow as long as they are doing good and providing a better tank for the fish.

[Zilla]

^ If it isn't broken, don't fix it. :ssmile:

[toysrus]

Why would you think of changing a successful tank?
It looks excellent to me.
Correct me if I'm wrong though,aren't those lights plenty strong enough for low light plants? Why worry about CO 2?

[Cliff]

Why would you think of changing a successful tank?
It looks excellent to me.
Correct me if I'm wrong though,aren't those lights plenty strong enough for low light plants? Why worry about CO 2?

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something that I need to be doing but wasn't.

I did spend a lot of time finding what I thought were good plants for the tank as well as getting good lighting for them. All the information I have been reading latly started me to think there was a better way to care for the plants, then inturn, provide a better tank for the fish.

Just wanted to make sure.

Thanks for the post :22:

[Neon]

IME is optional , I have never used it and my tank plants are even overgrowing and I need to trim them at least every 2nd week or there 's no swimming space .

[lowlight]

I tied off my java fern to different sized pcs of drift wood. I'm trying to get the plant to root itself to the wood so I can move it in the tank if I feel the need in the future

Give it time and it will.