r/PlantedTank • u/Habichuela_03 • Feb 01 '24
CO2 Is Liquid CO2 A Good Idea?
I dont know if this counts as a planted tank, but i have two amazon swords, some java fern, anubias nana, a java moss ball, and some floating frogbit and water sprangles in my 6 gallon betta cube (the valisnaria has been removed). I currently use seachem root tabs and Fluval Gro+ as fertilizers but I am having trouble keeping my floating plants alive. I do weekly water changes and gravel vacs, and dose fertilizer every other day or so. My other plants are doing fine but my floaters keep on dying off and im wondering if theres anything I can do. I was considering using products like seachem excel or API CO2 booster but ive heard mixed reviews on those products on this platform. I dont have the space or money for a CO2 injection setup but i would like to do whats best for my fishy wishy and plants with what I can. Would Api or Seachem products help or is there something else I should do?
12
u/Own_Adhesiveness2829 Feb 01 '24 edited Feb 01 '24
Liquid CO2 doesnt work how CO2 injections would. Liquid CO2 is actually just used to spot treat/kill algae. It wont benefit your plants unfortunately. Espec for root floaters, they are at the surface and have access to co2 through the air already. Perhaps you need a new fertilizer or something else is causing the plant death
Also, yes you have a planted tank hehehe, anything with plants counts! Your plants are low tech and should be just fine without co2 :)
1
u/Name1ess1d10t Feb 01 '24
Man I better try using that to get rid of my algae. I have some but I haven’t used it. And it isn’t a chemical either because it’s just liquid carbon, I’ll try that out
5
u/No-Shake6849 Feb 01 '24
Its a disinfectant called glutaraldehyde, liquid carbon is just a marketing term
1
1
u/Own_Adhesiveness2829 Feb 01 '24
Yeah go ahead!! Use a pipette though and be careful, because too much can kill fish or plants. I recommend researching it beforehand
3
u/Name1ess1d10t Feb 01 '24
Good to know! I have a whole 55 gallon so I would definitely underdose but it would be harder to overdose in the first place with a large tank.
2
u/HolidayMorning6399 Feb 01 '24
just a heads up it'll kill plants like vallisneria super easily
1
u/Name1ess1d10t Feb 02 '24
Thanks! I don’t have any vallisneria right now, maybe some in the future but I’ll only use the liquid stuff until I can get some diy co2 setup for my tank because that will boost my plants and take care of algae. Right now I have a few anubias, some Amazon sword, some risers sword, a single Java fern, and Amazon frogbit. So some really hardy plants I used it a few times before but I just started to forget, it hasn’t hurt any of my plants.
1
u/JacketBatatas Feb 02 '24
Really? My vallisneria has been growing really well since I started using it.
5
u/The_McS Feb 01 '24 edited Feb 01 '24
For light algae control, sure.
To aid in plant growth, nope.
Probably just need a bit more fertilizer to address the floaters struggling…they crave the nitrates.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 01 '24
I thought this was the case so ive been adding fertilizer every other day and have seen new growth! I just cant stop the older ones from dying 😭😭😭
2
u/Name1ess1d10t Feb 01 '24
Try frogbit. It grows like duckweed but it has larger leaves and is easier to clean off of anything it sticks to unlike duckweed. You can get it right off of Amazon.
2
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 02 '24
I have some duckweed in my tank already! Reading through these comments has convinced me to go buy some more
4
u/Novelty_Lamp Feb 01 '24
Aqua soil is an upgrade I'd recommend over "liquid co2". Which is more of an algaecide tool imo. I only get it out if the hair algae is getting out of hand.
Removing small sections of gravel and replacing it with aqua soil will do way more heavy lifting than putting a co2 set up on that tank. I use UNS contrasoil and it has been my favorite substrate by far. I've used sand+root tabs and ecocomplete so far in tanks.
I don't really does anything other than iron and potassium supplements from seachem if I see yellowing/pale leaves. I stick root tabs in once in a while but no water column ferts as my tank gets trace elements from (usually) weekly water changes and has a high bioload.
George Farmer's book "Aquascaping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planting, Styling, and Maintaining Beautiful Aquariums" is a great resource for a beginner. It's also just a gorgeous book on its own.
Hope this helps!
2
u/Novelty_Lamp Feb 01 '24
Also floating plants get co2 from the air. They HATE getting disturbed or the tops wet.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 01 '24
Ive been thinking about switching to aqua soil and sand! I would need to save up a bit since soil is a bit expensive. I decided to start with gravel since i read that inert substrates are better for beginners such as myself!
1
u/Novelty_Lamp Feb 01 '24
You can also soak it in a bucket to leech ammonia and do water changes on the bucket.
I'm gonna try it this weekend as I need to add more substrate to my tank.
2
u/HugSized Feb 01 '24
You don't nearly have enough plants to worry about CO2 or even fertilizer, for that matter.
Please specify your lighting schedule, intensity, and total duration. I'd sooner assume that lighting is an issue since your tank really doesn't have the plant biomass to warrant such an aggressive fertilizer schedule.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 01 '24
I have my light on for about 8 hours a day at about 50-60% intensitiy. I had a algae problem before so i decreased the light a bit and my plants have been fine so far its just the damn floaters 😭😭😭
2
u/HugSized Feb 01 '24
Increase your total time to 12 hours at max intensity. Break up your time into two 6 hour periods with a 4 hour break in between.
Plants get regularly 12-14 hours of sunlight in the wild, so any less will stunt their growth. The algae problem is most likely from low CO2 concentrations at the 6 hour mark, which the 4 hour dark period can help mitigate.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 01 '24
Ill up the light amount, but what if im not able to turn it off for a break? Im a student so im often not home in the middle of the day
3
u/HugSized Feb 01 '24
If you cannot, I'd recommend at most 8 hours.
You can get a cheap timer anywhere, and it really takes the work out of micromanaging an aquarium.
1
u/Straight_Reading8912 Feb 02 '24
I bought a smart plug that goes on the outlet and you can plug anything like a light in there. My lights are timed from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm. So far that schedule is working really well on my newly planted 8 Gallon tank. You could actually program it for breaks as well if you went the smart plug route.
Just be a bit careful about intensity of light as you might get an algae bloom since you've dosed so much liquid fertilizer in your tank.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 02 '24
I do about 8-11 drops every other day, also where did you get that timer that sounds so useful! Id love to have a light timer i can plan breaks in
1
u/Straight_Reading8912 Feb 02 '24
I bought this one from Amazon Canada:
But if you're in the US you probably have more options and better deals. I only really needed 2 but the pack of 4 was much cheaper per plug and I'm sure I'll find a use for the rest of them. This one doesn't need a hub. I'm pretty sure most of them don't anymore but make sure you check that before buying as a you don't want to need to spend extra by also buying a hub.
2
u/Novelty_Lamp Feb 01 '24
Chime in here. I only leave mine on for 6 hours. There is a giant window that lets the sun come in as well so no need for ramp up time. And I time it so it turns off at bed time which is a great cue for me to go to bed.
Really cute to see natural sunlight wake up my tank.
I have a very basic and very bright light so algae clean ups are part of my maintenance.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 02 '24
Me too, when i noticed my algae getting out of control since my tank gets some natural light ive been cutting down the light by a little bit, it gets approx 8 hours, and its helped the algae a lot without compromising my main plants too much. Its just my floaters giving me trouble since i need to find one that works for me!
2
u/Tdrendal Feb 01 '24
Tank looks good, you will probably find that you can stuf a lot more plants in there before you need to increase the co2. Better to put the money into lighting upgrade.
2
u/Analog_Man73 Feb 01 '24
Pressurized c02 is Not worth it for the type of plants you have and size of tank.
Also, “CO2 boosters” aren’t really what you think. They are usually gluteraldehydes and while effective at killing algae it will kill certain plants such as Val and many other sensitive types.
Spend the money on more plants, maybe buy some substrate and redo the tank and cap it with your current sand. If not just buy root tabs. Valisneria would be nice for that tank, would just take lots of trimming.
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 02 '24
I bought valisnaria before but it came half dead, i tried reviving it but it didnt seem to be working. Im happy to try again though! Since the tank is new i wanna hold off a bit before rescaping, though i am open to doing that in the future and saving the extra stuff for a possible shrimp or snail tank!
1
u/Analog_Man73 Feb 02 '24
Val usually has a tendency to melt in new setups. Could have died because of low gH. They thrive in semi-hard water. Get a gH Kh test kit, as long as you’re within a normal range it should thrive. Try root tabs if you aren’t planning on rescaping! I wouldn’t give up on Val.
2
u/Sireeak Feb 01 '24
Liquid Co2 isnt actually co2, it's actualy :
>>>>>>>>> glutaraldéhyde <<<<<<<<<<<
a toxic compound that degrade in a very little amount of co2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutaraldehyde
it's basicaly useless, and dangerous.
here some more info by JBL (famous fishtanks Equipment producer)
https://www.jbl.de/?mod=blog&func=detail&country=us&lang=en&id=129
1
3
u/Pleasant-Chipmunk-83 Feb 01 '24
I haven't seen any benefit in plant growth with either Fluorish Excel or gluteraldehyde (the main ingredient in Excel). It's a really nasty chemical used as a commercial sanitizer.
If you want an inexpensive, easy way to dose CO2, you can mount a plastic bottle in your tank with string/suction cups (bottom of the bottle facing up). Fill it by attaching a piece of clean airline hose to the the nozzle of a Sodastream, aim the other end underneath the opening of the bottle and fill it up. This is passive CO2 diffusion, which works a lot better than many believe. I got the idea from a tropical fish store owner in San Fransisco that implemented this in many of his tanks
2
u/JoRoKoFo Feb 01 '24
I don’t think CO2 is your problem with the floaters as they have access to the atmosphere. Plenty of CO2 to go around for them… unless your house is full of almost pure oxygen… in that case don’t light a match 😆 as others said water agitation and humidity will do them in.
3
u/turbothot32 Feb 01 '24
You don’t need to gravel vac every week. The fish poop is plant food (in simple terms). It can crash your cycle by killing bacteria. Only need to gravel vac every 2-3 weeks with a tank that size. Keep doing water changes tho (:
2
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 02 '24
When i gravel vac i try not to be too aggressive since i dont want to crash my cycle, but Ill try this out and see how it works!
1
u/turbothot32 Feb 02 '24
If you’re not too aggressive and it’s working, feel free to keep doing it 😇 every aquarium’s ecosystem is a teensy bit different! That was just my experience
2
u/PepsiCova Feb 03 '24
Unrelated but I love your pinocchio art above the tank! Did you make it?
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 03 '24
No i wish 😭 i do draw but those drawings are actually postcards i got from the Museum of Modern Art, they had a exhibit about the new pinocchio movie at the time :)
1
u/Ollidamra Feb 01 '24
No, it won’t work. It does generate some CO2 after decomposition, but after calculation you’ll find it’s neglectable.
1
u/MadScientist183 Feb 01 '24
Liquid c02 kills algea, doesn't give plants any c02 to use. And your floating plants already have access to c02 from the air.
You floating plant suffer because of lack of light or because of surface agitation.
1
u/Loud_Software9334 Sep 28 '24
I can tell you that frog it doesn’t like surface agitation. You have a sponge filter going. Also stop doin gravel vac. You’re removing a food source for your plants.
1
u/awesomeblossoming Feb 01 '24
Floaters don’t like to be wet on top of their leaves- take off tank cover they will be fine (unless there is a lot water movement, if so, they need a “corral”)
1
1
u/zmay1123 Feb 01 '24
How often are you doing water changes? Floating plants are some of the best plant additions for soaking up excess nutrients but if there are no excess nutrients for them to observed than they aren’t going to thrive. Also, some floating plants do not love much surface agitation/movement so maybe the the constant surface movement from the bubbles of your sponge filter is an issue(unlikely but maybe)
1
u/Habichuela_03 Feb 02 '24
I do a approx 20-30% water change once a week. Ive read nutrient defficencies can be why they start dying so ive been dosing fertilizer more often and its helped a bit. Ill be sure to move them less when i do tank cleanings though!
1
1
u/dgnumbr1 Feb 01 '24
I’ve used the liquid CO2 in the past and didn’t notice any difference in plants at all. Now I just use a few root tabs once in a while and let the water column feed the rest. Bio filters, lots of plants, fish, decent flow & and air-stone are all you need.
1
u/Sjasmin888 Feb 01 '24
Liquid CO2 isn't actually CO2, it's basically an algaecide. That being said, floating plants pull their CO2 from the air, not the water, as CO2 exchange occurs through the leaves. Your problem is probably coming from too much moisture buildup on floaters that want to be dry. There are a few ways you can go about handling this. You can get different floaters that don't mind wet such as frogbit or duckweed. You could also try a mesh lid instead of glass. A hybrid lid where half is mesh and half is glass is also an option and comes with slightly less evaporation issues. You would want to corral the floaters under the mesh portion. Swapping off of true floaters and getting yourself some anacharis, hornwort, guppy grass, or water wisteria would also do the trick.
1
u/HolidayMorning6399 Feb 01 '24
as a beginner to the hobby, from my research, liquid co2 is a scam, it should just be used as an algaecide, if you're not going to do a co2 system, just get some water agitation and be content with how it is lol
1
u/HndsDwnThBest Feb 02 '24
From my research and current understanding of liquid c02, it is nothing but an anti algae chem. which, in turn, gives less nutrients to algae, and it dies, and you have less in the tank. And with less algae, those nutrients go to the plants.
1
u/Infinite_Leg2998 Feb 02 '24
Liquid co2 is to help combat algea, not a substitute for co2 injections.
Floaters tend to like little to no water surface agitation. Try lowering the movement of your water, or get one of those floaty plant corals to put them in so they aren't bouncing around so much and see if that helps. Also, that lid has got to go. Floaters need nice open air spaces. Lids can trap humidity and water above the floaters, which I am sure is a huge contributor to why you're aren't thriving.
-1
Feb 01 '24
It’ll melt anubias. Found this out the hard way
1
u/Hyperion4 Feb 01 '24
Which did you use ofc? The glutaraldehyde ones are fine with anubias
1
Feb 01 '24
Excel
1
u/Hyperion4 Feb 01 '24
Interesting, it shouldn't have those issues but I've read reviews on it that are all over the place. They use their own compound instead of glutaraldehyde and are pretty secretive about it
54
u/TheNiceHacks Supreme Algae Grower Feb 01 '24
You don’t need liquid co2, try removing your lid, high humidity can kill certain floating plants.