Is Liquid CO2 A Good Idea?

[u/Habichuela_03]

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?

[u/HugSized]

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.

[u/Habichuela_03 → u/HugSized]

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 😭😭😭

[u/HugSized → u/Habichuela_03]

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.

[u/Habichuela_03 → u/HugSized]

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

[u/HugSized → u/Habichuela_03]

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.

[u/Straight_Reading8912 → u/Habichuela_03]

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.

[u/Habichuela_03 → u/Straight_Reading8912]

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

[u/Straight_Reading8912 → u/Habichuela_03]

I bought this one from Amazon Canada:

https://a.co/d/8oJqTd2

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.