Zodiac007

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sworral...89796/sizes/o/

This is a picture of a planted freshwater tank. I'm going to have a 50 or 55 gallon and this is pretty much how I would like my tank to be planted like.

I know this person is using CO2, but is it a must? In this tank, would the plants die if theres not C02 injections?

Thank you.

mathas

In my opinion, it's lighting that drives the need for carbon supplementation. If you have enough usable light in the tank that the plants try to photosynthesize beyond what can be supported by the naturally occurring carbon levels, you will need to supplement.

If you get to that point, whether you choose to supplement with a liquid carbon solution like Flourish Excel or choose to go the pressurized CO₂ route is up to you.

Blub

Low light tank + Low light plants = No CO2 required... Well those are low light plants, so I assume its a Low light tank.

pepetj

The tank in the pic will definetely do better with CO2 than without it. I believe If you have, personality wise, what it takes to enjoy and not suffer tank maintenance, then DIY CO2 is a wonderful way of doing this. Of course going pressurized is ideal. I keep fairly good levels of dissolved CO2 and O2 (they don't compete) in a 45gal tank with a 10gal sump. In reality, the total volume of water is actually a bit below 50gal once substrate and operative water level in the sump are considered.

I use three 2L soda bottles (originally designed to keep CO2 pressure there!) which I sterilize in hot water, then cold water, each time I recharge (3weeks). The mixture that works for someone might not be the same for anotherone. Yeast type, as well as baking soda and sugar qualities as well as room temperature play a role.

if you are interested in going this wonderful way, read around, there's a lot of useful info in the web. Make sure you have, and keep record of, hardness and alkalinity measures. Adding CO2 to hard water might not be a problem but when it get softer, and it will with CO2 injection, at least to some point, you might need to make some adjustments.

One rule of thumb I use: water agitation needs to remain at minimum, so a low flow filtration system is desirable. How to accomplish this is part of the fun involved. Keeping a beautiful tank like the one your pic shows is still out of my reach, but I can tell that I have learned so much in less than a year in Fishlore, as well as other good forums out there that some plants that would die on me are now reproducing.

Lighting, as sirdarksol stated, is another very important component for plants to stay healthy. If you can get those light assemblies that come with two or three fixtures, I suggest you do it. Otherwise, the DIY is always an option (so far it's been mine).

Pepe
Santo Domingo

FL CommunityFans

DIY on a 55g however can be cumbersome on a 55 from what I've read, requiring up to 4 2L bottles and even then it's a struggle. On 75gallon everyone has told me to use semi or automatic instead of doing DIY co2 as it's just not feasible.

What's the story there?