Co2 Beginner?

Hi, I have a 36 gallon tank that I am prepping to be a planted tank. I have already bought a 6500K LED light. I am under a budget and am not ready for the whole CO2 kits. I have heard of API CO2 Booster. Is that the same thing as supplying CO2 through a pressurized tank? I am new on this whole CO2 thing. Also, I have heard with a brighter light and no CO2 there will be lots of algae and I'm trying to avoid that. If I get the API stuff will that help?

I feel like I need a Co2 for dummies book.

Any advice for types of plants and fertilizers?

Thanks!!

 

I know that I'm a beginner to CO2 as well, so I'm waiting for this thread to get answered.

 

Same here...

 

I would not consider liquid CO2 as the same thing as pressurized or DIY CO2. DIY CO2 is the cheaper alternative to pressurized. I suggest you look into that for now until you can afford pressurized.

If you were to go with liquid CO2, I would suggest seachem excel over API. I have used both and have seen better plant growth and algae removal with excel than API liquid CO2.

What substrate are you using? For a beginner, Eco-complete is great.

 

I am a CO2 dummy too. However, I do use Seachem Excel and it has made a difference in my plants.

 

From what I've observed, liquid carbon is about 40% as effective as pressurized or DIY CO2 for low tech plants. It doesn't have much observable benefit for medium-high tech plants.

With high light, you must have more fertilizer and CO2, so the liquid carbon will help, but I'd try to get a dimmable light if I were you.

 

So, low light does not need injected CO2 and does well with liquid CO2
Medium light if not injected will require liquid CO2 but benefit from injection.
High light requires injected CO2

Being 36 gallon I’m assuming it’s bow front. I have one too, planted low tech and seachem flourish excel works great. My LED full spectrum light gets me to probably the high end of low to low end of medium light, around 28 par at the substrate. The PAR rating is really the most important number to tell you where you are in light intensity. My 90 gallon is injected. I just scrape into the bottom of high light being around 52 PAR at the substrate. After I got my light within a week while I was getting the CO2 bottle filled and regulator shipped the algae bloom pretty much destroyed my tank. I had to do a deep clean, scrap a bunch of plants and do my best to clean the rest. After injection I haven’t had a problem.
One thing to remember is just because a light looks bright to you doesn’t mean it’s bright to your plants. If it’s not in a spectrum they can use your plants are getting no benefit.

 

If you do decide to inject, you can get going for around $200. The most important thing is keeping your CO2 around 30ppm. You will need a drop checker with reagent solution to be sure you are not poisoning your fish. Also, With injection you kind of need to start testing your water chemistry a bit more as well. Most importantly your DKH, (Degrees of Carbonate Hardness) and PH. CO2 is acidic and dissolved in your water will effect PH without enough buffered hardness.
Just some more to think about.