Puffers and CO2

[pufferpuggirl]

Hi, the tank I have my puffers in also happens to have alot of plants in it, and I've recently been reading how much CO2 helps aquarium plants and so I've bought myself a small kit. It's not the kind with the CO2 cylinder, this is the kind where you place the CO2 tablet in the diffuser. But what I'm unsure of is if this extra CO2 will hurt any of my puffers? I don't want to put it in there and then find out later that it was a bad move and my puffers are sick or dead from it. So if anyone knows anything about using CO2 tablets in a puffer tank I'd be very much obliged if you could help. Thanks!

[plurmaster]

It will not harm your puffers. Unless its releasing too much c02 in fast rate. There's no way to contorl the buble count from using this type of tablet diffuser. I have used it once for my 20 gal without any problem but you can get a drop checker to make sure th ph level is stable. Thats the easiest way or you have to test your ph everyday with a tester. What size is your tank? Maybe u should use flourish excel instead which i gurantee beneficial for your plants just as good as the tablet diffusing plus excel have no odors. The one you got will smell like a rotten egg everyime you need to add more yeast.

[pufferpuggirl]

The tank I'm thinking about using the CO2 in is about 40 gallons, but I don't think this is the type that you add yeast to, it's just tablets that you drop into the diffuser. The problem with the stuff you suggested is that I am guessing they don't have it over here in England, although maybe something else under a different name. I've got other treatments for my plants, so if I decide that it's too risky for my Puffers, I can use one of the other methods to treat my plants. I can't imagine though that the tablets would be very strong. If I were using a CO2 cylinder I think I might worry about too much being released. Thank you for your comments.

[plurmaster]

co2 cyclinder with regulators allow you to control how much co2 being inected to your tank. You'll also need a drop checker to monitor ph level. I dont think you have to worry too much about the tablets. Just do what the instruction say. If your fish start to react differently disconnect the diffuser.

[Myaj]

The most dangerous part about using those is watching your pH levels at night, especially if you have "soft" water, and making sure there's enough oxygen.

Plants only photosynthesis when they are under lights, for about 12 hours a day. This is when they use CO2. When they stop using it, it builds up in the tank and can drop your pH pretty dramatically and/or drive off the oxygen. Usually it takes a lot of CO2 to do that, but if your water is soft, it won't take nearly as much. After your lights have been off for many hours (or shortly before your lights come on again the next day), test you pH and see if its dropped way below normal, or if the fish are gulping for air. This isn't usually a problem, but its best to check to be sure.

Lucikly, there is a very, very simple way around this if its a problem for you, and that's running an airstone/bubblewand at night (put it on a timer so you don't forget to turn it on). This will add oxygen and drive off the excess CO2.

[pufferpuggirl]

Thanks Myaj, I appreciate your help on that. If I put an airstone in that tank, should I only run it at night? I have an airstone in my 2 other tanks (but they don't have Puffers in them), and I let them run 24/7. I did read that the fish really only need the extra air at night, when the plants are releasing CO2, but when I would turn off the airstone in my big community tank, the fish would act like they weren't getting enough oxygen, and there wasn't a nitrite issue either. So since then I've just left the airstones running, day and night. I haven't put an airstone in my Puffer tank yet, but that's the tank with the most plants and the tank I was thinking about putting the CO2 diffuser in.
I just didn't want to do anything that might hurt my Puffers, as they are my favourite fishes of all the fish I have (besides my Mudskippers too).
I'd like to hear from anyone that has had experience with using CO2, but hopefully just the simple ones, not the more sophisticated, and expensive ones.
Thanks to all my favourite Puffer People!

[Myaj]

In tanks under 55 gallons, I just use Flourish Excel. Its an easy to add and safe CO2 liquid supplement that works great.

If you run the airstone during the day, it will drive off the CO2, so why bother adding CO2 then? It would be pointless. Either don't add the CO2 or only run the airstone when the tank lightes are off.

Live plants like CO2 for sure, but in many cases its not "necessary". What kind of plants and lighting do you have?

[pufferpuggirl]

What you've said makes sense, I will start turning the airstones off during the day.
The tanks where I have the most plants are both 30-gallon tanks. Right now, the Puffer tank that has the most plants has two lights, one is AquaGlo, which is for plants and fish, and the other is SunGlo and I think that might be just for plants. I cannot tell you for certain which plants I have. I bought a collection several months ago and just planted them in, they are doing fairly well, but I am due to get another collection in the next few days (this time I know which plants I will be receiving).
I'm already starting to think that maybe I will put the CO2 diffuser in the other 30-gallon, not the Puffer tank. Since the plants are doing pretty well without any CO2 in the Puffer tank, I will put the CO2 in my other 30-gallon tank, which just has two Dojo's and a Birchir in there so far. I'd like to try my hand at this aqua-scaping that I'm reading about and thought the CO2 would help.

[Myaj]

How many watts are your bulbs?

No matter what "color" they are or how much CO2 you add, if you don't have enough watts you can't grow plants

[pufferpuggirl]

Good point there, never thought about that.

They are 36" - 30-watt bulbs. If they aren't strong enough, I'm not going to worry about it, the plants are growing nicely in the tank with 20-watt bulbs, so I'm sure to be able to do something with 30-watt bulbs, and if not, then I will do the best I can with what I have.

Okay, so maybe I won't be an "aqua-scaper", but that's okay too!

[plurmaster]

seriously with that kinda wattage of light you dont really need co2 injection. Just use flourish excel. Give me 2 days i'll show you 4 different planted tanks that i have only dosing excel with minium of 2.8 wpg each tank no co2 injection whatsoever. Plants can be grown beautifully and im not talking about those low light plants either i.e. annubias,java ferns,crypts,moss,swords. I have high tech plants and tons of them. Sorry cant post it right now im under going aquascape. Heh is my new hobby besides puffer keeping ^^

[pufferpuggirl]

Well obviously my main concern is the health of my fish, and I've decided that I will go ahead and put the CO2 diffuser in my other tank, not the Puffer tank. I already have the kit, so I'm going to give it a try. The problem with the stuff you are suggesting I use is that I don't think it's available in England. I'm sure we probably have something that's just like what you are talking about, but I have no idea what it's called over here.
I will try to get some pictures of my Puffer tank so you can see what it looks like without any outside stimulation. And when I get my other tank done, I will post pictures of that as well, but that one's going to take time because I haven't even received the plants yet. They should come this week though. It will probably be a month before things are settled.

[Iliveinazoo]

you can get flourish excel and easycarbo (similar product) in England but my LFS doesn't stock it so i have to order it in over the internet - i mostly had amazing plant growth with easycarbo but i noticed that it was destroying the vallis. I'm pretty sure that excel isn't vallis friendly either - I have a sneaking suspicion that neither product is crypt friendly, but others may be able to advise.

Your plants will grow quicker with CO2 and ferts, if you're worried about the rate that the CO2 disperses then make sure that you drop the tablet in on a day that you're not working so that you can monitor your fish. Keep an airstone handy so that if you do notice any ill effects then you can quickly oxygenate the water.

What some people have found is that if your CO2 input is erratic (which is likely with a tablet) then you may not get rid of the algae problem that you may or may not have.

Just a note (sorry if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs): you can't really have an airstone switched on when you are trying to add CO2 to the water column because the CO2 will be ejected as the surface is disturbed.

[pufferpuggirl]

Hey, I appreciate any information that I can get. The kit I ordered is from Sera, and aside from the CO2 diffuser, it also came with a bottle of liquid plant food/fertiliser, and 2 different plant food tablets. I'm going to try the diffuser in my Dojo (weather loach) tank and see what happens with that. I will only use my airstone at night, but it's already set up in the tank, so I only need to plug it in if I need air desperately. I'm going to use the liquid and the other plant tabs that came in the kit for my other 3 tanks. My Puffer tank already looks fab without any assistance of any kind other than the lighting. I've never used any fertiliser at all, so far. I'm going to write down how much I'm using and what days I use it, as well as documenting when I put the tablet in the diffuser, and I'm going to keep a diary and see how soon I get effects and hopefully something good will come out of all of this. I am also going to try and take some photos too, so I can see a difference from start to finish.
How do people get such good pictures of their tanks anyway? I notice that all the photos of fish tanks on here (as well as other sites) are nice and clear. When I take a photo I always get the flash reflection in the glass. I'd like to take some photos of my tanks, but I'd like them to be clear, so I can see what's in the tanks.

Oh, and just to say, I don't have an algae problem, at least not at this time anyway.

I did receive my plant order today though and I spent more than an hour figuring which plants for which tank. I ended up sharing all the plants with all 4 of our tanks. Now if the Dojo's would just leave them alone!! They are determined to uproot these 3 particular plants at the front of the tank.

So I'm hoping to have 4 lush tanks in a few months time.

[edmlfc1]

Here is a picture of my 90g planted tank, I use All-Glass Triple Tube Fluorescent Strip Lights, 96w total. Barley over 1 watt per gallon. I use excel when I think about it and that's usually once a week. I also use the flourish root tabs and replace them about every 3-4 months. I don't use any co2. Ignore the two plants on the right in baskets, I had those in there for another tank.