Puffers and CO2

[pufferpuggirl]

Wow edmlfc1! What a tank!! That is very pretty. May I ask how old that is? I mean, how long ago did you plant that tank? Can I also ask what your substrate is made up of? And when you use your plant tabs, do you put a tablet under each and every plant?

I will try to take a photo of my Puffer tank. I've had pretty good luck with it and I've not used anything -- yet.

I love photos! Anyone got anymore to show me? I love to see different tanks and how other people have done theirs up.

Thank you.

[plurmaster]

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.

very nice planted tank..i see crypto,annubias,swords..all extremely healthy

[Myaj]

Not the greatest picture in the world, but my 60 gallon "cube" goldie tank I had before I moved:


That tank was 60 gallons, 2ft x 2ft x 2ft so very deep, all it had was one 65w compact flourescent bulb. No ferts. No CO2. No special substrate. Plants were anubias, crypts and onion plant. Best part? No pruning!



75 gallon "Rainbowfish" tank, planted again with mainly crypts and anubias. Substrate was a mix of EcoComplete (the black planted tank substrate) and "very fine gravel". No ferts, no CO2. Two 65w CF bulbs.



10 gallon "shelldweller" tank. Play sand substrate, two screw in CF bulbs. Again, crypts, some small anubias. No ferts, no CO2.



Now, unfortunately, my photos of my high light, CO2 added, fast growing tanks are lost on my old hard drive... oh wait, I found them in an online photo gallery, hang on let me grab those suckers quick.


My 33xl, this is a very long, low tank that really lets plants get a lot of light. I think I had two 55w CF bulbs on it, EcoComplete planted substrate, mix of a bunch of plants, don't even know if I could list them all:

Before pruning:

6months.jpg

And after:

pruned.jpg

I think its pretty obvious I much prefer low maintenance planted tanks. I hate pruning every week, especially considering all my tanks are now puffer tanks, and there's big teeth in them! Although I do really miss the bright reds and pinks that you really can only get with high light and CO2.

[edmlfc1]

Wow edmlfc1! What a tank!! That is very pretty. May I ask how old that is? I mean, how long ago did you plant that tank? Can I also ask what your substrate is made up of? And when you use your plant tabs, do you put a tablet under each and every plant?

I will try to take a photo of my Puffer tank. I've had pretty good luck with it and I've not used anything -- yet.

I love photos! Anyone got anymore to show me? I love to see different tanks and how other people have done theirs up.

Thank you.

I set the tank up in june 2008. It's not very old. I used Schultz aquatic soil from home depot ($5 a bag) safe for fish
(it keeps my ph around 6.4). There are planted substrates out there for around $15-$25 a bag. Just remember what ever you get make sure your fish can live in the ph it produces.
I put about 5-6 plant tabs in the soil spaced out over the tank at least 3"-4" away from the plants. I have amazon swords, crypt, anubias, balansae, val grass, java fern and hygrophilia corymbosa for my plants. Some are fast growers and some slow growers. After setting up my 125 I trimmed my plants and moved some over to it.

Here's a pic. of the 125, my puffer keeps my plants trimmed.


In the 125 I used seachem planted substrate. It dosen't effect the ph. It also looks like black sand.

[plurmaster]

do i see a planted tank challenge?heh both of your planted tanks looks absolutly stunning!!!

[edmlfc1]

I didn't even notice the reflection from Elvis tank on the glass. Also if you look really hard you can see my little Annabelle in the bottom left corner under her favorite log. She is still very small right now and and looks even smaller in that tank.

[pufferpuggirl]

Wow, now I feel intimidated! All of these tanks look so nice. I tried taking some photographs last night of my planted freshwater puffer tank, but when I went to upload them it said they were too big and I'm not sure how to reduce them.

But let me just say again, the photos that you both submitted are fantastic, really great. I can only hope that my tanks do as well.

Keep the photos coming, I love seeing the different designs and how plants can be used in a tank.

[plurmaster]

Just finish re-planting and arranging my plants. phewww what a work out!!!! There's more needs to be done and awiting for more plants. All dosing flourish excel,weekly 50%wc,dosing ferts once a week. Soon will be using co2 injection. The 2 tanks with black substrates is eco complete..the other 2 is flourite and floraMax.

[pufferpuggirl]

"Just finish re-planting and arranging my plants. phewww what a work out!!!! There's more needs to be done and awiting for more plants. All dosing flourish excel,weekly 50%wc,dosing ferts once a week. Soon will be using co2 injection. The 2 tanks with black substrates is eco complete..the other 2 is flourite and floraMax."

So Plurmaster, this tank that you are going to use CO2 injection in, is that your Puffer tank? That's what I'm curious about. How does CO2 mix with Puffers. I have a small unit in one of my other tanks, but I've got the most plants in my Puffer tank and thought they would do even better with a bit of extra CO2.

Does anyone know how to make photos smaller? I've got some pictures of my tanks and can't use any of them because they are all too big!

[plurmaster]

Yes..all tanks are puffer tanks. I have more but havent post pictures yet. With co2 injection you must get a ph meter or drop checker to make sure ph level is stable. With either of this tools your puffer will be safe but i would advice dont put any fish when u first start your injection. Play around with it/tests till the ph is stable at the range you want i.e. ph 7.0. Then you put your fish in. There should be a chart that tells you in gallons which meter is best for plants and safe for fish. Forgot the link and didnt save it. I have a drop checker that comes with a small chart.

To reize your picture you'll need a photo view software/program that allow you to rezie. All programs should come with one. Im not sure if our photo album here helps you do so. Never really check it out. I upload all my photo directly from camera and didnt have any problems.

[pufferpuggirl]

I'm not going to be using the CO2 that comes in a tank. The system I currently have is the kind where it's got a plastic "diffuser" that sticks on the inside of the tank and I drop a tablet into it, the only thing is that it bubbles immediately out and it's done in about 3 minutes! I can't imagine that is doing much, but my plants do look good already.
I've just ordered another system, but it's the kind where you add sugar and something else, forget what, but it's got a bubble counter and hopefully that will leach the CO2 out a little longer so it can be absorbed by the plants better.
The tablet kind I have now isn't in the Puffer tank, and I'm not certain the new one I'm waiting on will go in the Puffer tank either.

[plurmaster]

It should be okay but do regulor testing on ph of your tanks. I used one of thos sugar added with ladder bubble counter before. My puffers were fine.