# co2



## 0123 (May 18, 2004)

can fish make co2? i read somewhere (maybe on this site) that someone said that they do... so any info on this? is it true?

thx


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

All animals make CO2


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## 0123 (May 18, 2004)

so if you had a heavily planted tank with tons of fish is there much need to buy a co2 system?


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I wish I knew enough about CO2 levels in plant tanks to answer that. It sounds like a solid theory but the thing to worry about is at night the fish will keep producing CO2 while the plants are no longer taking it in, in fact they're using oxygen the fish need. But that's just my understanding, I'm really no expert on CO2 systems, maybe someone else will answer.


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## sprinter78 (Nov 24, 2003)

First, how big is your tank and what type of plants are you looking to get, or currently have?


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## 0123 (May 18, 2004)

sprinter the tank is a 15g high (its one of those eclipse setups with built in filter, hood, light combo thingy) the light is 15w with a plant bulb from home depot (i know i should have higher watts but i didnt have the money for it so i figured this could do...)

ok well i have 1 amazon sword, 1 "micro sword" (it was potted when i bought it) some type of rotalla (something like that...) uhhh a lily or something (its one of those you can buy bulbs of at wal-mart the plant is red and has grown really good took forever to start growing much but it has grown alot once it started... and turned into about 3+ plants) and something i bought labeled as a "melon sword" and then theres one or 2 other types of plants... sand/gravel mix substrate and one med peice of driftwood

and i use leaf zone fertilizer (its the liquid kind)

and there is about 25 1/2" baby rusty cichlids and 1 convict that is just a little smaller and one 1" albino cory

the substrate is about 2" deep

but i am going to most likely build a stand for 2x 55g (one top one bottom) and was going to make the bottom tank heavily planted and planned to buy the shop lights from wal mart (they are 48" and 40w) i figured 3-4 tubes would work? i will try to do some of the plant substrate (cant think of what its called right now..) but its like $20 for a 20# bag how much would i need for a heavy planted tank? could i like get some sand and mix it all up or do i need to put that stuff in first then sand on top?

when i do the 55 i will do lots of amazon swords, and more of the "rotalla" (or however its spelled...) and glosso there will be more.... i just cant think right now lol

there will be a few peices of driftwood... 2x ram cichlid pairs (hopefully) and 1x keyhole cichlid pair (again hopefully... depends if i can find them) and probly a few neons or something and a few loaches (i dont know if they can go with the fish breeding tho ill have to research)

but thats basically all i can think of right now... but would the fish i listed do for co2? and if i couldnt find them could i just put a bunch of fish in and not need to buy co2? cause i would like to avoid that if i could...


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## sprinter78 (Nov 24, 2003)

What you will be setting up is basically the setup I have right now (going on a year strong at this point). I have a 55g with cichlids... RD, 2 JDs, convict, Jewel, pleco, and firemouth... And I have mostly amazon swords and java ferns and some pigmy anubis. I have 30W of light right now, of which I am about to upgrade to around 120W... a little over 2 W/gallon.

I have some driftwood with pots and have a gravel substrate with some flourite mixed in (that is probably the 20lb bag you are referring to that is 20 bucks).

HOwever, I do have 2 hagen CO2 systems in there as really an experiment. My plants have done really well so I like having the CO2 system. Basically in my experience, if you have a lot of fish and if you have a lot of low-light plants, you really don't need CO2 systems: its really when you have a ton of plants, both low and high-light needing plants that you need a CO2 system, and I know a lot of members on thsi board have built DIY systems, for much cheaper than anything else, Hagen, or even pressurized systems.

Depending on the light needs of your plants (sorry I don't know too much about that outside of the amazon swords), and also the amount of fish you are expecting to keep, it will be up to you what you want to do. With minimal light and low level plants, CO2 isn't a necessity IMHO... but I know others will differ in their opinions.

This may or may not help you...


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