Hi all,
I decided to start a new thread as my issues have changed. I am new to fish keeping and since I like the look of live plants much more than fake, I decided to start my first aquarium with live plants. I should have researched more so I would have realized that with my hard water (8 dkH) and my waters high pH of typically 8.4, I would need to injected CO2. Currently my pH in my aquarium is 8.2. I have a 46 gallon bow front tank with an aquaclear 70 filter and a quad T5 light that is on a timer. I am currently running the lights 10 hours per day. My plants are lighter in color than they should be and not really growing. I also have to fight algae.
I have about 11 plants, 12 fish and a shrimp. I have lost several plants and replaced them with different ones before realizing that not having CO2 was my issue. I decided that since I have my lights coming on at 11am and running until 9pm I needed a system I could put on a timer. I found instructions on "How to Set Up a Semi-Automatic CO2 Injection System" on Doctors Fisher & Smith's website. I have everything I need on order I just hope I can get it all in and set up before I loose my plants. I have also ordered a drop checker. Does anyone have any suggestions on how much CO2 I should start with? I have read that 2 bubbles per second should be adequate but is that for someone that already has their pH in the 7 range. Are there any charts out there that correlate water parameters to the required bubbles per second? Or do Injust start with 2 and adjust up until my drop checker indicates I am good? Do I leave it at one setting for several hours then turn it up if needed or do I leave it at one setting for the entire 10 hours my light is on and then increase it the next day if the drop checker never changes?
Any suggestions are appreciated?
