Aquatic plant care; is a diffuser neccesary?

Question

Hi. (:

So, I want to do plants in a 29 gal goldfish tank. The CO2 diffusers, even the DIY ones seem rather expensive. Is there a way to get by without them? Are there just like, tablets or liquids that you can pour in every day or something?

Answer 1

DIY co2 is NOT expensive. The bottle you will already have, some spare air line, a check valve and the yeast costs about $5.00. The diffusers cost around 8.00 but you have to order them from overseas. I dont know why someone here hasnt started up a business yet!

Yes there are co2 tablets, 3 cost about 15 dollars. That's expensive.

You do not have to have co2, no. But you do have to have a quality fertilizer that provides macro and micro nutrients for your plants.

AND you HAVE to have a light that gives off 6,700K no more than 7,000K and no less than 5,500K.

6,700K is about the perfect number, and petsmart has this bulb it's called glo life 2? it's about 20 dollars and you need to replace it every year to 8 months.

But it's your choice. you could just get plastic ones.

There is cost involved with having live plants. But i'd rather have a live plant anyday than a cheap looking fake one.

Not even silk plants resemble real ones.

Good luck in your endeavors!

Answer 2

If you don't use something to diffuse the CO2, large bubbles will rise to the surface and send most of the CO2 straight into the atmosphere.  If you have a canister filter, you can jam the CO2 tube into the filter's intake-- because canister filters are closed (compared to HOB), little of the CO2 gets released as gas.  The water flow will begin dissolving the bubbles immediately, and they will stick to the media until fully dissolved as carbonic acid, which the plants use.  There are liquids like Flourish Excel that claim to be nothing more than supplementary carbon, but many use them as the sole source with great results.