Moving plants from a CO2-injected tank to a "normal" tank

[François Arsenault]

Hello everyone,

I recently started injecting CO2 into my aquarium and I'm confident my
plants will benefit from it. But I was wondering, what happens to a plant
that's been growing in a CO2-enriched tank when it's transferred to another
tank that doesn't have a CO2 injector? Does the plant get used to the extra
CO2 and suffer when it's moved to a tank with less CO2? Or is the extra CO2
just a nice bonus, the plant doing just fine in the second tank (though not
quite as well as in the first tank)? I mean, does the plant get "addicted"
to CO2 or something?

Another way of putting it: what happens to a plant if one stops using a CO2
injector after using one for some time? Will the plant do especially badly,
suffering from CO2 withdrawal, or will it simply go back to the growth level
it previously had before CO2 was used? In other words, does the extra CO2
induce physiological changes in the plant other than making it healthier for
the time CO2 is added?

Francois

[Dave Millman]

"François Arsenault" > wrote

> what happens to a plant if one stops using a CO2
> injector after using one for some time? Will the plant do especially badly,
> suffering from CO2 withdrawal, or will it simply go back to the growth level
> it previously had before CO2 was used? In other words, does the extra CO2
> induce physiological changes in the plant other than making it healthier for
> the time CO2 is added?

I can't speak to physiological changes, but I've never seen any
negative impact aside from slower growth result from less CO2. At
concentrations under 20ppm, CO2 is like a speed control: lower the
bubble rate, plant growth slows down. Increase it, plant growth
accelerates.

[François Arsenault]

> I can't speak to physiological changes, but I've never seen any
> negative impact aside from slower growth result from less CO2. At
> concentrations under 20ppm, CO2 is like a speed control: lower the
> bubble rate, plant growth slows down. Increase it, plant growth
> accelerates.

That's good to hear. I was worried that using CO2 might be a bad idea if the
plants are to be later transferred to a tank without injected CO2. If moving
them to a standard tank just means they go back to their normal growth rate,
then there's no problem. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Francois