"g_in_k_o" wrote in message
...
In rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants Reel McKoi
wrote:
:
: Where does the water in nature get the CO2 from?
:
High tech, high light planted aquariums are not at all natural, they only
appear to be so :-)

In nature, a relatively small amount of CO2 dissolves into water. If you
super-saturate the water with CO2, plants that can barely survive at best
under water become showcase specimens. This is because CO2 is a primary
limiting factor in underwater plants.

It should then also enter aquarium water and be added by the fish as they
breathe.

Even in medium light, supplementing with CO2 doubles the growth of plants.
This tends to help the plants more than the algae, so it gives more
return for your effort than other costly things to try.

You can bubble your own CO2 with yeast, sugar and water in a 2 liter soda
bottle. It's a pain to keep feeding the yeast, but it's pretty cheap and
does a good job for many plants. Google "DIY CO2" should get some info to
you.

: How much are you spending yearly for the fertilizers, the RO unit, the
: electricity to run it etc?

Dry fertilizers are cheap, shipping is not. Order several years worth
with a few people and your annual cost will probably drop to less than
$20 a year.

I have no one to share an order with. No one I know grows aquarium plants
although they keep fish.

RO and CO2 units cost several hundred dollars up front, but annual
maintenance after that is pretty low.

All my costs get dwarfed by the electricity bill. Lights with efficient
reflectors lets you run the fixture for fewer hours and use less tubes.
Still I have more than a dozen fixtures, only a few have optimal
reflectors:

4 tube * 54 watt T5 HO tek Light, 8 hours/day
4 tube * 24 watt T5 HO tek Light, 8 hours/day
2 tube * 32 watt T8, 12 hours/day
2 tube * 32 watt T8 overdriven, 12 hours/day
2 tube * 28 watt T5 strip light * 4 strips, 12 hours/day
2 tube * 14 watt T5 strip light * 4 strips, 12 hours/day
1 tube * 32 watt T8 modified strip light with good reflector
1 120 watt PC hydroponic fixture over large cube tank 8 hours/day
1 96 watt PC "quad tube", 12 hours/day, to be replaced.

Add up the kilowatt hours and plug into your local rate :-)

Electricity where I live isn't very expensive.
--

RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
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