# Update



## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Same set up with homemade co2 and mirical grow

Here she sits today I love looking in it.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Forgot to add I also added another jar with a t valve for 2 co2 canisters


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

My half *** co2 setup it works good though so don't hate


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Your tanks looks great bud. Looks like its about time for some trimming. The more you trim the thicker they will grow.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I have trimmed a lot but they grow out of controle. Iv been pretty busy but I know I need to cut them down a bit since there floating all over the top of the tank.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Also if you look at my pitiful plant on the left I cut it down to about 3" and its been branching off little by little. I want it to look like a tree almost. Iv seen pictures online of guys doing it. Iv got it to branch off some but it def doesnt look the best. But it's alive


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Iv also read or heard somewhere that filters are not food for planted tanks because it takes the plant food right out of the water. 

Now I have fish and my filter takes there crap off my white sand, and I'm a noob to plants still but should I get a smaller filter?

Btw I wash my filter pads once a week with tab water to get rid of any bacteria that would rob the plant food


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

lookin good man.. I don't hate on that CO2 system... I have one like that, on a large scale right now as I wait to figure out if I want to buy a new light system, or CO2 system this coming week haha. But it works great, and I have done little experiments here and there to see how to make it last longer. Adding sugar cubes to give it a boost, and re-usuing some of the old water with active live bacteria in it works good.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I'd be interested to hear if filters take plant food right out of the water as well because if they do I would have been fertilizing for nothing for the past few months.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Idk betta guy that's what iv heard 


And I use the same old water in the co2 and it seems to last a bit longer I have to change it up every 2 weeks now. Idk why people hate but oh we'll. I use 4 cups sugar 1 cup water 1 tbl spoon yeast in 1 jar. The smaller one is 2 cups sugar 1 tbl spoon yeast. They both go for about 2 weeks it's not the worse set up in the world. If it works don't fix it right. 


I may be a noob in the plant department but I think iv found my way to beginner levle. As my tank looks pretty decent in my eyes. Still need the damn moss wall to fill up!


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

I have never heard about filters hurting the aquarium nutrients level. I do know that activated carbon in a CO2 injected aquarium is a bad thing. Activated carbon can remove CO2 and should not be used. As for reducing your filtration I would not do that. Most planted people will agree that you need more filtration than a usual aquarium. More flow means less nutrient dead spots and therefore less algae.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Hmm I keep my filter on all the time as I do in a normal tank. The only problem I get is in te thick plants food gets stuck in there I cut my filter to get the carbon out. The thing I heard is the bactirea that can eat the "bad stuff" and the bad stuff is plant food?


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## bullseyejoey (Aug 30, 2012)

Cory, were those guppies in the pictures? Anyway cool tank.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I think with bad stuff they meant amonia and nitrites, but not the iron and copper in plant food. I don't think plant food adds amonia and nitrites to your water so I guess we'll be fine keeping our filters running.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Some plant food has nitrates, but its usually not needed in a tank with fish. Some has Potassium or phosphates. Potassium is often must add for planted tanks in soft water (low mineral) areas. There are phosphates in some fish foods and many buffers. 

Trace (iron, etc.) mineral is the the thing that carbon is supposed to grab that plants need. You could be wasting money if you are both adding trace and replacing your carbon regularly.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

They were guppies

I do nothing but wash my filter pads once a week and put mirical grow in it 

Without that an co2 I wouldn't have plants.

So thanks once again John.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

And that was just what I heard. Didn't know if it was true or not. I just run mine like normal.


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