Co2 or not? What Fert should i add?

[Trackpadtactics]

Hello everyone! I am here again to get some more information. First off, i would like to talk about the CO2 thing and see if i really need it or not.

This is my first real Planted tank and i wanna do it right so i don't learn wrong. I bought a Turbo CO2 Bio system from a thrift store to kinda do a DIY project. It looked like its brand new, nothing seems to be used and it seems to be in good condition. So, what i am missing is a Check valve, a turn off valve and a Diffuser. I have gone on ebay and i found these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Mini-CO2...item416a089500

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Check-Valve-...item51a35606ac

What do you think? I want a way to turn the CO2 "off" so its not always running and to provide checks per second for the CO2 into the tank.

Also another thing is when planting the plants i "forgot" to get plant subtrate and the tank is already set up. I have reed you can get Tablet's for the fertalizer. and place them inside the gravel you already have. What should i do with that?

here are a couple of pictures of the tank and plants. let me know!

[Oldfishlady]

What kind of lights do you have, age of bulbs, watts and kelvin. What other plant species do you plan to add.

What is that grass...it looks a bit like mondo grass and if it is-this might slowly rot and die since its not an aquatic plant-even though some pet shops sell it as aquatic.

If it is a rosette plant-then root tabs will help it-the other plant is a water column feeder.

I don't inject CO2 into my heavy planted tanks-I don't even use plant ferts since I use high nutrient soil in mine. Injecting CO2 will help plant growth, however, unless you have the proper color temp lights and with injecting CO2 enough watts-you may end up with an algae farm. With planted tanks-its all about proper lights and balance....

[Trackpadtactics]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

What kind of lights do you have, age of bulbs, watts and kelvin. What other plant species do you plan to add.

What is that grass...it looks a bit like mondo grass and if it is-this might slowly rot and die since its not an aquatic plant-even though some pet shops sell it as aquatic.

If it is a rosette plant-then root tabs will help it-the other plant is a water column feeder.

I don't inject CO2 into my heavy planted tanks-I don't even use plant ferts since I use high nutrient soil in mine. Injecting CO2 will help plant growth, however, unless you have the proper color temp lights and with injecting CO2 enough watts-you may end up with an algae farm. With planted tanks-its all about proper lights and balance....

its LED so Low light plants will do im sure but all i have in there right now is gravel thats it. Nothing else. Will it still be ok without Fertilizer?

[fish monger]

For a first planted tank, going low tech would probably be best. As the previous poster brought up, if that is mondo grass, it will just slowly rot away. If you like the look of it, replace it with sags or vals, and maybe an Amazon sword. Since it's a tall tank, some floating plants would fill out the overall appearance. Get a 6500K tube for lighting and fertilize with Flourish Comprehensive once or twice a week. Since most of the volume is taken up in depth, stock more lightly than is normally suggested per gallon. Surface area plays a big part in stocking also. Could you provide the dimensions of the tank in width x length x height ?

[starrlamia]

co2 wont be of any benefit with low lighting, you would need higher lighting to make it worth while.

[Trackpadtactics]

OK, so i found out what the plants are that i got, it is mondo grass so i took it out and its on top of the filter, also the other one is like masuse? or something around that name.