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Co2 injection

I was in a conversation with a plant biologist, who mentioned when looking at a lowland terrium setup, that it should be 'starved' for CO2. Made sense to me, a bunch of plants all in a closed container and photosynthesizing like mad...CO2 concentration should be low. I use a DIY (do-it-yourself) CO2 injector using yeast, sugar, water, a 2L soda bottle and some airline tubing for my planted tropical fish tank...and the plants really grew awesome after I started this. And it's cheap, like $2 per week. So I thought, why not do a similar thing with my 55 gallon lowland terrarium: I could use 2 soda bottles (so twice as much yeast and sugar solution) and bubble the CO2 through a small cup (so I know it's making CO2). What do you all think, so you think the plants will grow better? Anyone else try something like this. BTW, I know they also sell CO2 generators for hydroponic stuff.
 
i know when it comes to growing pot CO2 injecting is well documented for increasing yeilds(surprising what general growing info you can get reading up on growing marijuana). it more than likly will help plant growth if your chambers are fairly close to being air tight but i know it would probably show no difference in my intermediate/highland set up cause i have to many holes
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Here's a crazy thought: How about putting a Betta in a bowl in the terrarium, that will also introduce an unknown amount of CO2, while deriving benefit from the plant's O2?

If I remember correctly, at night, the process is on reverse, with the plants producing CO2.
 
I tried CO2 injection into my planted tank for awhile, but didn't see a big change.  Might have been too much turbulence in the water, or that i wasn't fertilizing properly.

The horror stories about DIY CO2 generators gone wild started to get to me after i smelled the remnants of the process while disposing of used-up mixes.  

Maybe you should just build a huge grow chamber and sleep in there.  That would solve the CO2 problem.  
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You're right JimScott.  At night, plants respire.  They metabolize the sugars from the day's photosynthesis to grow and perform the other life processes, just like heterotrophs do all the time. In fact, that can create large swings in the CO2 concentration in aquariums with CO2 injection, which in turn causes large pH swings, potentially killing denizens.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Maybe you should just build a huge grow chamber and sleep in there. That would solve the CO2 problem.

Ah, but you see, according to a biology professor I once had, sleeping (at night) in an enclosure/room with too many plants can be almost fatal due to competition for O2. If that really is the case, what we really need to do is spend all day locked up in the growspace and come out only at night!
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Cheers
 
Good point. Okay, anyone willing to sponsor me as their daytime professional CO2 generator?
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[b said:
Quote[/b] (shokuchuu @ Oct. 13 2005,3:28)]If that really is the case, what we really need to do is spend all day locked up in the growspace and come out only at night!
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Cheers
And this would be great if you're a mythological creature, of a certain sort!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Okay, anyone willing to sponsor me as their daytime professional CO2 generator?
Well, maybe as a hot air generator, lol!
 
look on ebay. you should get a full setup for freshwater planted tanks for maybe, 150 at the lowest used. that's the tank, valves, all that good stuff.
 
  • #10
I've done all that, I'm setting up a CO2 injector with pH regulator for my 55-gallon Amazon biotope aquarium (Oooo, I can't wait!). But when you're a grad student living in boston...$150 is a LOT of money. My estimate right now is like $250 for all the equipment, new (I hate used stuff I can never return). But for now, in my first planted aquarium, my 30 gallon tank, the DIY CO2 generator is working fine.
 
  • #11
I have a 20 pound CO2 bottle with all the fittings. I'm building a large growchamber right now and I'm going to set that up with a solenoid on a timer only introducing the c02 during the day.
 
  • #12
Here's a question - won't they be starved of oxygen at night with all that respiring going on?
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I bet you wouldn't see any difference if you didn't bother with the CO2. I'd spend that $150 on more plants personally!
 
  • #13
Doubt it. There is plentiful oxygen in the air to go around. Unless plants have evolved to require larger quantities of oxygen than what CO2 they use up. But I don't think so since they respire all the time, not only at night.
 
  • #14
...you also have to figure, that if you add more CO2 during photosynthesis more oxygen will be produced as a result. This will be available at night when the plants undergo the majority of their respiration.
 
  • #15
remember though that CO2 DISPLACES O2. So a balance is what you're looking for.
 
  • #16
I thought about this before, and I figured I'd rather spend the money on improving my setup in other ways (i.e. better lighting, etc). I have a 4" fan positioned outside my chamber that constantly blows fresh air into it. I figure the extra O2 inside my chamber is being flushed out and replaced with the air from the room, which has a higher concentration of CO2 because it is occupied by humans and my pets.

Brian
 
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