# Will my set-up work? No CO2



## wikiwakawakawee (Aug 27, 2014)

Hello all, I'm new to planted aquariums, and have never set one up before... although I have been doing lots and lots of research. My main question is... Will my set up work? (Iwagumi)
I bought a marineland penguin 350 (for up to 70) gallons since it was on sale, and am currently waiting for Petco's dollar per gallon sale to buy a 50 gallon tank. My lighting will be a 4ft fluorescent light fixture with 2 6500k bulbs (I have 2 of these lights in my mini greenhouse for my carnivorous plant collection, and the plants are growing great!)
I'm going to find some rocks that won't change the chemistry of the water at a landscaping rock place near where I live. 
At first I wanted a carpet of dwarf HC, but they require CO2 to grow well, and I heard that dwarf hairgrass isn't as needy, so I'm going to give it a shot. To keep algae from growing, I'm deciding on whether to buy floating plants (dwarf water lettuce) or a UV sterilizer then take them out when the carpet of dwarf HG is well established. For substrate, I found Caribsea eco-complete for $22 per 20 pound bag on amazon. Then once everything is well established, i'll add some neon tetras ( would I have to cycle my planted tank for this?)
Very excited for this!


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## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

Dwarf hair grass is a craps shoot without co2. I could get it to grow without co2 in sunlight but not in my lower lift tank, and it takes forever. Dwarf sag would be a better choice. Plus water lettuce will cut out most of the light the dhg will need, unless u can keep it in a certain area. I am more of a fan of dirt tanks due to cost but everything else seems fine to me. With enough plants and just a few fish your tank should cycle silently but I don't know about the caribsea and if it releases ammonia like ada soil.


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## danellis1229 (Jan 24, 2013)

if your waiting on the petco sale you will be waiting a long time they just had it 
not sure when it comes around again for a smal but bigger than a nano i like the breeders better go dirt and sand


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

For non-co2 I've seen better results with a dirt & cap than with commercial substrates. DHG does take time to fill in though without co2; if you have a smaller foreground in a 50gal it could be doable. Ironically i find that it requires more light to grow well than compared to a co2 enriched tank. While it is taking time to fill in you then need to have other faster growing stuff to out compete the algae. If you're new to planted tanks i wouldn't recommend DHG in such a setup. Dwarf sag, micro sword, moss, these are easier to start with.


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## wikiwakawakawee (Aug 27, 2014)

Thanks for the input guys... after I posted, I was looking at dwarf sag, and wondered if it would look too big... I'm just going to get a few rocks, and only have 1 type of plant to carpet the entire aquarium, which was going to be DHG, but now I'm leaning more towards D sag. I do like the appearance of DHG more though... can I make a DIY co2 system for a tank of this size? Or would I have to make multiple systems?
I really just want to make something that looks like this: (I know its DHC in the pic)








but I'm worried it won't look good with D sag. due to its larger size

Bump:


danellis1229 said:


> if your waiting on the petco sale you will be waiting a long time they just had it
> not sure when it comes around again for a smal but bigger than a nano i like the breeders better go dirt and sand


I know:icon_conf I just found out it was only about a month ago... does anyone have an idea when the next one will be? Or should I look on Craigslist?=/


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## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

I have bough all of my tanks off craiglist without incident. I used diy co2 but found it just gave me more of a headache. There are some other options for carpet plants as well, micros word would work as well. Ime dhg is a pain, will grow taller then dwarf sag, and unless ur tank is perfectly balanced will only become covered in algae. When trimmed it sticks to the glass and is impossible to get all of it out, just not worth the effort. 
For my 65g it took 8-2l soda bottles to even register a change in my drop checker, algae was rampant, especially hair algae, and I had to change a bottle of yeast every two days. Not worth it unless u r making wine and drinking it(which I did but my wife and I couldn't keep up with the wine........believe me, we tried)


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

IMO do not bother with DIY CO2 on a tank that large. Either stay low tech or get pressurized CO2. Your expectations will be crushed if you aim for a carpet that nice without CO2 / perfect tank parameters.

My high tech 75's HC carpet is going south and it is killing me trying to save it. The amount of pruning algae / trimming required in a tank that large is unbearable. Without perfect conditions already established I can't even imagine trying to grow a carpet in low tech.

I have never tried it but I think micro sword (e. tenellus) is your best bet if you want a low-tech carpet. It grows really slow without CO2 I think.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

wikiwakawakawee said:


> Thanks for the input guys... after I posted, I was looking at dwarf sag, and wondered if it would look too big... I'm just going to get a few rocks, and only have 1 type of plant to carpet the entire aquarium, which was going to be DHG, but now I'm leaning more towards D sag. I do like the appearance of DHG more though... can I make a DIY co2 system for a tank of this size? Or would I have to make multiple systems?
> I really just want to make something that looks like this: (I know its DHC in the pic)
> 
> 
> ...


That is an HC "lawn" in the photo. HC definitely needs good CO2 to grow at all well, and it also requires a lot of maintenance to look that good. George Farmer is an outstanding aquascaper, in my opinion, and is also very experienced. You would very likely be disappointed if you expect to duplicate his aquascape. But, you can capture the same feeling, and have a very nice looking tank by using low light and no CO2, just Excel, and plants appropriate to low light. Dwarf sags do make a nice looking shaggy lawn, and with no CO2 and low light it doesn't get much more than 2-3 inches high in my experience. You could get a similar effect using it.


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## wikiwakawakawee (Aug 27, 2014)

Thanks again everybody for the responses. Okay well, I'm debating on whether to choose dwarf sag, or mesh with java moss...Does anybody have any pictures of these plants carpeting like in the photo I provided? I definitely don't want to have a big DIY CO2 system...thanks for insight on that


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

You will not get the look.you want with d.sag

It will exceed 4inches easily. I have had sag grow 12" or more. Check out my tank to see what a sag carpet looks.like.


Moss carpet can be done but growth is super slow. Also stupid.messy to trim.


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