CO2 and Caridina

[TomCruise]

Ok, so I have a ten gallon with various Caridina in it and plants.  Running CO2 controlled via a Milwaukee pH controller, so I can keep my pH pretty close to whatever I want. 

 

What are the problems with CO2 and Caridina? 

 

I have an algae problem and would like to increase my CO2 to get rid of it, but would like to know what people think 1st.  

 

How low can I go with my pH?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

-Tom

[paulvh]

I think that pH is less of a concern than CO2 concentration. Generally speaking 30ppm of CO2 is where most people aim for if they are doing a plant focused tank with a significant amount of light. For caridina, I've personally kept them(CRS) in co2 injected tanks at that concentration without any trouble before.. but they also didn't breed much, and I didn't see a lot of offspring make it when they did. Any time you start having light high enough to also warrant saturating the tank in CO2, you also drive up the need for other nutrients that can have a detrimental effect on breeding and survival rates of offspring(Nitrate, Phosphate, pH fluctuation from shutting CO2 off at night, etc). You'll also have a much narrower margin of error if something doesn't go right with your CO2 system, as shrimp have been the first to go in all of my co2 malfunctions

 

That said, there might be some things you can do to address the algae before you crank up the CO2. Light is the gas pedal of the tank, and drives the need for everything else including CO2 - a shorter photoperiod, or decreasing light intensity(by raising light, or dimming fixture if possible) might get the algae under control with lower and somewhat safer levels of CO2.

 

In then end you'll probably have to decide which way to lean: a plant focused tank with shrimp(where they will be pretty safe, but might not produce as many offspring), or a shrimp focused tank with plants.

 

I am not sure if that is helpful, but I thought I would throw in my 2 pennies

[LesterBee]

I'm running a very small, ( 1 liter ) DIY CO2 reactor to keep my low tech planted 20 growing plants, and I'll move the reactor's supply line to my shrimp's 10 gallon filter every evening for a couple hours to bump up the CO2 slightly.  I've been noticing a slight increase in the moss and fern growth in the shrimp's tank, and there's negligible change in the pH.  It's about a much CO2 as I want to expose them to, considering.

[TomCruise]

Yea, i think I'm going to go the opposite direction as well. less CO2 and a near continual very slow water change to get my nitrate levels to zero. Its funny cuz when i had some water sprites in there i didnt have an algae problem. So have concluded that CO2 is the answer if you cant get nitrates to 0. like absolute zero. So im gonna give that a shot, because i don't think the plants need that much CO2.

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[TomCruise]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

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[TomCruise]

Aslo ive beem letting my CO2 run at night however much it needs to keep my pH levels steady. Is this a bad idea?

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[paulvh]

Almost all aquatic plants(with a very rare exception to those that can use CAM photosynthesis) switch from uptake of CO2, to uptake of O2 when the lights go out.

Basically, the plants will be competing with everything else in the tank for any dissolved oxygen that is present. The shrimp might be ok with this, but they also might be getting stressed at night when CO2 levels rise and O2 levels fall.

[LesterBee]

19 hours ago, TomCruise said:

Yea, i think I'm going to go the opposite direction as well. less CO2 and a near continual very slow water change to get my nitrate levels to zero. Its funny cuz when i had some water sprites in there i didnt have an algae problem. So have concluded that CO2 is the answer if you cant get nitrates to 0. like absolute zero. So im gonna give that a shot, because i don't think the plants need that much CO2.

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 If you can track them down C. Cornuta or Oak Leaf Water Sprite are really nice floating plants, they have the added 'feature' of being able to be rooted in the gravel and they'll grow even more vigorously  I was growing them to some impressive size in a tank I had 24 years ago. It filled one-fourth of a 40 Long, with it's leaves spreading to the surface.   It's the plant behind the Crypt. Crispatula, var Balansae