[jazzlvr123]

Aaron beat me to the punch. The difference you'll see in your tank with the addition of CO2 will be nothing short of amazing.

When my CO2 levels are good, my tank is lush, beautiful, and algae free. When CO2 goes bad, even for a few days, the tank becomes full of algae and the plants start to look sick in no time.

This and a couple of other posts are making me think it's time for a "CO2 for beginners" type article here.

growth is about 30 times faster with co2 rather than without. the orgaic such as excel is about 5 times faster than without either way it makes a huge difference

 

[jazzlvr123]

the amount of algae you have in your tank directly correlates to how many snails you have in your tank. basically if you cut off their food supplies you limit their population. While it is very hard for even the most experienced aquarists to have a tank that is 100% algae free most of us that have been around for awhile can get somewhat close. however my point is limit your algae growth= limit your snail population. how do you do this? ample light (not too much), sufficient co2 (30 ppm ideal), frequent fertilization and regular water changes all contribute to promoting plat growth which will in turn keep algae away by out competing it for resources. people have to learn that algae is an opportunistic grower it doesn't need fertilizers and co2 to grow like plant matter does so the second you start to lack one of these factors your plants stop growing and your algae starts.

 

[jazzlvr123]

Fish love Oxygen and plants do not.

actually plants do like oxygen they intake it at night and need a bit of it in the water if you want your plants to bubble. plants will not bubble if the aquarium is not saturated with at least a little bit of O2 regardless of how much co2 you shoot into the tank

Get a few ottos, a couple bristlenosed cats (small) and about 3 corys to help with the algea and keeping the gravel cleaner.

this is a common myth among cory cats, they actually do not eat algae, nor do they eat fish waste that others leave behind like some people like to believe believe. they eat fish food and wafers like most other fish corys are good however because they eat the food that makes its way to the substrate that the other fish miss keeping the food from dissolving and making our water dirty