Adding CO2 to Pond?

[Lisak1]

If I have to add 3x/year, that's fine. Thats what I do with my garden as well.

Give them a good dose of fertilizer when you repot them and they should be good for many weeks. I do like the spikes better than the tabs - they're more durable when you are trying to jam them into an overgrown pot! The tabs seem to crumble too easily for me.

 

[Miami Al]

There are slow release fertilizer tabs you can use. Similar to this one:

Laguna Aquatic Slow Release Fertilizer Spikes 16-9-12 | 3 Options

Feed your pond plants once a year with Laguna's Fertilizer Spikes. Safe for fish and easy to apply. 16-9-12 (N/P/K) formulation.

www.pondandgardendepot.com

Some even advertise once a year usage. I know @addy1 does Osmocote once a year, but she's like most of us - she's really only feeding for the warm months. You'd need to adjust for your always warm to hot climate.

Osmocote sounds intriguing. Pull the pots out, fertilize them, add them pebbles/gravel, resink them. Even if I did it 2x/year that much more manageable than the tabs. The travertine border is too hot to lie on in the summer... LOL.

 

[Miami Al]

BTW: I have been fertilizing for a few weeks. The growth is obvious now. You can tell which pots I got a few weeks ago vs. not. The CO2 booster I've been adding -- no idea if it does anything. If I wanted to really boost things and add the Leaf Coverage fertlizer, I think I'd need to turn off the pumps when I add it, otherwise I think it'll just fertilize the bogs.

I'm very happy with the addition of the fertilizer. I'm going to stop the CO2 booster in a few weeks, not convinced it does anything, but things are going well right now so I'll keep pushing.

I have a gas blender to mix the air pump and the CO2 infusion, so a singular tube to the diffuser can handle both - Air overnight, CO2 gas for a bit in the morning. Nothing during the day when we look at fish. I'm also not convinced this will make much of a difference in my open air pond, but it's been a fun project to build out. If it does work, I'll likely switch from Soda Stream refills to real CO2 canisters. Refilling them is annoying, but 2x/year is doable, and I have a 5lb and a 10lb not in use from an old project, so getting them inspected and filled could work, I just have to hide the large canisters.

I have been enjoying treating my project as a hybrid pond/aquarium. I've definitely enjoyed some of the aquarium hacks, including the varieties of fish. Was out in full sun today... wow, all the fish are popping, it's gorgeous, including all the "wrong" fish.

 

[fishlips]

As long as your having fun there is a CO2 drop checker and it's under 20$. It helps get the CO2 at the perfect level for the plants.

As long as the fish have good water almost nothing is wrong, if your have fun.

 

[GBBUDD]

I'm going to stop the CO2 booster in a few weeks, not convinced it does anything,

OH CO2 WORKS I CAN ASSURE you ! and if you were providing optimum dosaging you would not question if it worked or not , you would be ripping out aquatic growth left and right.

 

[Stephen Noble]

I'll probably see if I can hook up the CO2 thingy, because it was an interesting project. But I appreciate from here that it was probably a waste of money and won't make a difference, at least not a large one.

Naw, not a waste of money. What the heck, we need to experiment with our ponds and have fun. That's what it's all about. After you try it out in your pond, you can always use it indoors in an aquarium. Is it a yeast reactor or pressurized system?

 

[Miami Al]

OH CO2 WORKS I CAN ASSURE you ! and if you were providing optimum dosaging you would not question if it worked or not , you would be ripping out aquatic growth left and right.

I believe CO2 works, API CO2 Booster product is what I’m not sure of.

Okay we’re excited for CO2 tanks.

 

[Miami Al]

Naw, not a waste of money. What the heck, we need to experiment with our ponds and have fun. That's what it's all about. After you try it out in your pond, you can always use it indoors in an aquarium. Is it a yeast reactor or pressurized system?

Pressurized - testing with soda stream little ones, may switch to bigger later.

 

[Miami Al]

So I’m not going to dismiss the CO2 Booster (liquid) but adding fertilizer has DEFINITELY made a difference.

The growth in the fertilized pots picked up immediately - they now all are done. One of the plants that did nothing but sit there has grown several inches, branched out, and now may crack the surface.

The fertilizer diagnosis was on point.

Thing I love about the Oase Biosmart - it’s so easy to clean, open drain pull handles. While I’m futzing with the pond I might as well clean them. When the sponges are clean the water looks polished.

Can’t wait to have some free time to add more gravel.

I love the advice here. I love that I can play with the pond for a few weeks and then go back to low maintenance mode. The bigs are truly a miracle.

 

[Miami Al]

So... fertilization works...

Nice clear water. You see some food flakes sitting there, but I think it's pretty clear.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

So... fertilization works...

Nice clear water. You see some food flakes sitting there, but I think it's pretty clear.

Pretty lily!

 

[GBBUDD]

I believe CO2 works, API CO2 Booster product is what I’m not sure of.

Okay we’re excited for CO2 tanks.

I have seen your setup and I would advise against the use of co2.

won't take long to over grow the pond and constant trimming will be required

 

[Miami Al]

I have seen your setup and I would advise against the use of co2.

won't take long to over grow the pond and constant trimming will be required

Hmm... What about running it for a few weeks to see if we can get the plants to grow nicely? I can always stop it.

 

[Miami Al]

Oh, I put the fertilizer spikes in.

 

[EricV]

I think it's almost completely useless to do this to a pond for a very simple reason. Most pond plants we're trying to grow are emergent. The leaves, and thus where they get their CO2, are in the air. The aquarium plants are pulling CO2 from the water. So putting CO2 into your pond water is only going to impact your submersed oxygenator plants.