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I bought a violet and it has been living in my tank for 4 weeks so far. It is now looking like it is starting to die so I figured I may as well try something differant.

I grabbed a water cooler bottle, seram wrap, an elastic band, some dental floss, some soda water, a piece of wire, some aquarium water and the ailing violet.

I tied the dental floss to the wire which is wrapped around the stem & roots of the plant. I filled the bottle with some aquarium water and left some room for the mineral water. I poked the plant through the neck of the bottle. The wire made it sink. I tied the other end of the dental floss to the handle of the bottle. Hopefully I will be able to remove the plant root & stem first. I put in 3.75 litres of soda water in it. I put the seram wrap over the mouth of the bottle and held it in place with the elastic band.

Violets are very light dependant plants and so I plan to keep the bottle in the backyard so it can soak up some rays. The soda holds lots of CO2 and my aquarium water is full of nitrates. Im hoping after a few days my plant will be good as new.

For the meantime, I will be looking around stores for a reflector. I'll check up on it tomorrow and will see how it looks.

Good luck with the experiment Troy

OK Im up to day 3 now and the plant is looking pretty good ATM. I didnt spy any reflectors for my aquarium lights on the weekend so I will have to keep it out there a while longer.

Well, good luck with the experiment. Don't know what it will achieve.

You mention the plant is a violet Don't know of any aquatic plants that are violets. Your plant dying may have more to do with fact that it's not an true aquatic. Usually they can survive for a few weeks submersed and then die off.
Also I don't think the soda water would "hold" that much Co2. As soon as you open or pour it , there is a lot of bubbles correct ? This is the Co2 escaping. The same way if you leave a glass of soda sitting with a few minutes there are no more bubbles, just a "flat" soda. The Co2 as all gone. Co2 escapes very very easily that is why we need a constant input of Co2 in our planted tanks.If that supply is stopped for even a few hours the tank empties of co2 very very quickly, along with sudden increase in pH levels.

If you want plants that are going to live and thrive, do some research and get plants that are suitable for the environment, ie aquatic plants that can survive in your tank conditions (light levels, temp, etc).

Last edited by bensaf at 11-Oct-2004 01:26

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

"Well, good luck with the experiment. Don't know what it will achieve."

Uh a live plant, not a dead one. As I said earlier it was dieing.

"You mention the plant is a violet Don't know of any aquatic plants that are violets. Your plant dying may have more to do with fact that it's not an true aquatic. "

They are sold in nearly ALL the aquarium shops down here. Once again, its the marketers of aquatic plants and fish that label things so "violet" is all I can tell you what it is called at the shop.

"Also I don't think the soda water would "hold" that much Co2. As soon as you open or pour it , there is a lot of bubbles correct ? This is the Co2 escaping. The same way if you leave a glass of soda sitting with a few minutes there are no more bubbles, just a "flat" soda. The Co2 as all gone. Co2 escapes very very easily that is why we need a constant input of Co2 in our planted tanks.If that supply is stopped for even a few hours the tank empties of co2 very very quickly, along with sudden increase in pH levels."

Soda water is water with carbon dioxide disolved in it. Its true, bubbles are co2 escaping from the water and soda does go flat. But I have been topping up daily and the bottle is capped. So does soda go flat if you transfer it from one bottle to the other and cap it? Why doesnt soda go flat at the store when you buy it then? I can tell you this though: I put the plant out at 10am and went back out at 6pm and there were still bubbles collecting on the stems and leaves. Probably more than enough for one plant in a bottle. A bottle - not a tank. I dont care if the ph rises. (Not sure about that PH rises bit - dont you mean KH?)

"If you want plants that are going to live and thrive, do some research and get plants that are suitable for the environment, ie aquatic plants that can survive in your tank conditions (light levels, temp, etc). "

Also - as I said earlier I'll get myself a reflector so I can raise the lighting levels for this plant and see how it goes. As for researching a plant: if you can find me an accurate description of "violet" as it is called in Australia and I'll take notice. Hey, I might not even buy it in a store. but please forgive a guy for buying a plant. sheesh thanks for the well wishes.


Last edited by Troy_Mclure at 11-Oct-2004 08:26

On terrestrial plants

Aquarium shops are well-known for selling terrestrial plants as aquatics, especially terrestrial plants that live in areas that are marshy, or occasionally flood. Remember, these are the same people that sell goldfish with bowls, tell people that oscars go well with neon tetras, and try to sell arowanas to people with two-foot tanks.

Of course, most of these plants are well-adapted for long periods of submersion, on the order of months. My plant book suggests that the variegated Japanese rush can survive up to a year under water. I'd expect, though, that they need to have equally long periods of time above the water to recover.

On soda going flat

From the bottling plant, the carbon dioxide in the soda is held in by high air pressure. The soda is carbonated, the bottle is filled, and then the whole thing is sealed. That's why store soda isn't flat; it's under pressure. The hiss you hear when the bottle is opened isn't CO2 escaping from the soda, but air escaping from the high-pressure airspace in the bottle. Even after the bottle is opened, closed, and reopened, it happens again because more CO2 has escaped into the low-pressure and low-CO2 environment of the bottle's interior, which increases the air pressure. The air pressure in a closed bottle of soda will increase until the CO2 in the air is in equilibrium with the CO2 in the liquid. (The concentrations aren't necessarily the same because of the changing air pressure.)

If you pour carbonated water from bottle to bottle, it tends to lose its carbonation. This is probably for the same reason that soda fizzes when you pour it in a glass - the disturbance of the soda allows a lot of CO2 to come out of solution. Your best bet to maintain carbonation is almost certainly to move the plant between bottles rather than the carbonated water, but I understand that this is infeasible.

On pH rises when CO2 escapes

CO2 is a weak acid when dissolved in water. The typical CO2-fertilized tank easily has enough CO2 in the water to decrease the pH. When that CO2 escapes, the pH rises again.

Hmmm. A bit touchy. Just some simple advice. Your choice to pay attention or not.

Open a bottle of soda, hear the hissing noise and all the bubbles rushing to surface, Co2 escaping. Pour from bottle to another container or bottle, lots of bubbles, co2 escaping.

KH is a buffer it wont alter with Co2 being put in, but the pH will rise and fall depending on the levels of Co2 and the level of Kh buffering.This has nothing to do with your experiment just an example of how Co2 supply has to constant to have any effect.

Identifying plants is not that difficult there are plenty of sites that have pics of hundreds of plants on one page for easy identification Here's one.

If the plant is not a true aquatic there is nothing you can do to save it. I say that not to give you a hard time but so you can avoid wasting time. Your choice whether or not to try.

Reflectors,while they will help light get to the bottom of the tank, are not a solution to lack of intesity, despite some marketeers claim that they double your light. They are a worthwhile investment, but if your real problem is lack of intensity then another bulb would be money better spent.

BTW. My well wishes were the very first line of my post.Again, good luck. Hope it works out.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Then I apologise then. I felt that you wrote the first post just to discredit my attempt.

Yes you are right about the PH thing. But the PH lowers when you put the soda water in due to carbonic acid. But once again, seeing this is in the back yard in a bottle theres little use pointing this out.

BTW- Its day 4 and the plant is almost as good as new.

Troy,

No problem. It was certainly not my intention to discredit your experiment. Although I did write my first post when I was in work and rushingso it did come across as a bit "sharp".

I would certainly be interested in how it turns out.

Just from my own experience when I first started planted tanks I had similar problems. I'm an expat living in Asia, so when I buy plants they are totally unmarked and nobody can tell me what they are 90% of the time. This forced me to do my own research on the net to find out what I was buying and how to take care of them. After doing this you learn surprisingly quickly how to identify plants even ones I'd never seen before. It also taught me that this intial outlay of time paid off big in the long term by saving time and money messing around with plants that haven't got a hope in my set up.I also learned, unfortunately, there is no way to "cheat" a plant on it's light and Co2 requirements. So it only leaves 2 options choose plants to suit your set up or choose a set up to suit the plants.
This is all I was trying to pass along, but looking back I did sound like somebody talking down to a 5 year old and for that I apolgise.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Troy, does the plants look likes the ones in here?

http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/2004092708379212318.jpg

Mango