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Do airstones affect live plants in any way.. i heard that it affects the co2 some how *shrugs*

r0b3y

Airstone agitate the surface. This is in effect driving out Co2 and bringing in Oxygen as the bubbles burst at the surface.

In a planted tank the component that will be most in shortage and the most difficult to add for most people is C02. So in a planted tank driving off co2 is not desirable. There is absolutely no need to run airstones in a planted tank as the plants themselves will give off more then enough oxygen.

For the sme reason any kind of surface agitation is not welcome in a planted tank and should be kept to a gentle ripple if possible - anything that makes bubbles is basically getting rid of much needed co2.

HTH

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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.

Since my question has to do with the same thing, I'll ask it here.

How well will Hornwort(or any other plant) do in a 10 gallon with a Penguin 125 power filter and no added CO2?

T/A,

The answer to that question is totally dependent on the amount of light you have available. When it somes to plants they each have different requirements in this regard. The fact that you have no Co2 or a HOB would not have as much of an effect.

If you can tell us what kind of lighting you have we can tell you what kind of plants may work.

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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.

Currently I have a shop setup for lighting. There are two 48" 40 watt flourecent bulbs. The fixture is mounted about 3 feet above the tank. And the tank has a clear glass lid.
But, I'm not really concerned what other plants might work with this setup.

I just added some Hornwort the other day. I have it floating at the top. My only concern is whether there will be enough CO2 for the Hornwort the live and grow.
I have read that a slashy out-flow from a filter will greatly reduce the available CO2.
I keep my water level as high as possible, but with Cories in the tank, I can only fill it so high.
I was thinking of adding some filter floss to the out-flow area to reduce the splashing. But then I was concerned about there not being enough oxygen for the fish. :%)
Can you tell I have no prier experience with live plants.

40 watts over a 10gal is plenty of light over a 10g ! No problems there, hornwort can do ok in pretty low light.

I wouldn't worry about the co2. Co2 injection is not neccessary to grow plants, beneficial yes, but neccessary no. An average tank will have about 3-4ppm of co2 we inject Co2 to get those levels up to 15-25ppm to get optimum growth. With this is mind your filter breaking the surface will drive off some C02, but you are only talking about having maybe 2ppm instead of 3ppm. The Hornwort wont even notice the difference in that case !!!

It certainly wouldn't do any harm to reduce if you can but I really wouldn't sweat it that much as it will probably make very little difference.

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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.

OK thanks a lot, Bensaf! I'll go without the floss for now, and see how things go.

T/A,
I'd be concerened with how much of that 40watts is really getting into the tank. 48" and three feet over the tank means that alot of the light is going to dissapate before it reaches where the tank is. If anything I'd say that only 20 watts or less is going to make it into the tank. However, even @that ammount the hornwort should have enough to grow.

^_^
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I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Yeah, that's exactly what I was wondering. But the tank does get lit up very well by this light, so I should be good.
The light setup was actually done many months ago. It was just a quick way to light the room, since I have no normal overhead room lighting.

i dont think a splashy out put from a filter or air stone will do any harm to your co2 content.

the general thought is water agitation will remove co2 but that is only when you are injecting co2 into the water. if you are not injecting co2 then a splashy output will actually introduce more co2 into the water since there is probably more free co2 in the air then in your water. turing off the air stone or not agitating the water might have bad effects on your fish since plants use oxygen at night. hornworth on the other hand is a great oxyginator.