# CO2 clueless



## CandidPets (May 21, 2015)

I keep seeing people ask for co2 but no clue what it is used for? I thought thats just a type of eliment? How do we put it in our tanks and why do we? thanks


I have strips for water testing.


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## mitko1994 (Dec 12, 2012)

I'm not an expert but I can try and give you an idea of what it is.It's one of the things plants need to live. Of course you can grow plants without additional CO2 but in general CO2 supplemetation helps all plants grow and look better. CO2 can be either in liquid(Seachem Excel) or gas(pressurized) form. In general this is what people consider to be the border between high-tech and low-tech tanks.


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## Matthew RJ (Mar 2, 2014)

*two elements*

Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107312


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## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

In a nutshell - CO2 is carbon dioxide
All plants consist of Carbon as the largest single element of it`s make up/structure, as a result in order for plant to grow healthy it requires a good source of carbon, liking it a growing child, they need calcium for healthy bone growth, if they don't have that healthy bone structure, they suffer easy breakage, deformed growth etc., same with any plant no carbon =unheathy plants = algae.
The trees in the forest have no shortage of carbon supply , since it`s readily available in the atmosphere,in our tanks this is not the same scenario & is limiting, as a result light intensity will drive plants to grow & if there is not enough carbon the plant structure will collapse, hence why we supplement it by injection of CO2.
In a nutshell & layman terms


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