Withdrawing pressurised CO2

[MirandaB]

Hi All,
I've decided I would like to stop using pressurised CO2 in my 90lt tank due to struggling to get good distribution due to the shape of the tank.
I don't want to add more flow and I feel my fish are not happy enough with the amount I have in there already
What's the best way to withdraw it to minimise potential problems?

 

[tim]

Cut lighting, turn off the gas and trim any melt as it happens coupled with regular water changes Untill you see new growth again.

 

[MirandaB]

So it's better to just cut the gas straight off rather than decrease it slowly?

 

[tim]

May as well ime, plants are like addicts and some will melt but with lower light it's surprising what survives sometimes, I've only done this once though but even the crypts didn't melt.

 

[Alastair]

I'd do a gradual reduce (sorry tim lol). Drop lighting to low light levels and reduce co2 slowly. Just stopping co2 instantly is going to cause major melt as I think mirandas tank is a crypt only tank

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[MirandaB]

Yes it is pretty much crypt and buces been looking at my other tanks which are just ei and liquid carbon and tbh the growth seems better in them than the one running gas.
Probably just my lurid imagination but seems the crypts are growing too quickly for their own good

 

[Tim Harrison]

Alastair makes a very good point, it's perhaps better to err on the side of caution, especially if you're not very experienced. But I don't have the patience for that so I've always made my plants go cold turkey like Tim suggests, but then my high-energy crypts, anubias and ferns have always been transferred to a proper soil substrate tank which gives off a certain amount of CO2 through the process of organic decomposition. And yep there is melt but I've found that new growth usually outpaces it. I think if you're going to add liquid carbon that'd ease the transition in a similar way.