API CO2 Booster Freshwater Aquarium Plant Treatment 473 ml Bottle

It works and helps my plants stay fresh and green. It had no effect on my fishes. It is better to buy a bigger bottle as it’s cheaper than the small ones and it’s better if you have a big fish tank like I do plus it’s easy to use. Great quality would recommend.

A decent buy to keep the plants looking their best.

Arrived quickly. Water nice and clear. Aquarium plants doing good. Growing well no alge, in a week old tank.

Good product, if I stop to using few days straight algae appear…

I've only ever run low tech tanks with a few super-easy plants but I went a bit mad with my newest tank and splashed out on a bigger variety. All seemed well until my hygrophilia, limnophila and ludwigia super-red started rotting from the ground up. Never really felt the need to try co2 booster but this pushed me to do so. I noticed the difference after literally 3 or 4 days, and all of my plants have really bounced back. They're no longer losing leaves, and the new growth looks super healthy. Now that I've seen what this can do I'll probably always use it in the future. Highly recommended.

Always great.

So I'm leaving this review as after doing some research online it seems that the way this product actually works is different to the way that API claims it works. I'm confident API know this, but also think they know that if they market it as a biocide then they are likely to get less sales of this product (people usually don't want to put poison into their aquariums). The active ingredient in this product is glutaral (Glutaraldehyde), give it a quick Google and you'll see that it's often used as a disinfectant and as a medication to melt warts of the bottom off of your feet :)))))))) So the claim is that it adds carbon to the water... a claim which is true, but true in such a small scale that the natural gaseous exchange that happens in all aquariums that are exposed to air likely provides 15-25× more CO2. The way this product seems to actually work is by killing algea and other microorganisms that form a layer on on top of your aquarium plants, therefore making it easier for the plants to absorb CO2 and other nutrients. If you want to use this product to remove algae go ahead, but be aware that glutaral is a nasty chemical and has shown to have horrible effects in mice and rats in scientific studies, (Google it if you like) so probably best to not go dunking your hand into the water after dosing. Probably wouldn't be writing this review if API did the decent thing and marketed their product as an algeacide/biocide, shame on them frankly.

Installing a CO2 system is frankly not possible on my budget but I still want a healthy green planted tank. The CO2 booster seems to be working well after 3 weeks of use, doesn’t harm the tanks inhabitants (minnows and shrimp) and the plants are going well! Obviously it’s not a one and done, I also use root tabs/plant fertiliser and have a good substrate, but in conjunction with these things the CO2 booster is helping me make the tank Ive been dreaming about!