Fundamentals to getting plants to bubble

[Snuffy]

I've had rudimentary 4ft planted tank of sorts for some time.. plants flourish but hardly bubble..

Is there a most important thing that gets them bubbling? Thanks

[|squee|]

CO2 concentration and lighting levels. Get your CO2 up and running and spread it over the tank as well as you can (water circulation). If that doesn't work, then lighting levels are your next change.

[Snuffy]

I c.. thanks for advice..

I try upping CO2 first

[|squee|]

Also sort of depends on your plant mass too.. more plants = faster saturation of gases in the water (CO2 and oxygen) so the oxygen produced by plants collect as bubbles.

[PeterGwee]

Also sort of depends on your plant mass too.. more plants = faster saturation of gases in the water (CO2 and oxygen) so the oxygen produced by plants collect as bubbles.

That's not true as we always thought.

It's only when the rate of dissolution of O2 produced from the plant's growth is exceed by the production of O2 due from plant growth. Then gas phase forms and builds up into bubbles released from the plant leaves.

Growth is generally defined as an irreversible acquisition of carbon, and photosynthesis can be measured via the amount of O2 dissolved into solution(even if it's well over 100% which is often the case with aquatic macrophytes/microalgae blooms etc).
So as carbon is fixed, O2 is released via our old photosynthesis equation:

6H2O + CO2 and some light/enzymes => 6O2 + C6H12O6

So O2 correlates very well with growth(sugar production via photosynthesis) in practical terms and theoretical.

But when plant growth is good, and O2 levels are low, you can easily have pearling without being near 100% saturation levels with the air. Pearling just means the rate of O2, or growth, is fast enough to make bubbles of O2 that we can see. If that rate is fast, it will not matter that much what the saturation level of O2 is in the tank, O2 is not that souble compared to other gases like CO2 which is very soluble in water.

Tom Barr explains that pretty well...

Regards,
Peter Gwee

[joydiv]

Cold water helps too... something to do with dissolvability of gases in water decreases with a decrease in temperature ... so more bubbles.

[|squee|]

Thanks Peter! Learnt something new today.

[StanChung]

Cold water helps too... something to do with dissolvability of gases in water decreases with a decrease in temperature ... so more bubbles.

I think the opposite is true, less O2 dissolve in the water as temp goes up.

[Aquaculture]

I don't know why or have any scientific reason to explain this. Try adding an air pump into your tank an hour or two before light and CO2. After which, have it removed. You'll noticed that the plants would start pearling in about half an hour.

I discover this by chance but it sort of works for me.... But I don't often use this method as I don't judge the plant's health on whether it pearls a not. Increasing my CO2 and light would help too... but its an invitation to Mr Algae.

[Ssur]

I blasted my tank with alot alot of light, and my planted started to pearl, within 30mins. At first small inconsistent bubbles then streaming, but i will refrain blasting lights like that, its invitation to algae.

But its nice to see pearling.

[cakchew]

haha ya lor...pearling is one of the coolest thing to see la. but i guess we gotta listen to experts.