Bubbling of Plants???

**Sims** · 12th Dec 2002, 10:42

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask how long it takes for the plants to start having the bubbling effect?

but I have a points to note: my tank is a two feet and using 36W in total but not using CO2 injection just using seachem excel carbon source and liquid fert with base fert: plants are growing very well just no bubbles. Can I have my plants to bubble without CO2 injection.

Thanks a million for your kind help.

**budak** · 12th Dec 2002, 10:57

36W may be a bit low , esp for plants who prefer high light. What kind of plants do you have? Not all plants will create that bubbling effect. I haven't used the Seachem carbon but maybe you could try increasing the dosage a little to see the result. Otherwise you could try adding an extra FL tube.

IMO, if plants are growing well, that's good enough.

**Sims** · 13th Dec 2002, 20:59

Hi there thanks for your reply

How much light do you think is enough?

Any way my carpet grass doesn't seem to be spreading. Only growing upwards. Just recently placed a reflector as adviced by my friend how much does it help. Any suggestions?

BTW any way to keep the breeding cycle going coz I found a fry in the tank one day seems to me like the last one left the rest should be eaten up.

Thanks for all the kind souls here.

**Irn-Bru** · 13th Dec 2002, 21:08

Hi Sims,

Maybe you would like to browse through the &quot;My Tanks&quot; section.

Look out for those two feet tanks and see the amount &amp; type of lightings others use... also take note of the type of plants growing inside and how well they are growing...

It should help you out alittle in this area...

**vinz** · 13th Dec 2002, 21:18

You need to get 3watts per US gallon of light or higher. Reflectors do help as they reflect some of light back down, but 3W/G assumes you will use reflector.

Carpet grass grow upwards because there's not enough light.

**Sims** · 13th Dec 2002, 22:46

Thanks for your replies.

Seen some of the tanks in my tank section and notice some using 36W also for two feet and some also have no co2 injection too.

Here are a few stats for coments on what is insufficient

2x18W white light with reflector (10~11hrs)
tank size is 60x30x45 cm
eheim 2213
seachem carbon source (no CO2 injection)
PH around 7
temp 28~30
black sand and base fert and liquid fert

Anyway what do you people use to bring the temp down, I'm using 4 AC fans. Do you on it the whole day coz I on my fan with my light.

Please advice
Thank you for all the kind help

**chia2k** · 13th Dec 2002, 22:47

hey speaking of bubbling , i saw tiny little bubbles coming out from my plant , i have a qn , can algae like hair algae cause this bubbling ? cause i found a lump of hair algae with a big bubble in the middle.

**vinz** · 13th Dec 2002, 23:53

Chia,

Why not? Green algae photosynthesise too.

**budak** · 14th Dec 2002, 00:03

2 ft tanks commonly have lighting ranging from 36W to 72W. One thing to consider is that some plants will thrive with lower lighting and no CO2 injection, while many others (esp those high bubbly ones like riccia, MM, Rotala), may or may not thrive, but are not likely to bubble, as lighting/CO2 is insufficient. The low light loving plants, however, tend not to bubble, or only very little, even under optimum conditions. Take a look at hatchet's tank in the My Tanks, and scale down his setup to see what you will need.

Are you using the 4 AC fan integrated setup from Chan? I think switching it on just in the day (synchronise with the lights) will be enough. No need to waste power at night.

**sherchoo** · 14th Dec 2002, 00:08

It's quite important to know what plants you have so we can advice whether it would bubble or not. Take a look at the gallery, it's not a very big database but it has a few common plants which may help you ID your plants.

About breeding, what fish are those? Please advise, if you need advise.

**Addie** · 14th Dec 2002, 00:23

Hi Sims,

I also used Seachem Excel in my tank (1.5ft) before and have switched to CO2 injection for 2 months now. I have noticed significant bubbling under the leaves and ricia since CO2 was injected.

My experience with Seachem was that plants seldom bubble when I use Excel although the plant looks healthy. Some CO2 demanding plants like Ricia requires plenty of light and CO2.

As many experts here may agree that light is also very important to have bubbling plants. You should try to increase your lighting to 3W/G as per Vincent's advice. Mine is 36W for 33L tank and plants seems doing good so far.

I received a report on the research of Excel (published in 1999) from Seachem. If you are interested, pls PM me and I can email to you.

**ryan** · 14th Dec 2002, 11:08

i currently am running 2 2ft tanks...
one with 72watts and the other with 76watts...
IME i find that 36 watts is definately not enough lights...
have u tested your KH?
no one has pointed it out yet so i think not...
i feel that the plants bubbling has alot to do with your kh and it should be around 4-6...
keep us updated ok?

**Irn-Bru** · 14th Dec 2002, 16:02

i like to see the bubbling effect too...
currently, i only have a 1.25 feet tank and its already having 2x16W lights... thats more than 5W/gallon if i remember correctly...
so i agree with ryan that 36W for a 2ft is definitely too little...

but do note that i only leave my lights on for 8hrs daily and its in a pretty cold air-con office... plants are doing well and algae are kept at bay...

**Sims** · 14th Dec 2002, 16:27

Thanks for all kind replies.

Regarding the plants I am having I think they are as follows:

1)Bacopa myriophylloides
2)Carpet grass
3)Hydrilla but it has lots of roots growing out from the top and middle. (wonder if it is hydrilla)
4)either broad leaf or coffeefolia tied to drift wood.
5) Just planted glossostigma elatinoides (pearl grass)

I have problem getting KH in my tank though I have added powder KH up during water change. I always get nothing out of the tests.

Another think is that my PH is so far stable at around 7 according to the test but it seems that my lamp eyes seem to die of one by one recently without any physical damage before die or any spots and so on. The worst is that I have my big(growing to become a fifty cent) balloon ram die off the same way.

Anyway the breeding of my fish: I don't even know which one the baby fry I found belongs to

Getting very fustrated.

Hope all the kind souls out there can help me solve these problems. Thanks a million
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**Sims** · 15th Dec 2002, 00:10

Hope all moderators and members please help as much as you can thanks a million

**sherchoo** · 15th Dec 2002, 01:21

Hmmm.. if fish can breed, the water conditions should be good. Our water (at lest mine) is very soft water. With every water change, my kH drops 1 degree. I would suggest you try to increase 1 degree daily till you get kH 4 deg.

Which test kit are you using? Some members experienced faulty/expired test kits which showed wrong reading in the past. Examine if you are experiecing the same things. One way is you can mix a cup of NaCO3 and test it with your kit. It should show you some reading.

Good Luck!

**Sims** · 15th Dec 2002, 11:43

Thanks for your reply again sherchoo.

I'm using aquamedi PH test kit and sera KH test kit.
Anyway can I know how to get and use NaCO3 is it nitrate you are mentioning.

I think you have balloon rams too from your little picture. I just picked up a dead ram from my tank today. Problem is that they just start sinking to the bottom of the tank (lamp eyes/blue eyes tetra and my rams) seems like waiting for death but got no signs of diease or injury.

Hope for more advice thanks everyone and kind moderators.

**sherchoo** · 15th Dec 2002, 12:08

NaCo3 = Sodium Bicarbanate = Baking Soda (powder)

You can get it in almost any general store, Mini Mart, NTUC, G'Value etc. Look around the cake section. Should be able to find and it cost less than a $1 per bottle.

I don't really know how much to add so what I did is I slowly add the solution and measure the kH.