# Plants not pearling



## Laconic (Feb 11, 2005)

Hi I'm new to this so I appreciate all the help I can get.
I have a 4 ft(120cm) tank approx. 200 litres(50 gallons)
pH 6.8.
Gh 1.0 degree
Kh 1.0 degree (all done with Red Sea test kit)
It's a planted community tank with 50+tetras plus misc algae controlling creatures. Plants include amazon sword, riccia, java moss, java fern, hair grass and Vallisneria.
Pressurised co2 system
3*38W Arcadia Lamps
fertilised with JBL Ferropol
Was wondering why the plants are not pearling?
Has it anything to do with my Gh and Kh levels?


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

There are a few things that will effect this issue. Pearling is O2 that is created during the process of photosynthesis. Plants need a few macronutrients to accomplish this task. You didnt supply information on your macronutrients....such as NO3 and PO4. However, you did supply your KH and PH. With these two measurements you can figure out home much CO2 is in your system. With your current readings you are at about 4.8ppm, which is pretty low. At your KH you would want to have a PH of 6.2 to have 19ppm of CO2....and you might even want more CO2 in your tank. Try increasing your CO2 or perhaps you need a better reactor to get the CO2 into the water. With that size tank, it is almost impossible to achieve proper CO2 levels without a good reactor. You might consider bringing your KH up to the 3 range for PH stability. Also, you might consider bringing your GH up to 5.
jB


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

You're in Singapore. If you ask around, I expect you can get a water report detailing the composition of the local water.

That is a large aquarium you have. The following things occur to me:

- what substrate are you using? That might have a bearing on the future of your plants.

- the lighting you're using for that size of tank is fairly modest. Is it T5 lighting?

- you detail using JBL Ferropol fertilizer but say nothing of dosing NO3, PO4, or K. I am not familiar with JBL Ferropol - but from the name I infer it is an iron Fe fertilizer. You need to check your basic fertilizers first to be sure you're supplying plants with what they need: NPK.

Andrew Cribb


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

I'd say it's a pretty simple case of not having fast enough plant growth to saturate the water before the lights go out. Light and CO2 are both on the low side to saturate such a tank. The type of plants you have, slow Vs fast growers, will also contribute to this.

If your plants look good however I wouldn't consider the fact that they are not pearling a negative thing. Increasing lighting and CO2 will speed things up and force you to review most of your fertilization schedule. It's a high price to pay just to get a few bubble at the end of the day...

Giancarlo


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## Laconic (Feb 11, 2005)

I don't have the tests for NO3 and PO4 so I don't know the readings.
the diffuser I'm using is the one in the Nutrafin CO2 system except that I attached a pressurised Co2 canister to it.
What is a good way of bringing up the GH and KH?
Do you guys have any good products to recommend?
The water composition can be found here (under Bedok waterworks) http://www.pub.gov.sg/our_services/WaterSAWaterQualityParameters.php?l1=2&l2=8&l3=5&l4=8 
Substrate is 3 cm of JBL AquaBasis then 5 cm of gravel.
Lamps are T8 lamps on for a duration of 14 hrs daily.
I assumed that the fish will provide the neccesary NO3 and PO4.


> I'd say it's a pretty simple case of not having fast enough plant growth to saturate the water before the lights go out. Light and CO2 are both on the low side to saturate such a tank. The type of plants you have, slow Vs fast growers, will also contribute to this.


I don't quite understand the saturation and slow-fast part.


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

Are your plants in good condition? Do you have algae problems? As gpodia pointed out, if your plants are growing well and you have no algae, why change the equation? The overall goal is what is important. If you are unhappy with your results now or you want to grow higher light plants, then you will have to make a few changes. As said before by others, adding more light, requires more CO2 and more nutrients. If you are looking to up everything i would start by getting some power compact light......they just seem to offer the most light for their size. What is your overall goal?
jB


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Laconic said:


> I don't quite understand the saturation and slow-fast part.


It's quite simple, plants prdoduce oxygen. This oxygen is dissolved into the water up to a certain point, when the water is saturate with oxygen, no more oxygen can be dissolved into it and so further oxygen produced by the plants has nowhere to go and forms the bubbles you are asking about. There are several considerations that contribute to the tanks' oxygen content, mostly the amount and speed at which plants are growing and the amount of gas exchange occurring in the tank. The faster the plants grow the more oxygen they create and the more likely it is that your tank will become saturated by the end of the day. Many tanks however don't reach saturation because they don't have the required light intensity, plant mass, or plant types to reach this point before the lights go out.

So as stated before, if your plants are doing well and you are happy with the tank setup I wouldn't change a thing. If on the other hand you want to turn your tank into a "sports car", you'll need more light, CO2, ferts and perhaps more plants or fast growing plant species that will contribute more to oxygen production compared to slower growing plants. My 55g with 275W of light on it for example barely pearls by end of day because more than half of the tank is planted with crypts, ferns and anubias which are all slow growers.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


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## Laconic (Feb 11, 2005)

Ok thank you all very much. Well my plants seems to be doing fine. I understand the saturation part now. The only reason I was worried was that I thought absence of pearling meant something was wrong. Thanks for correcting my misconception.


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