Plant only produces oxygen after water change

3145 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Patchworks, Feb 24, 2009

Patchworks

Discussion Starter · Feb 9, 2009

I'm dosing with the PPS Pro method. I have a PH controller and it is currently set to 7.0 to 7.1.

My plants seem to only product Oxygen on the leaves for the first day or so after a water change? I'm guessing this is a deficiency in the tank that is replenished once I do a water change! I'm guessing some sort of Trace Elements component!

Anyway, can anyone suggest what I might try?

g

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Zapins

· #2 · Feb 9, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

I don't think it is a deficiency, but it sounds like you could increase the CO2 in the water. Pearling after water changes is a common occurrence and it happens to most people.

I hear that water from the tap tends to have a lot of dissolved CO2 in it, though I am not entirely satisfied with this answer since the fish don't gasp when the water is changed.

Perhaps the plants pearl because the CO2 in the freshwater is uniformly added to the tank versus the CO2 added by the CO2/filter system.

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Patchworks

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 9, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

Zapins said:
I don't think it is a deficiency, but it sounds like you could increase the CO2 in the water. Pearling after water changes is a common occurrence and it happens to most people.

I hear that water from the tap tends to have a lot of dissolved CO2 in it, though I am not entirely satisfied with this answer since the fish don't gasp when the water is changed.

Perhaps the plants pearl because the CO2 in the freshwater is uniformly added to the tank versus the CO2 added by the CO2/filter system.

Well, I'm at 7.0 to 7.1 ph now and if my calculations are correct form the KH/CO2 chart, It says I'm at almost 30 PPM at my level.

Regarding th CO2 balance, is there a way other than having multiple sources into the tank to distribute the CO2 better?

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chiahead

· #4 · Feb 9, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

ph can be lowered by other methods than just co2...elements from driftwood or rocks or even the soil can lower ph and throw off the ph/kh/co2 scale...so you still could be lower than 30ppm even though it seems your ok from the kh/ph/co2 chart......try adding more co2 until your fish gasp and then back it off a bit

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Supercoley1

· #5 · Feb 9, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

I think it's actually the O in the fresh tap water. and the plants better exposure to the atmosphere during water changes (either above the water level or closer to the surface) that means that the water has much more O in it and therefore the O that the plants produce show as bubbles as the water cannot take any more O.

Also coupled with the O that is introduced that forms on hardscape and equipment etc.

I wouldn't worry about pearling too much. It is a very good sign that your setup is working but itis after all an excess product. The plants are still producing O and it is only once there is alread too much O in the water that pearling occurs.

AC

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davemonkey

· #6 · Feb 9, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

+1 on most of the above. You probably don't have a defficiency as much as simply an abundance of 0xygen right after your water changes.

If your plants look good and are growing, you're doing fine. "Pearling" is needed for good growth, and isn't the only sign of growth.

On a side note (but related) , I noticed yesterday after doing a heavy trim that my plants were NOT pearling by the afternoon. Normally by afternoon everything is bubbling away. I'm guessing that by removing much plant mass I removed alot of my "oxygen saturation machine" ?

-Dave

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Patchworks

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 15, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

Supercoley1 said:
I think it's actually the O in the fresh tap water. and the plants better exposure to the atmosphere during water changes (either above the water level or closer to the surface) that means that the water has much more O in it and therefore the O that the plants produce show as bubbles as the water cannot take any more O.

Also coupled with the O that is introduced that forms on hardscape and equipment etc.

I wouldn't worry about pearling too much. It is a very good sign that your setup is working but itis after all an excess product. The plants are still producing O and it is only once there is alread too much O in the water that pearling occurs.

AC

So your saying it could be Oxygen in the water? From my reading on the new, an ozone generator puts oxygen in the water correct? Should I run one of those?

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Tex Gal

· #8 · Feb 15, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

Why do you think you need more O2 in the water? Your plants take in CO2 and respire O2. If your fish are fine and your plants are growing everything is working as it should. Unless you have algae issues I think you don't need to do anything.

BTW those charts for PH against Ca and Mg don't work. It assumes there is nothing else that is a dissolved solid in your water. You know you have enough CO2 if you have great plant growth and no algae. You can always get a drop checker if you want to assure at least 30-40 ppm of CO2. (You have to put 4dkh water in the drop checker)

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HeyPK

· #9 · Feb 15, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

Water from the tap has been under pressure and is supersaturated with nitrogen and oxygen. What looks like the pearling is actually these gasses coming out of solution after the pressure has been lowered. Even plastic plants would appear to pearl!

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Patchworks

Discussion Starter · #10 · Feb 15, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

Tex Gal said:
Why do you think you need more O2 in the water? Your plants take in CO2 and respire O2. If your fish are fine and your plants are growing everything is working as it should. Unless you have algae issues I think you don't need to do anything.

BTW those charts for PH against Ca and Mg don't work. It assumes there is nothing else that is a dissolved solid in your water. You know you have enough CO2 if you have great plant growth and no algae. You can always get a drop checker if you want to assure at least 30-40 ppm of CO2. (You have to put 4dkh water in the drop checker)

Plants are growing pretty good and I have a PH Controller so I know what my exact PH is... I just like the pearling... I like the look and I just feel better when the plants are producing oxygen on the leafs like when I do a water change!!!

Ok, I guess after everyone's comments, I won't worry about the pearling... I just makes me feel like the plants are happy!!

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Seattle_Aquarist

· #11 · Feb 15, 2009

Re: Plant only product oxygen after water change

I agree with HeyPK, what you are seeing is probably the supersaturated oxygen and nitrogen being released from the water that you added.

I found that my plants started gassing much better (and growing much better) when I started using a drop checker with a 4 KH solution to adjust the amount of CO2 that I was injecting. I read about it here on APC and I worked for me.

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Patchworks

Discussion Starter · #12 · Feb 22, 2009

Well guys, today was very enlightening. I went to our local Planted Aquarium group meet today and basically found out a few problem with my tank.

Problem #1
I have a 150 gallon and I only have 1 pump with the intake on one end of the tank and the output on the other end (6 Feet of water). I'm running an in-line CO2 Reactor. Basically what I was told is the CO2 is not making to the whole tank evenly and is dissipating before it reaches the other side of the tank.

I'm told that I should get another filter and criss-cross them and put CO2 Reactors on both so I get a more even pattern of CO2 distrubution.

Problem #2
I have very high KH in my water 10 to 12KH. From what I've read the higher the KH the harder plants absorb nutrients like CO2 and ferts.

So these are the 2 problems I've heard I need to solve to get better results!! Does this make sense?

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HeyPK

· #13 · Feb 22, 2009

Patchworks said:
Problem #2
I have very high KH in my water 10 to 12KH. From what I've read the higher the KH the harder plants absorb nutrients like CO2 and ferts.

With CO2 fertilizing you can solve the first problem. Just get the pH down to 6 to 6.5 by adjusting the amount of CO2 being added. Getting the pH down solves the second problem pretty much, also. High pHs make it hard for the plants to get iron and phosphate because these tend to precipitate out at high pHs. High pH also reduces the solubility of calcium if you are expecting to get your calcium from dolomite or shells.

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Patchworks

Discussion Starter · #14 · Feb 24, 2009

Well, apparently I found another problem in my tank. I didn't dawn on me until a few days ago, but I had my CO2 Monitor right next to my CO2 output. Basically since the CO2 on that side of the tank is high, it was kicking my CO2 off prematurely. Solution was to move the CO2 Monitor probe to the opposite side of the tank.

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