[strzelec4]

When I make water change (tap water) my plants pearl like crazy until lights go out. Next day no bubbles until next water change. Why is that happening?
I dose with ferts. I have high phosphate levels (2 ppm), could it be because of that? Maybe after water change (~40%) phosphate decreases and that's when the plants "breath". Any idea?

 

[obet_07304]

I would like to know that also? Good question, strzelec4.roud:

 

[rain-]

There's gases coming out of the supersaturated tap water (nucleation). Just like what happens if you drop a Mentos to a Diet Coke bottle.

 

[triple red]

There's gases coming out of the supersaturated tap water (nucleation). Just like what happens if you drop a Mentos to a Diet Coke bottle.

this is true, unless you let your water sit out and degass for a few days....
if you do that and then it still pearls ,its because you are missing "something" in your dosing

 

[strzelec4]

this is true, unless you let your water sit out and degass for a few days....
if you do that and then it still pearls ,its because you are missing "something" in your dosing

I thought that pearling was a good thing.

 

[triple red]

sorry...i dont think i worded my post correctly :icon_bigg
what i mean is that if you leave your water out for a few days (like i do, sometimes up to a week) and you change your water and it pearls after ...its because your plants may have used up a "certain" nutrient that it needs for vigorous photosinsithis
this happens to me sometimes if i get lax with my fert dosing and water changes
if you take water from the tap and pour it into the tank and it pearls it is most likely from saturated gasses in the tap water collecting on the bottom of the leaves...
pearling is nice
but for your plants to pearl your water needs to be saturated with 02...
some people get no pearling and their plants grow just fine

 

[evercl92]

Pearling is a sign of optimal plant growth. The water becomes super saturated with O2, and cannot absorb any more. Thus, new O2 that is produced stays in gaseous form. Pearling after a water change is do to the O2 that is typically introduced by the aerator in your faucet. You're saturating the water with oxygen, kinda forcefully, rather than relying on the plants to produce it. The process is called false pearling.

 

[charlie11]

Sweet answered one of my questions

 

[kcrossley]

So would adding a pump and aerator induce pearling?

 

[Darkblade48]

So would adding a pump and aerator induce pearling?

In short, no.

This is because the air bubbles are not being dissolved sufficiently into the water to raise the gas content appreciably.

On another note, why would you try to induce "fake pearling"? Your plants wouldn't necessarily be healthy anyway...

 

[kcrossley]

On another note, why would you try to induce "fake pearling"? Your plants wouldn't necessarily be healthy anyway...

Sorry, I meant at night.

 

[Aku]

It might add, but then you need to take care of CO2-fertilizing at daytimes. If you aerate your water too much at night, you aerate most of the carbon dioxide too and this might increase the pH. I don't use extra-aeration with airpumps because my filtration creates enough water movement to keep the water aerated, but it also evaporates some CO2 at nights. That's why I have set the CO2 reactor to run at nights a 1/4 hour every 1 hour to keep the pH low enough. I live in Finland, where the water is basically very soft, but the pH is quite high (from 7,5 to 8,5 in tapwater).

So the extra aeration at nighttime might add pearling, but the sufficient amount of CO2, light and fertilizers are of course very important.