Bubbles and my Plants

[digital_run]

Hi there..this might sound like a silly newb question..but i thought i read somewhere that the water which comes off of the Filter and causes bubbles is a bad thing for plants as it removes CO2 or is it O2 ... well all i can remember is that it was not good for them. Do i need to have calm water at the top of the tank in order for the plants to grow.?

Thnx for the help...

p.s This forum is getting better by the day

 

[Bol]

Disturbance of the water surface helps in gas exchange. This can be both good and bad.

All else equal, gases will tend to migrate from a place of high concentration to a place of low concentration.

On one hand, disturbance helps oxygen enter your water (as the oxygen content of the surrounding air is usually higher than that in the tank).

CO2, on the other hand, can be a different matter. If you're not injecting CO2, and the CO2 level in your water is low, then surface disturbance will help add CO2 to your water up to the level in the air (on average, the CO2 concentration of air is around 3.3 ppm).

But, if you're injecting CO2, your CO2 level in the tank will be much higher than that, and the surface disturbance will tend to help the CO2 escape into the air, making your CO2 injection less efficient.


So, do you need to have calm water? no. However, if you're injecting CO2, you might want calmer water in order to make the injection more efficient.