Do Plants Only Bead With Co2

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Tonyb111111

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As the title suggests, I have a lot of plants in my tank that appear healthy and are growing well, but they never bead. Is this only achieved with compressed CO2?
 
in a word 'yes'. They will pearl after large water changes, due to the influx of C02.
 
Wow, my plants always pearl after a water change. I thought that was just random bubbles that had attached to the plants, I didn't realise that was pearling. The bubbles are oxygen, yes?
 
Some of the bubbles after a water change may well not be true pearling. If you run water from a tap, under mains water pressure, and then leave it out, it will have absorbed some gas and will let it out under lower pressure, mainly from the rougher surfaces in the tank (a bit like letter a fizzy drink out of the bottle, but less pronounced). The microscopic bubbles the leaves are already releasing will act as nuclei for this to happen and make the bubbles tend to form there.
 
normally, on plants it will be respiration, when you get it on other things like glass and the like it's normally nitrogen and oxygen reacting to temp change. If you have a large HC or Riccia lawn in you tank, you can get the whole thing to pearl after a large water change due to the carbonic acid, you'll very rarely get the gravel or sand to pearl.
 
I have cabomba in my tank. It grows like a weed and pearls like crazy after a water change.
 
I have cabomba in my tank. It grows like a weed and pearls like crazy after a water change.
So that's what was going on with my ceratopteris every time I added new water. O.O It made these air bubbles under its leaves and I was wondering how and why.
 
You can get plants to pearl using liquid carbon too, its rare but it does happen, in two of my recent scapes the HC and Stargrass pearl daily but the lighting is very high.
 

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