unexpected co2 system

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Sgooosh

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so i have this very strong filter, and theres this little bacopa next to it... next to the filter is an air pump that blows air into the tank but the strong filter blows the bubbles on the bacopa!
that bacopa is growing like crazy! is this because of the small amount of co2 constantly getting blown onto it?
 
that bacopa is growing like crazy! is this because of the small amount of co2 constantly getting blown onto it?
Possibly. How are the rest of your plants doing. If you have a lot of growing plants it possible to deplete the water of CO2. if the tank has insufficient CO2 increasing the mixing of air and water can increase the amount of CO2 in the water. Also if a air bublesticks to a leaf it is possible the leaf to directly extract the CO2 from air in the bulb. Most Plants need about 150ppm of CO2 to grow. If plants don't grow they die.

Many people claim that surface agitation depletes the water of CO2 This is because in high tech tanks with CO2, brighter lights and fertilizer. often have more CO2 in the water than in the air. The primary methode People use in these tanks to monitor their CO2 with a drop checker. A drop checker in the air has a reading of zero even though there is 400ppm of CO2 in the air.
 
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Possibly. How are the rest of your plants doing. If you have a lot of growing plants it possible to deplete the water of CO2. if the tank has insufficient CO2 increasing the mixing of air and water can increase the amount of CO2 in the water. Also if a air bublesticks to a leaf it is possible the leaf to directly extract the CO2 from air in the bulb. Most Plants need about 150ppm of CO2 to grow. If plants don't grow they die.

Many people claim that surface agitation depletes the water of CO2 This is because in high tech tanks with CO2, brighter lights and fertilizer. often have more CO2 in the water than in the air. The primary methode People use in these tanks to monitor their CO2 with a drop checker. A drop checker in the air has a reading of zero even though there is 400ppm of CO2 in the air.
I might ask the lfs to give me a test...
yes the bubbles hit the leaves all the time! also theres an excessive amount of black beard algae there too
The filter blows the bubbles in the bubbler all over hte place
 
I might ask the lfs to give me a test...
Any CO2 test you can get will give you inaccurate readings because they assume the only thing in your water affecting PH is CO2. Unfortunately there are a lot of things in aquarium water for PH based tests to give you an accurate result. Thedrop checker I mentioned will not work in tanks without CO2 injection systems. In your tank a drop checker would indicate zero CO2 which is imposible.

In laboratories getting accurate CO2 measurements requires filtering outorganics, and then a second step to remove carbonates before measuring the CO2 levels. I methode I read about actually used highly toxic mercury metal.
 
I concur with Steven. I had a discussion with Tom Barr a few years ago, about CO2 and water changes in low-tech systems like mine (and most of us). He said that massive water changes were detrimental top plants in such tanks because it caused an increase of CO2 temporarily, and in his view this was not good. Therefore, I should do less extensive water changes. I did not take his advice, simply because I am more concerned over my fish than plants, and the water changes definitely benefit the fish, so the plants can manage on their own.

When I do water changes, some days there is so much CO2 in the fresh water it forms bubbles on almost every surface. It is only at this time that I do see pearling, which is the release of Oxygen from plant leaves in a stream of tiny bubbles due to strong photosynthesis. I have no doubt that this increase in CO2 was the driving force; I never see pearling otherwise.

In natural or low-tech systems, don't worry about CO2. Though reducing the light duration may be needed if the CO2 becomes exhausted and thus the limiting factor to photosynthesis. I got my lights down to seven hours daily on this assumption, and problem algae has never occurred since, some five years ago now.

Brush algae next to the filter return is common. OK, provided it does not increase and move elsewhere.
 

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