Tiny bubbles coming off the plants after adding CO2?

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Alwaysusa

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Jan 4, 2011
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Hey all,

I recently added some DIY CO2 to my 56 gallon tank (2 x 2 liter bottles - 1/2 tsp yeast + 2 cups sugar mixture). I'm waiting on a pump to make a reactor so I'm currently feeding the CO2 bubbles through an airstone just below my intake pipe to a canister filter. I'm getting a long trail of small bubbles endlessly.

Tonight I've noticed my plants are all giving off small (tiny) bubbles from their leaves. This is particularly noticeable on my large Sword, but is present on all of my plants.

Is this a bad sign? Am I getting too much CO2? I didn't think it would be possible to over gas the tank with a comparatively small yeast mix, but now I'm not sure.

There is currently no livestock in the tank as I'm waiting for the cycle.

Do I need to make an adjustment? Water tests seem fine.
 

MoonstruckMuse

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Mar 4, 2007
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Haha, congrats! That's referred to as "pearling", and many people actually quite like the effect. It can be particularly stunning with a whole carpet of plants doing it, in my opinion. It's not something to worry about - if you don't like it, you could probably turn down the CO2 and still get good growth from the plants. The bubbles that you see are oxygen that the plant is getting rid of - you're seeing the plants take in the CO2 and breathe out O2. It's pretty neat!
 

Alwaysusa

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Jan 4, 2011
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Wow quick response!

Great link as well - bookmarked!

Well that's good to know. I'm kind of surprised how much CO2 I'm generating. I was pretty thrifty with the yeast as I didn't want to get a high volume that only lasted a few days, but perhaps I mixed a little too much. We'll see how long it lasts!

Many thanks.
 

Alwaysusa

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Jan 4, 2011
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Do you mean when my CO2 starts to die out the algae will increase? If so, can I fix this with diligence and by changing often?
 

jetajockey

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Apr 9, 2010
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I had trouble keeping a steady amount of co2 going in, it fluctuated too much depending on various factors like ambient room temp and how old the mix bottles were. I had 4 going at once. Some people have good luck with it though.
 

DJDrZ

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Jul 31, 2010
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Collegeville, PA
Hey all,

I recently added some DIY CO2 to my 56 gallon tank (2 x 2 liter bottles - 1/2 tsp yeast + 2 cups sugar mixture). I'm waiting on a pump to make a reactor so I'm currently feeding the CO2 bubbles through an airstone just below my intake pipe to a canister filter. I'm getting a long trail of small bubbles endlessly.

Tonight I've noticed my plants are all giving off small (tiny) bubbles from their leaves. This is particularly noticeable on my large Sword, but is present on all of my plants.

Is this a bad sign? Am I getting too much CO2? I didn't think it would be possible to over gas the tank with a comparatively small yeast mix, but now I'm not sure.

There is currently no livestock in the tank as I'm waiting for the cycle.

Do I need to make an adjustment? Water tests seem fine.
I am amazed you could get pearling with DIY CO2. What is your KH and pH?
 

jasonG75

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Jun 1, 2010
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my issue with using diy co2 was the fluctuation of co2 leading to bba algae.

Agreed...One way to help this is setting up 1 co2 bottle and then waiting a couple of days to start the other one. So that when one is gassing out (almost empty) the other one (setup days later) is still going strong.
 
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