# how do i get my plants to pearl like crazy?



## Bryanmc1988

well like the title states... how do i get my plants to pearl like crazy with persure co2? i have the co2 and a drop checker and they read at lime green... but i dont see my plants pearling... is there any way i can get them to pearl or they do sometimes only?

i have them on med light also... for 8hr's a day for 7 days a week


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## Kado

Maybe stronger lights? My plants on the driftwood near the surface pearl kinda, but the ones near the substrate don't.


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## jkan0228

Whats your lighting and fert schedule?


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## keithy

Also, does your tank have good water movement to distribute the ferts and co2 ?


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## Bryanmc1988

For ferts I use fluorite scheam. Comp and po4 comp every tuesday and Thursday and po4 every Monday wendsday and Friday 

For lights I have a 1 39watts t5 vho bulb at 26" above the substrate with tek 2 reflector

Water is circulating fine and co2 is mix within a reactor before going into the the tank


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## Kathyy

Well the water near the plants has to be saturated with oxygen. Do you keep a good ripple on the water's surface to keep oxygen level high?

If there is a lot of water circulation then you won't see as many bubbles in the water and fewer on leaves as the water is carrying away the waste oxygen. When I turn off the pumps in the middle of the tank's day the water gets fizzy and there seem to be more pearls on plant leaves but with the pumps on I just see large bubbles coming from the substrate and some pearls on plant leaves. 

Some plants pearl more than others too. For me Java fern pearls like mad but Anubias, not so much.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Bryanmc1988 said:


> well like the title states... how do i get my plants to pearl like crazy with persure co2? i have the co2 and a drop checker and they read at lime green... but i dont see my plants pearling... is there any way i can get them to pearl or they do sometimes only?
> 
> i have them on med light also... for 8hr's a day for 7 days a week


Hi Bryanmc1988,

What is the dKH of the water you used to fill your drop checker?


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## wicca27

i dont use co2 or ferts and only common cfl daylight bulbs and even my hornwort pearls and the tips turn pink ill find a pic. so i would say its the lighting either not strong enough, not on long enough, or wrong color range


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## Bryanmc1988

i am using 4dkh in my drop checker and the light bulb is in the right range as my bottom 2 tanks pearl... just my main show tank above doesnt lol and my lights are on for 8 hr's a day if thats long enough for plants


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## @[email protected]

pearling is accumulation of O2 on the plants.
for that you need a few the water to be saturated with O2, meaning good aeration. you need a good amount of photosynthesis, meaning good light, and high CO2 (and decent flow to get the CO2 to the plants, this is often overlooked), and the plants to be healthy overall. 
do a waterchange if you want to see really awesome pearling. that causes my plants to pearl up like crazy, cuz of the O2 supersaturation in the water from the faucet.


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## Bryanmc1988

well i know i have good circleation of the water and co2 within the tank as the co2 come out of the reactor which is connected to the outle of my canister filter... what i dont have tho is o2 in the water, even with the surface movement i wont see it doing much... 



also for some reason the surface of my water is covered in a oil like film, any reason what cause this? i do have some place melting due to just putting them in with out aumalation but there is no feeding as its just plants and no live stocks...


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## synaethetic

I inject c02 from an inline atomizer leading into a rex grigg style reactor. It turns on 1.5 hours prior to my lights, and I have observed pearling within an hour of the lights being on. Constant ripple on the surface, surface skimmer + lilly ripples. Ferts should always be at optimum levels


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## Bryanmc1988

my co2 comes on 2 hr's before lights go on... and ripples at the top are constants through out the day... maybe not enough o2 going into the tank?


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## JoraaÑ

@[email protected] said:


> pearling is accumulation of O2 on the plants.
> for that you need a few the water to be saturated with O2, meaning good aeration. you need a good amount of photosynthesis, meaning good light, and high CO2 (and decent flow to get the CO2 to the plants, this is often overlooked), and the plants to be healthy overall.
> do a waterchange if you want to see really awesome pearling. that causes my plants to pearl up like crazy, cuz of the O2 supersaturation in the water from the faucet.



What he said....and dont worry about pearling, if plant growth is healthy and no algae issue you are all set.


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## Bryanmc1988

i do have some algae issue which i dont know what they are... its like on the glass under the substrate... browning looking... dont have pictures


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## SpecialEffect

Bryanmc1988 said:


> i do have some algae issue which i dont know what they are... its like on the glass under the substrate... browning looking... dont have pictures


Metoo i have that. I figured the cause to be to much ferts under the substrate, as in root tabs 

Are you using root tabs?

Correct me if im wrong.


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## Bryanmc1988

SpecialEffect said:


> Metoo i have that. I figured the cause to be to much ferts under the substrate, as in root tabs
> 
> Are you using root tabs?
> 
> Correct me if im wrong.


well i'm not using any root tabs lol but it could be something else maybe to much fertz? idk... i hope someone can help tho lol


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## Lia

synaethetic said:


> I inject c02 from an inline atomizer leading into a rex grigg style reactor. It turns on 1.5 hours prior to my lights, and I have observed pearling within an hour of the lights being on. Constant ripple on the surface, surface skimmer + lilly ripples. Ferts should always be at optimum levels


 
You turn on the CO2 before lights go on to make sure plants have it immediately?

I just assumed it took them a bit to "wake up" and turned mine on (DIY) after lights go on.


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## Bryanmc1988

we turn co2 on before light are for one reason is to get max photo period... so that when plants "wake up" they already have it ready for them to use and wont need to wait for it to build up... some plants "wake up" at different time so you never know which one will "wake up" first but this way the plants will have it there when they need it.... 

also turn off 1-2 hours before lights go out also... for the reason of the plants using up all or most of the remaining co2 before the lights go out....


many people will do this to get max plant growth


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