# No pearling?



## Waters (Oct 15, 2012)

Since my tank has been set up (almost 3 months now), I have yet to see any pearling at all. Everything appears to be growing and for the most part is healthy. I have to cut the lawn and trim the tops of the plants weekly. What am I missing? I realize that pearling isn't the only sign of a healthy plant, but I am curious as to why it isn't happening at all. I have (I believe) high lighting, CO2, and dose daily ferts.


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## infolific (Apr 9, 2016)

I've read that for pearling to happen the water needs to be saturated with O2. Otherwise the O2 coming out of the plants dissolves into the water without pearling. I can't weigh in on the merits of that statement though 

I too have a well-lit, CO2 injected planted tank and I don't get much pearling despite a lot of plant growth. I typically see pearling only when I've cut a stem or leaf.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

+1 to the above, people say pearling happens when the water column is saturated with O2.

Absence of pearling is certainly not negative... it really doesn't matter. I wouldn't worry about it

while plants in my tank do pearl, some do not. mainly the fast-growing stems like ludwigia red and rotala colorata pearl quite a bit, while slower growing species do not. just saying your plant selection may contribute to why you don't see pearling? who knows...


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## [email protected] (Dec 31, 2016)

I think it depends on the plants you have... My HC now finally growing only pearls when the CO2 turns off see below

















Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Like the others above, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you have healthy plants and fish, and little or no algae, isn't that what you set out to do?

In my tank, I have some fast growing stems that need to be trimmed pretty much every week. And I have a ton of surface agitation, so in theory O2 level should be well saturated. Still, very little if any pearling.

And by the way, you have a nice healthy looking tank there. The difference between your one month picture and three month picture shows an impressive amount of growth in a short time. Looking forward to updates on your journal.


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## Waters (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks for all of the quick responses. I will stop worrying about it. It makes sense that they tend to only pearl when the water is saturated with O2. My CO2 is on pretty much the entire time the lights are on so it makes sense that I wouldn't see any pearling.

Thanks for the compliment Greggz......I have had pretty good luck from the start, with everything going pretty much as planned...which is highly unusual for me lol.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

You are in a much safer place without pearling, one tiny misstep in a pearling setup and you are cultivating beard algae.


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## evil nick (Oct 20, 2014)

Nordic said:


> You are in a much safer place without pearling, one tiny misstep in a pearling setup and you are cultivating beard algae.


really?
Any info on this because I have always gotten pearling. I have some beard algea in my 29 and would love to know how to avoid it in my 55. It seems BB algea loves to grow in flow area though because it only grows in the areas of my HOB filter output


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

You need lots of light and lots of CO2. As soon as you start approaching the old 2WPG rule, more advanced algae and cyano just always seem ready to pounce the moment you slip up with the routine.


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## Waters (Oct 15, 2012)

Nordic said:


> You need lots of light and lots of CO2. As soon as you start approaching the old 2WPG rule, more advanced algae and cyano just always seem ready to pounce the moment you slip up with the routine.


There definitely is more to it than that (possibly the O2 saturation as others suggested?). I have high lighting (two 24/7 Planted Plus and one FugeRay Planted+ over a 65g) and also high levels of CO2 (drop checker almost yellow) and I have absolutely no pearling. Fortunately I have had no issues with algae other than the first 2 weeks the system was set up....and I definitely have slipped up here and there with my routine lol.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

If you have high light and CO2 without pearling there is the chance that you may have too much surface agitation.


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## zombiejessigamer (Dec 23, 2016)

I don't run CO2 in my tank and my anubias have created pearls. I have several new stems growing with new shoots and roots and its only been a couple of weeks. I have no idea why they have done so soo quickly and without any assistance. I use no ferts or root tabs, straight plants and substrate​. I am seeing a boom in algae but im not worried because its feeding my snails. My Betta is adoring the roots and swims through them everytime I look.


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## Waters (Oct 15, 2012)

Nordic said:


> If you have high light and CO2 without pearling there is the chance that you may have too much surface agitation.


I actually have no surface agitation whatsoever......I am running a sump though which would oxygenate the water as it is being injected with CO2 through a reactor.


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