# Plant Pearling Revisited



## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

asked and answered;

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/plants/42345-quest-pearling.html

if pearling is your objective;
Co2 is worthless without other traces
and traces are worthless without Co2.
I have a tank full of traces but low Co2,
and my plants don't pearl worth a damn.
with Light, photosynthesis is a 3 legged stool;
Co2, Macros, and Micros/Trace.
if one leg is missing, then no pearling.
if two legs are missing, low growth.
three missing legs? dead plants...


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## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

How did you go about adding O2?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

it's about balance... it's not JUST trace elements.
did you try taking away potassium?

I guess I'm lucky because my plants pearl on the underside of the leaves all the time but some of the plants (anubias, java ferns) are doing crappy.. I'm not sure if the 'quest for pearling' is even valid.


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## 247Plants (May 10, 2006)

Just my 2 cents here....

After water changes for me and a little addition of excel on a barely fertilized 60 gallon tank will make my plants pearl like crazy in the winter....

Wont happen in summer though.....This leads me to believe that its the amount of dissolved gasses in the colder water...


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

IMO, pearling immediately after a H2O change is caused by nothing more than the fact that the water you are introducing is saturated with O2. Once you exceed the sturation point, all the O2 being produced by the plants is not absorbed into the water and they pearl. It's not "bubbling out" of the water.

Tommy


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

blackfly said:


> I conducted an experiment related to an earlier post made by me regarding this very issue. I had asked why plants pearl so much after a water change and not otherwise. I wanted to see what others said.
> 
> I was under the assumption that it was understood that when I said they pearl after a water change that it was UNBELIEVABLE. EVERY plant was pearling, and incredibly fast too. So I wanted to narrow down the parameters that made this possible.
> 
> ...



This whole post if funny. hahahaha. The reason why you see "pearling" after a water change IS because the new water is saturated with gases. This is NOT real pearling. Pearling happens when the water is saturated with O2. High fish loads, greater flow, lower lighting, lower CO2, etc make pearling more difficult. My tank pearls tons and tons. It has nothing to do with traces. I've not dosed traces weeks at a time with no end to pearling.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

You can't call it a "fact" unless you have proven it over and over again with controls and an indeprendent variable. 

The observed reasoning behind pearling is just as Ian and LS6Tommy said. The water becomes saturated with oxygen during photosynthesis. No more can be dissolved, so oxygen production forms bubbles on the plan't surface. Water changes duplicate this since tapwater is often saturated with O2 as well. 

Some tanks never pearl, some tanks pearl constantly. Pearling is not necessarily an apex of growth that plants reach.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Very true, Belvedere.

The question at hand isn't pearling in general, but the high rate of "pearling" after a water change.

Tommy and Ian provided the answer. The new water is saturated with ox yen, and as that oxygen works its way out of solution it collects on the leaves of plants. 

Mike


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## triple red (May 27, 2005)

LS6 Tommy said:


> IMO, pearling immediately after a H2O change is caused by nothing more than the fact that the water you are introducing is saturated with O2. Once you exceed the sturation point, all the O2 being produced by the plants is not absorbed into the water and they pearl. It's not "bubbling out" of the water.
> 
> Tommy


this might be true if you are taking water directly from the tap....
how about water that has been sitting in a holding tank for a few days?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

if your quest for pearling is import then you should get it to pearl on a consistent basis and not just on a water change.

I think it's just O2 gas too. Cold water absorbs more O2 too.


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

triple red said:


> this might be true if you are taking water directly from the tap....
> how about water that has been sitting in a holding tank for a few days?


Aged water will not cause "false pearling". Aging water helps keep water parameters constant, especially with large frequent water changes, i.e., 50 gallons several times a week......DC


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

triple red said:


> this might be true if you are taking water directly from the tap....
> how about water that has been sitting in a holding tank for a few days?



That's basically what I was talking about. I should have said "the H2O you are introducing _may_ be saturated with O2". I tend to agree with you that aged water that has off gassed probably won't cause the "water change" pearling.

Tommy


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