Pearling Means...?

[theotheragentm]

I did a water change last night and got my normal pearling from my plants. The tank looked like a can of soda. It was gorgeous.

That made me think, does the presence of pearling always indicate a proper balance of nutrients for the plants? It could possibly be CO2 production as well, right?

 

[JustOneMore20]

Having "pearling" after a water change isn't real pearling. Sorry! Plants get saturated with the oxygen from the water and that has nothing to do with them being saturated with oxygen from being "happy" like in real pearling. So, what you saw was some false pearling....but its still gorgeous.

 

[theotheragentm]

My mistake for not clarifying. So false pearling is from the plants still as well, but it's a result of dissolving the gases during the motion of the water?

Well then my question still stands. Let's say you have gases coming from the plants during normal pearling, not false pearling. Is this always oxygen?

 

[Purrbox]

Pearling is a result of the water becoming so saturated with oxygen that it can't absorb anymore. When it occurs right after a water change, it is because the tap water is already supersaturated with O2 and other gasses when it comes out of the tap. When it is a sign of happy plants managing to supersaturate the water without artificial assistance it generally happens towards then end of the day. You can have happy plants without pearling, but real pearling is a very good sign of a happy plant. Also some plants seem to pearl more than others.

 

[neilanh]

Yeah, plants if healthy, are always producing O2 during the photoperiod. It's when you have a lot of really, really happy plants that are producing so much that you're able to saturate the water with O2 and then the release from the plants is visible, which is what pearling is.

Don't think that if you dont get pearling everyday that your plants aren't necessarily happy, as that's not the case.

 

[theotheragentm]

Maybe I'm not asking my questions right.

Is pearling always photosynthesis? I saw bubbles that are definitely coming from the plants and being continually produced. I saturated the water with gas artificially with the water change, but was what I saw oxygen coming from the plants or just gas coming out of solution and the plants are the only thing to stick onto?

If it is photosynthesis and oxygen being created, does that mean nutrients are in order? Can plants pearl with any break in the supply of nutrients?

 

[Purrbox]

If you are seeing a steady stream of bubbles, then it is actually a sign of damage to the plant. If you are seeing a build up of bubbles under the leaves some of which are getting released to the surface, then this is pearling (real or false) and a result of photosynthesis. You can get pearling (especially false pearling) even if things are slightly out of whack in the aquarium. You need to look at plant health and algae to determine whether the nutrients are in order.

 

[theotheragentm]

Okay, that is the answer to the question I'm not sure if I asked properly.

There is both streaming and pearling. The reason I asked about nutrients being in order is because I haven't been dosing. I'm in between houses right now. I've moved my 20 gallon tank and my 100 gallon goldfish barrel already. I haven't been dosing the 55 gallon tank. There is no algae, but I was surprised to see pearling. I guess it's due to the forcing of gas into the water through the water change.

 

[pitt420dude]

What is the difference between false and real pearling?

 

[Purrbox]

False pearling only occurs after a water changes as a result of the tap water being saturated with dissolved gasses including O2. Real pearling occurs because the plants generate so much O2 that it saturates the water.

 

[pitt420dude]

OOOOhhhh, okay. So when I dump a bucket of water in my sump during a PWC and all kinds of bubbles shoot out of the inflow into the tank, these bubbles get caught on stuff and this is false pearling, or is there really some reaction that the plants have to the new water that makes them false pearl?

Basically my question is whether the bubbles come from the disturbance and just get caught on the plants, or if the plants actually produce them themselves, in reaction to new water?

 

[neilanh]

Depends, but it could be both or either actually.

Plants, like I said before, are always creating oxygen if they're healthy and happy. But, they don't always produce enough to saturate the water, this is dependent upon how happy they are and how many you have versus how much volume is in the tank, if there's offgassing occuring, etc.

So, when you do a water change, the addition of the new water will saturate the tank with oxygen, so the O2 that the plants generate is now above what the water can hold. This is the effect known as false pearling, where you do see plants creating O2, but you only see it because something you did (in this and most cases the PWC) saturated the water - instead of the plants doing it.

Depending on how you do your PWCs, it is possible for the air bubbles induced during the refill to get trapped under the leaves of the plants also, making them appear to be pearling, when it's actually just air that got trapped under the leaves when attempting to rise to the surface.

 

[pitt420dude]

Ah ha. Now I see.

Does a lot of surface disturbance/outgasing make it more or less likely that your plants will truely pearl? We've already established that it can cause false pearling. I ask b/c I have a canister filter in a sump beneath my tank, and am not sure if this adds or takes away O2 from the water. I know it takes away CO2, but I'd imagin that it adds O2 since there is more interaction between the water and air.

 

[Purrbox]

Turbulance will encourage dissolved gasses at equilibrium. This means that if your aquarium doesn't have CO2 being injected and/or poor oxygen levels, the turbulence is a good thing since it increases levels back to equilibrium. However if you are injecting CO2 and/or trying to achieve pearling, then too much turbulance will work against you since it's gassing off the excess to return to equilibrium.