James Findley's setups and CO2

[Jaap]

Hello,

I have looked at a few of James Findley's setups and I see one thing that raises quite a few questions in my mind.

He always has a ceramic diffuser and a set of inflow and outflow lillypipes. The buble rate of the CO2 is slower than mine and the bublea leave the diffuser swirl around the tank for a bit before reaching the water surface. ALL of his plants amazingly PEARL!

How is it possible when my bubble count rate is visibly higher, my filter is 200 l/h in a tank that has 15L of water and the spray bar is directly opposite the UP diffuser which spreads the tiny bubbles around the tank creating a mist like effect, and yet I don't see pearling! I overdose macros and micros and my 11w light is causing people to say I have more light tham I can handle at the moment! So where is the pearling? Where is the visible growth, where is the greener HCC?

Sorry if I sound like a mad person on the lose but this sittuation is beyond me! I am constantly reading, learning new stuff anf trying day in day out to take care of the tank with water changes and what not!

Is it mt lights? What is it then? Here are 2 pics of how the light looks like....maybe the cover cits back alot of the power of the light and maybe while I am saying I have an 11w light fixture, the light reaching the substrate is very little!

 

[EnderUK]

I don't think you have to much light, and other's have mentioned that they don't think you have to much light. Have a look at this thread here PAR vs Distance you have PC (power compact bulb) and you're aiming for between a PAR of 30-50 at substrate level. If you think you're above this level you can try using floating plants to help block out the light. I recommend salvina natan as the roots stay pretty small and won't over take a nano tank.

Right light out of the way now on how to dissolve CO2...

If you read this post by Clive you'll see he talks about boundary layers around plant surfaces and how fluid velocity round an object is zero. Now he relates this to plants but this also relates to water and co2 bubbles. If there's little water velocity around the bubbles than the water around the co2 will saturate and the co2 will be slow to dissolve. By reducing bubble size you increase the surface area : volume ratio so increasing the dissolving of CO2. Increase the the time the bubble stays in the water, the longer the time the CO2 has to dissolve. By increase the fluid velocity around the CO2 you actually increase the rate of the CO2 being dissolved as water high in CO2 concentration is replaced with water with low concentration of CO2.

So if large bubbles go straight to the surface there will be very little co2 dissolving.
If a fine mist go straight to the surface then some will be dissolved. The higher the aquarium the more that will be dissolved.
A lilly pipe actually pushes a lot of fluid through an area, this does two things, replaces the saturated water with fresh water and pushing the CO2 bubbles on a longer path so keeping them in the water for longer.

Now in a nano tank this can be pretty hard to achieve as increasing the flow in such a small area tends to cause a turbulent tank, you also don't have a lot of height before the co2 bubbles break the surface. The good thing is you really don't need much CO2 for a 15L tank if you manage to get it right.

I hope this explains the reason clearly, reading it back it just seems a ramble, that's why I do engineering and not teaching. Let me know if you want me to try an explain something a bit clearer and I'll do my best. One last thing, stop chasing you're plants pearling, start chasing them looking their best.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Its not an uncommon question jaap, usually about amano tanks with what looks like high light, low flow, low bubble counts... i think i also started a thread a couple of years ago following a good head scratching asking the same thing.
I wouldnt say you have too much light, i run an 18w on a 40l low tech, so you need to look at co2 and distribution. As the plant load is low with just HC you will always be up against it more, putting a load of stems in the back while it establishes will help a lot. Having loads of flow isnt always the answer but consistent and even flow along with adequate inject of co2 is. Doing a PH profile is a very good way to see what is happening in your tank through a day cycle.

Going back to ADA, TGM tanks...truth is there isnt a easy answer as it takes experience to understand how a given tank works, how to 'read' plants and livestock and get those gut feelings.

What is agreed is ADA set ups have moderate light, couple that with good understanding and thorough daily maintenance pristine tanks will follow.
It is frustrating but it really is a case of learning from experience. If i had the same set up 2 years ago that i have now, even laid out in the same way it would be an algae fest (it still has its moments!!)
Id like to think in another couple of years i will have tanks as pristine as ada, farmer, evans , worrell, gercog etc but also know i'll fall over a bunch more times before that happens.
6 months from know youll wonder why it was so difficult, keep reading, keep asking questions, keep trying new flow patterns, bubble counts, light durations etc and it will start to come together. Dont try them all at once, you need to know what the effects are You may even find reducing the flow in your current tank will keep the co2 in suspension longer giving better growth....?
Just my thoughts zzzz

 

[Sacha]

One thing I've always wanted to know. Clive recommends a horizontal spray bar. Now, my Co2 is injected via a UP inline atomizer connected to the spray bar, and with the spray bar horizontal, all the bubbles coming out look like they just go straight to the surface! How can that be right! I have got so sick of injecting 6 bps in a 100 litre tank. I'm doing everything right, I don't understand why the Co2 dissolution/ distribution is so bad.

Anyway, I feel your pain Jaap.

 

[petn]

I suppose the bubbles from the spray bar should hit the front glas and go down and backwards, not end up at the surface immediately. Not easy thing really. Good luck

Sent from my HTC One mini using Tapatalk

 

[EnderUK]

I suppose the bubbles from the spray bar should hit the front glas and go down and backwards, not end up at the surface immediately. Not easy thing really. Good luck

Sent from my HTC One mini using Tapatalk

Depends at what angle the spray hits the glass, some of the flow will go down, some will go up and some will go to the sides. Fluid chooses the easiest (less energy) to travel. If there's a object or a load of fluid in front of it and it can get around using a longer route but with less energy than it will. CO2 bubbles obviously want to rise, but quite a few should be forced downwards with the fluid flow. You could probably help matters by having the spray bar angled slightly downwards or just accept some co2 will escape.

 

[Tim Harrison]

It's an illusion chaps...it's all put on for the duration of the photoshoot... Plus as far as I can work out the light intensity they use is just relative...unless anyone has actual data on PAR readings etc.

 

[Martin in Holland]

I often see the same thing here in Hong Kong, low flow, few CO2 bubbles and looooooots of light (4X T5 over a 20 liter tank). I even checked their cabinets if they not sneakly put an inline diffuser somewhere.

I have my small 36 liter tank setup in a similar way (1 CO2 bubble every 2 seconds, a HOB filter of only 200 liter/hour and a LED light which looks really bright, but I have no idea how much Watt or PAR) and indeed in the beginning some algae appeared (mostly BBA) but they disappeared after the plant grew in and now everything is pearling like crazy.
In my bigger 300 liter tank however I did everything according to the (Clive) rules (spray bar, lots of CO2, little light), but still have difficulty in growing plants.

This all makes me believe that plants are playing a key role in our tanks, not just CO2, flow or light. Also makes me wonder how this is all related to fertilising a tank. It's been often said that plant will out compete algae, but for what?....for light?...I don't think so...for ferts?... if it's for ferst than we should watch out how much we put into our tanks in the beginning (whit exception of CO2).