[APD] Re: pH's at the leaf's surface, bicarb uptake vs use,

[Clint Brearley <clint_brearley at telstra_com>]

In yet another excellent post, Tom Barr wrote:
<snip>
> But going back to the CO2/HCO3 issue with the enzymes: having CO2 
> levelsthat bounce around daily or weekly, is BAD for plant growth.
> It "confuses" them. And you see bad algae issues in such tanks as some
> algae are quick to respond to changes while a larger plant 
> generally is not.
> Some algae will die off if you change the non CO2 tank to a CO2 
> enrichedtank. 
<snip>

Are large CO2 fluctuations only detrimental during the day or at night too? Would this mean that turning the CO2 off at night would be bad then if CO2 levels fall? Although plants don't use CO2 at night, wouldn't the lower night time CO2 levels "trick" the plants into changing their enzyme production and "confuse" them when the light and CO2 kicks-in again in the morning? Night time CO2 fluctuations would be less for 24/7 CO2 injected tanks wouldn't they (or tanks with pH controllers), but there doesn't seem to be any difference in plant health between these different methods.

Clint Brearley
Melbourne, Australia

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