airstone anathema

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: airstone anathema
From: jphealy at sysconn_com
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 09:10:56 -0400 (EDT)

>To suggest that airstones are somehow 'bad' for aquatic plants is wrong, 
>wrong, wrong (to repeat a recent post)! There is clear research which 
>indicates that photosynthetic rates in aquatic plants increase with 
>increased rates of aeration ... the reason is that increased aeration 
>increases water movement and therefore decreases the thickness of the 
>boundary layer

This is interesting. My impression has always been that the purpose of CO2
injection is to increase the water's content of CO2 to a level higher than
equilibrium with the atmosphere. If that is the purpose, then aeration would
defeat the CO2 injection. Or at least decrease its effect. Thinning the
boundary layer with aeration should speed the transfer of CO2 from the water
to the air and thereby lower the CO2 concentration in the water. (if you are
using CO2 injection). Am I right? Am I wrong?  If I am wrong, why bother
with CO2? Because if I am wrong, that would seem to indicate that CO2
injection isn't really doing anything. By observation however, I can see
clearly that it does help. ¿Que pasa?
Justin P. Healy in sunny, cool, dry temperate Savannah, surrounded by
bottles of yeast and sugar.
jphealy at sysconn_com