[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
plant use of CO2 vs diffusion into the air (Was: C02 problems)
> > From: George Booth
> > I wonder if any of the scientists among us have any info on how much CO2
> > plants
> > use when they are strongly photosynthesizing? I have evidence of how fast
> > it
> > diffuses into the atmosphere.
> From: eworobe at cc_UManitoba.CA
> In eutrophic, productive systems with hardwater macrophytes can almost
> completely remove the dissolved CO2 during a sunny day. The result is a
> pH of around 9.5 to 10.0 and an almost complete removal of calcium from
> the water column (a drop from about 60 to 0 ppm in some lakes that have
> been measured). Dont underestimate the ability of aquatic plants to
> remove CO2 from your tank... on the plus side, most tanks are so poorly
> lit that this is not a problem.
> From: "Roger S. Miller" <rgrmill at rt66_com>
> [...]
> The C fixation rate is in nanomoles per square meter of plant surface per
> second. The list covers quite a variety of plants, and it looks to me
> like their fixation rates can be ranked as:
>
> coral > surface-attached plants > rooted plants > plankton
>
> The plankton average 450. Rhizophytes (rooted plants) average 1,967.
> Haptophytes (surface-attached plants) average 3,218. The one coral on
> the list was 5,220.
I'm no real Scientist (or Biology consultant for that matter =:)
but I suspect that the plant surface area in my 55 gal tank filled
with plants is pretty small relative to the eutrophic systems
eworobe at cc_UManitoba.CA speaks of.
Perhaps some very kind, scientifically motivated person will
post to this list re the ~ 2000 nanomoles per square meter of
plant surface per second for rooted planks figure, a guessimate
of the m^2 plant surface in, say, a heavily planted 55 gal tank,
and their conversion into C02 utilization in ppm in a tank?!
It would be interesting to validate George's idea with some
scientific hand-waving, imo.
goin' home through 4" of snow on a 6" base...
steve
- - - - -
Steve Rader
Network and Systems Manager
WiscNet--Internetworking for Wisconsin