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Re: "string of pearl" bubbles really O2?



> Just out of curiosity, has anybody ever really checked to see if the bubbles
> rising from underwater plants are really O2 - or just CO2?  A couple of
> things make me wonder if it might be the latter:
> 
> 1. I've never noticed these bubbles in a plant tank without CO2 injection -
> no matter how intense the light.
> 
This is O2. I can assure you it is a daily occurance in my tanks, and I have
no CO2.  It does require a high light intensity, however. It also requires
some duration of light and never happens until my lights have been on a while.

> 2. The way streams of bubbles seem to be emitted from a single point on a
> leaf sure seems unlikely.
> 
The O2 collects at "disturbed" points on the leaves, such as small cuts or
breaks in the leaf surface. So it only appears to bubble from a point.

> 3.  It just plain LOOKS like the bubbles that rise from the bottom of a
> glass of seltzer water!
> 
Maybe that's why the fish collect around there carrying tiny drinking 
glasses :-)

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* Nick LaRocca		e-mail:	nickl at css_sed.monmouth.army.mil		*
*				larocca at doim6_monmouth.army.mil		*