WHY IS YOUR AQUACULTURE PLANTS NOT "BREATHING"?

1. Factors needed for aquatic plants to photosynthesize strongly:

– Light: I mention it first because this factor is the most important

– Carbon: the second most important element after light, carbon is an indispensable macronutrient for aquatic plants, and carbon provided through compressed air Co2 is the most effective.

– The flow is not too strong: if your filter has too high a capacity, the water flow may wash away all the o2 released by the plant when breathing.

– Plants are not poisoned by heavy metals or organic toxins: when a plant is poisoned, the first symptom is the cessation of photosynthesis

– The lake is not too lacking in nutrients: the lack of some micronutrients also causes plants to stop photosynthesis and stop growing.

– pH is not too high or too low: at pH levels above 8 and below 4, most aquatic plants will stop photosynthesizing.

– Some fast-growing plants (weeds) will breathe easier and breathe more than slow-growing species such as moss, moss, fern or bucep.

Learn about the phenomenon of aquatic plants breathing

When your aquarium has a sufficient amount of CO2 and other necessary factors such as light and appropriate temperature, you will see the phenomenon of aquatic plants releasing many air bubbles as shown below. We often call it the breathing tree.

Aquatic plants do not breathe

In the aquarium, when we turn on the light, the plants receive enough CO2, light, and nutrients to perform photosynthesis and release oxygen. When we turn off the light, the plant will perform the respiratory process of inhaling oxygen and releasing CO2.

How to recognize breathing plants? It's easy to just observe those plants and see air drops on the leaf surface or underside of the leaf appearing under the leaf surface or on the surface, the plant is photosynthesizing and those air drops are oxygen gas. released by the tree.

Is it okay to observe aquatic plants that are not breathing?

However, if you have taken care of CO2 regularly and don't see the plant breathing, don't worry, just calmly observe whether your aquatic plants grow greener or not. If the tree is green, there is no need to worry about the tree not breathing or breathing little.

I mentioned this above. There are cases where a new customer bought aquatic plants and a complete set of CO2 tanks from me the day before, and the next day asked why they didn't see the breathing plants?

The answer is that you have just planted a tree, the tree has not yet taken root and has not fully adapted to the new environment, and the amount of CO2 you put into the tank is not known whether it is enough or not. Therefore, please wait patiently for 1-2 weeks for the plants to take root, and the aquarium to enter a stable state. If you know whether the amount of CO2 is enough or not, use a solution to test the CO2 concentration in the aquarium.

Another aspect that we need to consider when we don't see the plants breathing is that you are using a filter that is too strong, leading to a strong water flow in your tank, the air bubbles released from the plants will quickly be destroyed. The water flows away and of course you will not see the tree breathing.

2. How to make plants "breathe"

How to help plants breathe?

Usually, plants breathe when the lake has gathered all the elements of light and CO2. Therefore, if the tree does not breathe or breathes little, you need to check and consider these two factors.FAQ Aquatic plants do not breathe

Can we raise many fish so that they release CO2, and don't need a CO2 tank?

No, even though we know that fish will inhale oxygen and release CO2 through respiration, that amount of CO2 is still too little compared to the plant's needs, no matter how many fish you raise, it will not be good. Equipped with a CO2 tank.

Can we use an oxygen generator instead of a CO2 tank, because there is CO2 in the air?

Are not. Because if so, think about why thousands of aquarists spend hundreds of thousands of dong, even millions of dong, to equip a CO2 system, instead of buying an oxygen generator of several tens of thousands of dong. CO2 from the generator is extremely little and certainly not enough for your aquarium.

The more co2 I open, the more the plant breathes, right?

Are not. We provide CO2 gas for plants to photosynthesize, but plants only stop at CO2 saturation, meaning they only receive CO2 to the maximum level they need for photosynthesis.

So why sometimes I turn on a lot of co2 but still don't see the plant breathing?

All photosynthetic plants release oxygen thanks to CO2, light, water, nutrients... If you lack one of the above factors, it will also cause the plant to slow down the photosynthesis process.

Do red-leafed plants need more CO2 than green-leafed plants?

Some species of red leaf trees need a lot of co2 along with strong light, temperature not exceeding 30*C, and lots of nutrition to create their desired red color. But sometimes green leafy plants still need a lot of CO2 to grow, such as Japanese pearl.

– First, try increasing the light by adding light intensity (adding more light bulbs). If your plant breathes a lot, it's ok.

– If you increase the light but the plant is not breathing, increase Co2 safely as follows: run a scum filter, take a sample of lake water out for 24 hours, then measure pH and record the results, start increasing Co2 and Every 30 minutes, measure the pH of the water in the lake when this pH is lower than the pH of the water sample so that by 1 degree in the other 24 hours, the amount of CO2 is optimal, you don't need to worry about Co2 anymore. One more tip is that if you provide Co2 in tiny foam form, it is likely that plants that have difficulty breathing such as moss ferns and bucep will also breathe very strongly.

- Usually, after the above 2 steps, most of your plants are breathing very strongly, but if they are still stubborn, try turning off the filter for 10 minutes to see if the plant is breathing. If the plant starts breathing when the filter is turned off, the reason is Your lake's flow is too strong, you need to reduce the flow.

– After the 3 steps above, if your tank is still not breathing, it is likely that your tank is too dirty with organic matter or heavy metals. Try changing the water 30% continuously for a few days to see if that helps. Then you can add a little water and observe. If it is a self-mixed base, you should consider changing the base, buy a base from someone who has pre-mixed it or use an industrial base like ADA, gex...

Good luck.