[Bughead]

I have a forty gal tank that I set up last year mainly to grow caulerpa. It has feather and grape caulerpa that gets covered with air bubbles. At first I thought somehow the Penguin filters (minus wheel) and skimmer were producing the bubbles, but it finally dawned on me that it is the oxygen produced by the plants themselves.

Are the plants not getting enough CO2, or too much CO2? There are plenty of nutrients in the water, with a maroon clown and pajama cardinal that get fed twice a day--just a pinch, so I don't think they're much overfed. The params are great--NH3-0, NO2-0, NO3-10, pH-8.2. I haven't checked the calcium lately, but it tends to be a little on the low side. Could this make a difference? (I could drip kalkwasser at night).

I do weekly water changes and knock those darn bubbles off every other day. Any ideas?

[srgtkoons]

might be a lack of current issue. The bubbles could be oxygen released by the plants and its staying stuck on the plants because of a lack of current. Just a thought i had problems with bubbles from my sandbed in my reef tank. I got bigger powerheads and now no more bubbles

[ranaman]

Plants produce O2 in relation to the intensity of light. More light= more photosynthesis untill you hit the saturation point. The reactions can only run so fast. Sort of like your car engine can only run so fast. Reduce the light intensity the bubbles should decrease more light more bubbles. If you add CO2 you might increase the bubbles since CO2 might be a limiting factor to the algae's growth.