CO2 But Plants Not Pearling.

Hi,
I have had my CO2 up and running for nearly a week now. It is running at 6 bubbles per second and the drop checker is a nice green colour. My ph (was around 8ppm) is now between 6.8 and 7ppm . As yet there is not any pearling.

I upped the bubble rate to between 7 and 8 per second although difficult to be exact. My ph went down to 6.8  and the drop checker turned a nice lime green but my rainbow fish started hanging at the surface. They did not look particularly distressed but they obviously preferred the oxygen level up there.

I turned the bubbles back down to about 6 per second and they settled back down. But still no pearling and have been told, and read, that if the plants are not pearling they are not getting enough CO2.

Has anyone using CO2 got any advice on this?

Details of my set up are; I have a Rio 180 with about 160Litres of water.

2x T5 tubes and now with reflectors and the lights are on 8 hrs a day.

I dose 4ml Liquid Carbon daily and 16ml of complete fert mix weekly.

I am injection the CO2 via a reactor/diffuser run by a small submersible pump and also have a circulation pump running at 800lph,which is half speed, and an Eheim Pro 3 250. So I now have quite a good flow around the aquarium.

Now should I see pearling, or will it take some time, or am I expecting too much?

Hi Colin,
Thanks for that. I had read that somewhere as well but as usual there is so much misleading info out there.

I am at a loss at the "correct" info! I was told by an online site that deals mainly plants and planting material that I need to add more CO2 but I cannot do that if the fish will not tolerate it.

 I am also concerned that if I "up" it too much then I will have a ph crash on my hands. I suppose I could raise my spraybar out of the water to create more oxygen? Although I do have a good ripple and water movement. Of course If I raise the spraybar higher that may mean I have to inject more CO2?

I have also read that "pearling" will not start for at least a week after the introduction of CO2. I have noticed however that one  of my plants, Ludwigia Glandulosa, has put on quite a spurt since I started the CO2.

Think I will have to stick with my CO2 levels at the moment until I can understand this process more. I will however check my ph at least twice a day for fear of a ph crash!

All I want is to do the best I can for both plants and fish
Thanks again.