there is a significant confound to my results
i now have co2 injecting about 1 hour before the lights come on; prior, it was simultaneous. so my conclusion of earlier/greater pearling is open to debate, although the aesthetics of fewer bubbles is not, and that in itself is good enough for me. (maybe with fewer co2/o2 bubbles flying around in the tank makes pearling more evident?)
nonetheless, i think the venturi reactor gets the co2 into the water column as mist and dissolved. i don't have a drop checker so i can't say how much co2 is present in the tank but the plants have never looked better.
bba and other algae are all but absent, although i still get some gsa on the glass. i've been using fleet's enema, and have been dosing it haphazardly. i ordered k2po4 from greg so i should be able to get a handle on gsa.
thanks for your help.
ps both methods were used with pressurized co2; same bubble count.