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OK. I just got another 80w for my tank bringing up the total to 290. My plants are doing quite well. A few have excellent growth. However 1 plants leaves are turning grey in spots. Any clue what is causing this? Thanks,

Chris

PS- I am using excel everyday as per instructions and my flourish every 3 days and my potassium every 3 days according to the recommendations on the bottles.

weighates,

Do you mean that parts of plant leaves (what plants anyway? ) turn from green to gray? Or was there something on the leave in the first place? I know Excel will kill algae and this makes the algae turn gray before it dissapears.

Otherwise, gray is an odd color, I heard of yellow, but not gray.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yeah there are spots on the leaves turning grey. Its got grey spots with yellowish/brownish around the spot. I dunno what that is. The plant has grown a big stem with little baby plants on it that are doing great. Could this be from being grown out of water and now that it is fully submerged its adjusting? Or is that just some wishful thinking on my part??

THanks,

Chris

weighates,

Hm, I would say that the yellow / brown indicates a dying area on the leaf, and the gray could be a dead spot in its center. If so then probably soon you would see holes.

Again, what plant is it anyway?

Holes in stable plants are usually a sign that the Potassium level is too low. In emersed growth it can be normal as some plants will lose all these leaves and get submersed ones instead.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I am not sure of the name. All my LFS just throw plants in the low, moderate, or high light area whithout naming them. Ill try to look it up on tropica its a stem plant with big green leaves. Its got a branch that now sticks out of the water with what looks like baby plants??

Thanks again,

Chris

PS- Ok i just searched tropica and the best plant I could come up with is Echinodorus bleheri. They look pretty similar. I am pretty sure it is a type of sword. I can see holes starting to form where the grey is. Should I cut off these leaves or leave them on???

Chris,

No, you should not cut off the leaves, although that is possible too (but the wrong end of the stick).

You may have not seen my comment above, the holes usually come from a potassium deficit.

You seem to have loads of light on your tank, maybe it is time you describe it in detail. All things you can think off, plus maintenance routine details, fertilization, substrate, number and type of plants, CO2 or other carbon additions, and so forth.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

OK. I have a substrate of 50% gravel 50% flourite. I dose excel everyday with flourish every 3 days. I have a moderatley planted tank. I have about 5 swords which are small and 3 dwarf hairgrass and around 10 Egeria densa. I leave lights on for 10 hours per day. I have around 30ppm of nitrates. I have flourish potassium but do not dose it due to the fact all the other plants look great esp. the densa. In 1.5 weeks (how long I have had it in its current setup) the densa has grown at least 2 inches. There is another sword with has dissolving leaves in my tank besides the sword with the holes. I do a 50% w/c every week on friday.


Thanks,

Chris

PS- If my income tax return gets here today Ill run out and buy a digital camera so I can take pics. I know its really hard to help me with just descriptions but thank you little fish for trying. Your a great guy.

PSS- I have been reading your log. How you had your tank just before you put the new driftwood in is how I want my tank to look. I love the "jungle" look. Beautiful tank Little Fish. I cant wait to see how it looks when your plants fill in again with the driftwood in there.

weighates,

First off: Thanks for the compliment

Hm, Flourish contains Potassium, but so far this is still my best guess.

BTW, I am surprised your Densa is still alive as it really hates the Flourish Excel. Densa and Najas usually begin to melt from this stuff. How much Excel do you dose (and how big is the tank again)? Also, 2 inches in 1.5 weeks is not all that much for Egeria Densa, try over 8 inches to impress me

Hope you get the tax return,

Ingo

EDIT: Just saw your PPS - yeah jungle look was nice, but the tank became unmanagable quickly. Thanks for the compliments again

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I dose the recommended amount. So 3 capfuls a day for my 125 gallon. I am actually only supposed to do 2.5 caps per day but 3 hasnt hurt anything. Lol hey 2 inches impresses me as its ourgrowing everything else in the tank . Ill go check the mail.

THanks,
Chris

PS- Think I should leave lights on longer? For maybe 11 or 12 hours a day?

weighates,

Identification of doding amounts by cap "full" can be a problem. If I am not mistaken the my 250ml bottle of Excel has the same dosing instructions then my 2l bottle. But there is a major difference in cap size, you know.

You have, based on your plant list, loads of slow growing plants in there. If you keep the light on longer you may run a higher risk of algae issues.

Next question: where do the 30ppm Nitrate come from? With the little dosing and 50% water changes this should not be the case. (maybe bad test kit)

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I have a similar problem on my sword hopefully someone will have some insight on this.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons