tonina...what's wrong

[scang7]

wanted to see if you are able to help me in this. The tonina that i have are showing some deficiencies that i cannot really figure out. Some of the leaves have brown spots/ streaks at the tip and are slowly enlarging ( not holes though). Some of the stalks have their lower leaves dropped off. I am wondering what can be the prob.

I am dosing 1 ml x 2 of seachem florish, 5ml x 2 of seachem trace, 2 rice grains worth of phosphate every alternate day and abt 5ml of seachem potassium.

thanks

[benetay]

enought light? What's yr pH and kH like?

[scang7]

i am using 2 x 36W PL for my 2 feet tank.. so i will suppose it is sufficient. Cannot realli recall what's my KH and GH. But the last time that i checked them. They are in the acceptable range and the Carbon dioxide is also in the same zone.

[benetay]

i don't quite get yr words...what do u mean Co2 same zone ?

pH is best below 6, and kH zero...if u're saying Co2 same zone which zone? 6 or 0?

[scang7]

okei.. manage to get the reading from the last rd. KH 4, GH 8 PH 6.8... how will these parameters cause the above deficienies. Thanks

[benetay]

Tonina needs very acidic water to reach optimal condition, there is a difference between growth and optimal growth.

Growing of tonina is relatively easy if you don't bother about how would they look in optimal condition.

First, yr water is not soft nor acidic...resulting in poor growth of yr plants. melting does occur if yr plants don't get the right condition of growth.

[scang7]

Thanks.. so what will be ur recommendation in this situation.

[benetay]

That will depend on how devoted or how much you'll want to see the growth of this beautiful aquatic plants in their optimal condition.

For me i'll go on lower my pH and kH using ADA aquasoil.

[scang7]

will realli like to see optimum growth.. but changing the soil will be quite late now. i guess

[Simon]

ya, i agree with benetay, they need acidic water and the lower yr pH the longer the leaf blade gets.. measure yr pH/kH

[scang7]

will measure them when i get to school tomorrow. however assuming that the values are the same as what i had measured before ( they have not chnaged for the last 3 months). What will be a good way to lower the pH?

do i add somemore carbon dioxide? i am using diy cos of my tight budget or is there another way in doing so. thanks

[benetay]

RO water, Ion exchange, ketapang leaves...

rescaping everything doesn't take long . []

[PeterGwee]

ADA aquasoil's main strength is the peat content which has a very high CEC factor...but the problem is it screws the pH/KH relationship up with the use of peat..guess you don't get good stuff into one after all.

[Nicky]

I believe Black Water Extract can also do the job of lowering pH, am I right?

If so, can anyone recommend a brand that will not stain water?

[Simon]

nicky, sure.. but its expensive to dose that way, unless u DIY using ketapang leaves