Brown pataches and spots on old leaves

[Peng Kang Hill]

Hi,

I have this problem with brown patches and spots on older leaves but the new ones are ok. Surprisingly, those more shaded areas are less prone to this.

I tried with less light but that caused the brownish substance to grow on rocks and glass walls and my SAE would not touch it.

Also, a little of whitish hair starts appearing on the rocks and twigs as well.

Please HELP!!

[budak]

it's probably the older leaves dying off or lack of light. Or could be patches of algae growing on them You shouldn't reduce your lighting level at all.

But to help further, could you provide more information about your tank? (lighting level, size, fish, plant species, substrate, filter, CO2, pH etc....) research the website's gallery and Aquatic FAQ for basic information first as well.

[Peng Kang Hill]

Hi Budak,

Mine is a fairly simple tank, 3 ft by 1.5ft by 1.5ft with PL lighting 24W x 2 (blue red), just gravel with no fertiliser except for root monsters inserted strategically for the higher rooted plants. Liquid fertiliser off the shelf but lately tried the ones sold at Nature Aquarium where one has the advantage of concocting something more elaborate. But I stayed with the prescription given. COS is DIY on 1.5 litre coke bottle and a diffuser Renewed every week.

Not densely planted and have not graduated to the testing kits yet.

Light was on for about 10 hours with 1 PL 24W light because LFS told me to take it easy for a start. When the brown stuff appeared, I reduced to 6 hours. No improvement.

My hygrophilia is dying off as fast as the new leaves are appearing. Can it be my SAE nibbling them? My enchindorus rose is also getting the brown patches but leaves are not dying off - maybe cos it is more hardy.

How much light should I adjust to? Should I get the cylinder tank CO2? What about the fertilizer?

[geoffrey]

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On 10/27/2003 9:44:12 AM

How much light should I adjust to? Should I get the cylinder tank CO2? What about the fertilizer?

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Personally, I would leave light at 2wpg~3wpg for 10~11hrs a day and not disturb it anymore. That should do well in most cases and need not be adjusted at all.

DIY CO2 is inconsistant. The only way to know if your DIY CO2 is working well is to take pH and KH measurements to determine how much CO2 is available in the water. A good level is 20~30ppm.

Fertilisers are important. Particularly macros, N, P and K, and TE. Dose incrementally and slowly until you see improvement. Prescribed and labelled dosage sometimes do not work for some tanks.

[Peng Kang Hill]

Thanks Geoffrey,

I am told tht wpg can be lower for PL light because it is more instense. Is this true?

[sherchoo]

For a 48G tank like yours, 2X24W only gives you 1WPG which I think is abit too low. You saying that no ferterlization too? Fast growing plants like your hygros won't be happy at all.... by the way, your tank is newly setup?

I think you should go thru the articles in the Aquatic FAQ cos much info will be useful to you to solve your tank problems. If anything you can't understand, do post your questions here.

[Peng Kang Hill]

Thanks Sherwin,

My tank is actually a 1.5 year old fish only tank - rceently conveted to fish and plants about 2 months back.

Can you throw some light (no pun intended) on my question on wpg for FL vs PL?

[theodore]

Please take another look at Sherwin's advice. You obviously missed the best part - Go thru the articles in the Aquatic FAQ cos much info will be useful to you to solve your tank problems

You may want to smack the person who told you that WPG can be lower for PL. The guidelines (which you should find in Aquatic FAQ articles if you actually bothered to look up) are meant for FL/PL in the first place.

[budak]

Hi Peng Kang,

Keeping planted tanks involves ditching much of the accepted wisdom of fish-only tanks. Do have a look through the FAQs and sites like www.tropica.com for information on what plants need to thrive...... I would suggest that LFS be the last resort for accurate information. The links and website provided in the Aquatic FAQ thread entitled "Planted tanks: Articles on dosing" have most of the information a newbie will need.

But try to increase your light quantity to about 2.5-3 watts per gallon (Chan of NA should have suitable light fixtures for these). Then, if your budget allows, switch to cylinder CO2, as this gives you much better control over CO2 levels.

For ferts, please read through the articles recommended above before you add LFS products into the tank..... Plants need many different types of nutrients in various ratios, so just dumping in a liquid fert without knowing what it is and why is a recipe for trouble.