less air

[Tener ds]

hi, ive noticed over the last 3ish weeks,from when my floating plants started growing fast,that some of them have holes in the leaves.ive noticted that when i do water changes that there is some times drops of water on the leaves,would this and the lights be the cause of the holes?burning the water?
the drops are from my long air stone that i use at night to de-gas the co2,
now can i cut back on the air?
how much air do i need to de-gas the co2?i,m runing at 1 bubble per 2 secs,the drop checker says this is ok.

long story short:
can i cut back the amount of air i use to de-gas the co2??

 

[Ltoro]

In my case holes usually come from nutrient deficiency ....iron most prob...and if you mention that they just had a spurt of growth that could explain some of the deficiency...have you adeded any fast growing plants? or could even be a hungry pleco? on the CO2 i run mine at 2 bubbles p/s 24/7 on a 450lt tank and no air stone, i have found that nice balance point of CO2 that can run lights off and on and still keep ph stable day and night, i just make shure that my tank is never close to empty before i change it, cus thats when you come across disasters at night when the close to empty tank purges.

take a look at this site i found it really usefull on the nutrient stuff

http://www.aquatic-eden.com/search/label/planted aquarium basics

 

[bigbird]

hi, do not know about the co2 stuff as I never use it. The holes come from lack of nutrients, snails or indeed a hungry plec. Water on the leaves would and should not cause this. A chance of a photo ? cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Tener ds]

hi, do not know about the co2 stuff as I never use it. The holes come from lack of nutrients, snails or indeed a hungry plec. Water on the leaves would and should not cause this. A chance of a photo ? cheers jk :thumbup:

i cleared out the leaves with holes in,and im at work at the mo.if there is any in the tank tomorrow ill take a pic.

 

[Tener ds]

heres the pic:

only 4 leaves had holes in them today.
some of the leaves are going yellowish too,may need a bit more ferts.
only adding 2 ml a week,should i up it?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

only 4 leaves had holes in them today.
some of the leaves are going yellowish too,may need a bit more ferts.
only adding 2 ml a week,should i up it?

They don't look like condensation marks, you usually get a brown blotch towards the middle of the plant where the water drop-let has sat. I'd probably up the fertiliser a bit as they do look a little pale, added CO2 is irrelevant to the floaters, they get atmospheric CO2.

If you've got potassium nitrate (KNO3) on its own? I'd try feeding that first. If you haven't I'd probably stick with the 2ml of total plant food, but up the frequency to twice a week.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tener ds]

ok,cheers darrel.ill add 2ml mondays and thursdays from today.
cheers.

 

[Tener ds]

well more ferts was the way to go.nearly a week and only 1 hole :woohoo:
have also noticed the floaters are getting bigger..:yes:
and the roots have gone mental again..

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

well more ferts was the way to go.nearly a week and only 1 hole
have also noticed the floaters are getting bigger.. and the roots have gone mental again..

Sounds good and is probably about right, but don't go too wild with the fertiliser, you need to get a balance where the plants are growing sustainably. Sustainable growth is the way to go, it gives you a larger margin for error and stability and stability is what makes fish keeping easier.

I'd keep it at 2x per week, if the growth is faster than you like drop it down x3 per fortnight.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tener ds]

ill keep it at 2x per week for now,the plants are looking better for it,cheers darrel.

 

[Tener ds]

well the floaters are loving the extra ferts.is there a "rule of thumb" about how many floaters u should have?
at the mo they cover 3/4 of the top of the tank.should i let them fill it up or remove some?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

cover 3/4 of the top of the tank

I usually thin them out so they never cover more than 3/4, and even then only if they move around the tank, rather than always shading the same area. If you have a full cover it will limit O2 and CO2 exchange at the waters surface and you are likely to suffocate your fish at night, as well as shading the plants below and stopping them growing. I'm fairly lazy so I normally have a big thin down to about a 1/3 and them just clean up dead leaves until they reach about 3/4 again.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tener ds]

Cheers darrel, will remove some tomorrow.