Drydock Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Hi, I noticed on one of the leaves of my Osiris Sword that the top 2/3 of the leaf is covered in a hard light scale... almost like a hard water scale. it is quite rough and off white in color. I have no idea why... anyone else experienced this? I am using the EI for ferts... 3 tsp, 3x per week for KNO3 and I tsp, 3x per week for trace, and the other two. in 250 gallons and a heavily planted tank. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Hmm... I've never seen that before, but I have a couple guesses. My 1st guess would be algae - there are all kinds out there, so even though I haven't seen something like you're describing doesn't mean it's not algae. I have had some rough, greenish algae on my swords before, but it wasn't really scaled. The other option could be a residue that occurs when plants pull carbon from the carbonate in the water. However, that usually looks more like dust than scales. Do you have a pH and hardness test kits? If so, you may want to see what your CO2 levels are (there's a CO2 chart online that's a measurement of pH and hardness - google CO2 chart, and you should find it pretty easily). If your CO2 levels are low (10ppm or less) the sword may be pulling carbon from the carbonate. I know you're pumping in CO2, but I also know that sumps have a way of dispersing the CO2 out of solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Hmm... I've never seen that before, but I have a couple guesses. My 1st guess would be algae - there are all kinds out there, so even though I haven't seen something like you're describing doesn't mean it's not algae. I have had some rough, greenish algae on my swords before, but it wasn't really scaled.The other option could be a residue that occurs when plants pull carbon from the carbonate in the water. However, that usually looks more like dust than scales. Do you have a pH and hardness test kits? If so, you may want to see what your CO2 levels are (there's a CO2 chart online that's a measurement of pH and hardness - google CO2 chart, and you should find it pretty easily). If your CO2 levels are low (10ppm or less) the sword may be pulling carbon from the carbonate. I know you're pumping in CO2, but I also know that sumps have a way of dispersing the CO2 out of solution. Ya, I basically pump CO2 to get rid of algae... I am sure it is low. I also turned it up tonight because I was having some more algae growth on my sand. It didn't look like it was pumping at all. I turned it way down because I burned through 10 lb in 2 months... I'll see if I can post a photo later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 The other option could be a residue that occurs when plants pull carbon from the carbonate in the water. However, that usually looks more like dust than scales.Do you have a pH and hardness test kits? If so, you may want to see what your CO2 levels are (there's a CO2 chart online that's a measurement of pH and hardness - google CO2 chart, and you should find it pretty easily). If your CO2 levels are low (10ppm or less) the sword may be pulling carbon from the carbonate. I know you're pumping in CO2, but I also know that sumps have a way of dispersing the CO2 out of solution. Yeah, that would be my guess too. The process is called Biogenic Decalcification. If you have plants like vals or elodea/egeria in your tank, you should see it on them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 (edited) The other option could be a residue that occurs when plants pull carbon from the carbonate in the water. However, that usually looks more like dust than scales.Do you have a pH and hardness test kits? If so, you may want to see what your CO2 levels are (there's a CO2 chart online that's a measurement of pH and hardness - google CO2 chart, and you should find it pretty easily). If your CO2 levels are low (10ppm or less) the sword may be pulling carbon from the carbonate. I know you're pumping in CO2, but I also know that sumps have a way of dispersing the CO2 out of solution. Yeah, that would be my guess too. The process is called Biogenic Decalcification. If you have plants like vals or elodea/egeria in your tank, you should see it on them too. I don't have any elodea, right now it only shows on one leaf of my Osiris sword, and maybe a bit on 2 of the leaves the undulating crypt right beside it. I took a closer look this morning and it doesn't seem to be on my vals, the other two swords in my tank or anything else.. Here is the best photo I could get. You can see the one leaf from the sword and the crypt in the lower right. I tried to scrape some of it off. I definitely does not just brush off. Seems pretty well rooted, but I can get it off. Thanks for the link Werner... I didn't understand it all, but I get the gist of the reaction that is taking place. It sounds like if I get some snails, they will use up the free carbonate and then it won't precipitate out on my plants... but I probably need like a million of them. I'll check my pH and hardness tonight when I get home. Edited November 11, 2008 by Drydock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 That's an algae, I believe - I have the same stuff on some of my Crypt. wendtii in my tank. It only seems to be on older leaves - if the leaves are on the outside of the plant, just pluck them off. On healthy plants, algae usually only grows on the older leaves that have stopped growing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted November 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2008 pH is 7.0 dKh is 8. According to the aquarium den, the CO2 is around 24 ppm. It's an algae??? Learn something new every day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 12, 2008 Report Share Posted November 12, 2008 As long as you don't use any other buffers, your CO2 is fine. EI targe it 30ppm, but with a sump I think you're doing great! To get rid of it, I just remove the old leaves with it on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted November 12, 2008 Report Share Posted November 12, 2008 I ran into this problem when my water was to hard, low co2 and to much oxygen, My tank was reaching between 92-98' all summer so I had to turn on air stones for my fish, this is when I noticed these deposits on my plants., For me it was white for a while then turned black, turning into calcium deposits... .... sorry I didnt get a chance to read all of these I just read the first few so I may be way off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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