Holey plants!

[bcarl_10gal]

Plant experts! I am a long time reader but first time poster. I have been having holes appearing in most of my plants in my tank in the adult leaves. I initially thought it was a tank mate who was getting hungry but after removing the suspects the holes keep appearing. I have a 10 gallon tank with Finnex FugeRay LED light with a DIY C02 system. I have been dosing excel and a general liquid plant ferts every other day. I have attached pictures let me know what you think may be causing these holes.

 

[armymp327]

what general liquid plant ferts? specifics please

sounds like a potassium deficiency though

 

[bcarl_10gal]

Im trying to finish up a older bottle of the Aqueon Aquarium Plant Food the Analysis is as follows: K20 1%, Calcium .2%, Magnesium .03%, Sulfur .036%, Boron .0006%, Iron .12%, Manganese .00008%, Zinc .00012%. I know this stuff is crap, I wanted to use it up before buying a bottle of Seachems Flourish.

 

[armymp327]

well when you get the seachem flourish, pick up some seachem potassium as well, they will take care of the holes in the plants. if they dont have seachem potassium, you can get API leafzone which has iron and potassium

 

[bcarl_10gal]

Is there any other deficiencies that would cause holes to form or is dosing potassium and pretty good bet?

 

[armymp327]

a potassium deficiency will cause holes to form I don't know of any others

 

[bcarl_10gal]

I also have beeb struggling with an algae outbreak recently, i have been dosing excel with mixed results. Would a potassium deficiency trigger an algae outbreak?

 

[Rivercats]

Algae is caused by an imbalance of light/co2/ferts. When you have an algae problem you need to run lights only 6 hours daily. After the problem is fixed then 8 hours of light is usually the max amount recommend for a planted tank unless you have very low light. What type of algae?

 

[bcarl_10gal]

I started with a thread algae about 2 weeks ago so i overdosed excel and was able to kill it off. Now i believe it is a mix of brown algae, and possibly green beard. My tank usually runs the lights for 8 hours, after the initial outbreak i moved it to 6 now i have moved it to 4.

 

[Smcoyle87]

If you're using DiY Co2, it's important to try and maintain the most constant level of Co2 output as possible. This is hard, I know, but try and keep it constant. Like, when you notice the amount of bubbles coming out has started to decrease, turn the lights off and change your mixture. Consistency in Co2 output is important.

 

[bcarl_10gal]

One last piece I forgot to add was over the last few days I placed a phosphate remover in my filter to see if removing phosphates helped the problem. If anything it has only worsened leaving me to believe that I have nutrient deficiencies. After removing the phosphate remover from my filter I added general ferts and 5ml of excel. I also replaced the mixture in my DIY CO2. I woke up this morning to a cloudy tank. I them tested my water to find my nitrates, nitrites and pH were all normal. Any suggestions?

 

[Rivercats]

This isn't uncommon when messing with the water chemistry balance. It's most likely an bacterial bloom. A good way to tell this is if you do a WC and the tank just clouds back up then that indicates a bacterial bloom. Using a UV sterilizer can clear the water very quickly. One often used with good results by others on this forum is... Green Killing Machine Internal UV Sterilizer with Power Head at PETCO

 

[aqua_chem]

First thing you need to do is remove the phosphate remover. Thats probably one of the best ways to cause algae in a planted tank.

Is your DIY co2 reactor using a gas separator? If not, you might be having some of your reactor broth going into your tank, which is a really good ay to make cloudy water.


Also, you likely have a raging case of macronutrient deficiency. Running good light and co2 without good fertilizer support is a good way to cause this. I would definitely look into dosing dry ferts via EI or PPS. Given the problems you're experiencing, I would start with a few weeks of EI and then transition into PPS (if you want to) once you get the tank to stabilize.