Telanthera leaf curling

[moldyform]

G'day, my Telanthera has gone down hill lately and most of its leaves are curled up. It seems to have a fine green algea coting on the leaves. Some of the leaves have also turned upside down with the red bases facing up??
What would cause this?

Cheers

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff38/moldyform/P1010023.jpg

[moldyform]

Since the last posting this Telanthera has gotten worse. It now is almost all red and all the leaves are curled up

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff38/moldyform/P1010010.jpg

Also i went on holidays for a few days and i came back to find my java fern almost completely rotten. the leaves and the stems seem to have become rotten.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff38/moldyform/P1010005.jpg

Any idea whats going on here???

Paremeters:

temp:27
ph:7.2
nitate:5
ammo:0
phosperate:2
co2:could be around 50 but not sure (hopless test kit)
Kh:54
gh:74


cheers

[ILLUSN]

if your KH is 54 and your ph is 7.2 your CO2 is VERY low.

with Kh at zero and ph at 5.0 my co2 is only 30ppm.

I'd up your CO2 first and increase your light , how old are the tubes? T8's need to be replaced every 6mths to be usefull, T5's every 12mths and CF's 9mths MAX (I change mine every 6).

Halides are good for a year.

[moldyform]

Yeah i just upgraded to a Tunze co2 diffuser on the weekend. Previous i just had it feeding into the impeller of my pump at 4-5 bubbles a second.

I am using an aquasonic co2 test kit but i find it is hard to get a reading that is accurate as the colour change is very slow. Whats the best way to measure co2??

yep that might be an issue as th t8s might be around a year an a half!! 6 tubes at 40watts.

Thanks

[ILLUSN]

Your light is most proably your problem, up your CO2 a little first that way when you replace the tubes (2 at a time a week apart) you wont get a nice green tank.

the best way to calculte your CO2 if from your Kh and PH, those test kits are NEVER accurate.

[moldyform]

the best way to calculte your CO2 if from your Kh and PH, those test kits are NEVER accurate.

Could you explain how this is done or provide a link to how its done? I did a qick search but couldnt find much info.

Cheers

[DIY]

Heaps of info out there on the pH/KH/CO2 relationship.. but I'm lazy so I use a calculator like this one

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

[moldyform]

Awsome thanks.

Ill do some testing again.

Cheers

[moldyform]

Using that calculator it says my co2 levels are 9.5ppm.

how many ppm per day is it safe to increase the co2?

Cheers

[ILLUSN]

I SHOOT FOR 30PPM

[fishgeek]

if you are using this calculators , or just the usual kH pH charts with tank water then you are not getting a true reading

the charts work if the only source of acid is carbonic acid from your CO2 delivery
and
if the only buffer is the measured kH or carbonate bicarbonate ions, it does not account for other buffers like phosphates for instance

for this reason the chart will only work accurately if you use water that is pure with a known amount of carbonate added... often 4dKh solution is suggested
and only carbonic acid enters this solution to cause a pH change

a drop checker which separates a set solution from tank water by an air bubble is the most accurate way of following this change and excluding other organic acid sources and other buffer systems

otherwise when you add peat to your tank and measure with nothing else change you will think you carbon dioxide level has changed

another method is to measure pH of water and let stand in a vessel out of tank for 24 hrs , in this period the gaseous carbon dioxide can come out of solution and leave the water(greatly affected by temperature, agitation etc) then remeasure the pH
an increase of 1 on the pH scale is supposed to be related to a certain amount of gas, i am not really familiar with this method, although at least it removes the confusion of other non carbonic acids if not addressing the non carbonate buffers

andrew