# Dusty leaves???!!



## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

Hmmmm.. I have a newly planted tank- and I am finding that I have what appears to be light brown "dust" settling on the leaves of my plants..

I have a 40 gallon tank with an Eheim Classic 2213 canister filter.

I placed a layer a nutrient substrate, which was like fine sand (Miracle Baby Super One Denitro Substrate Nutrient) and over that I placed a layer of course river sand and over that I placed the gravel. 

I don't have any CO2 running (yet) - I am still trying to figure out the easiest way to do it..

The tank was up and running, cycled and crystal clear. I introduced some cardinals and tetras and aited a couple of weeks before planting it out. 

I am doing weekly water changes and am vacuuming the top layer of gravel. 

I would love to know what I can do to avoid this dust and debris from settling on the leaves of my plants..

Any ideas as to what it is and why its going on? :help:


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## Avi (Feb 8, 2004)

I'm not familiar with the Miracle Baby Super One Denitro Substrate Nutrient that you said you added to the substrate. Could that be escaping from underneath the course river sand and gravel that you have above it when you put plants into the substrate and the cause of this issue?

But, whether or not is is, IMO, you could do better with more filtration than you have right now...I'd add an Eheim 2215 or at least another 2213. That would give you more flow to cleanse the leaves and more filtration to get the stuff out of the tank by keeping it in suspension in the water better so it can be taken in by the two filters instead of settling on the leaves. The additional filtration would also serve you better to keep the CO2, once you put it into the tank, better dispersed in the tank for more consistent success with your plants.


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## josh1604 (Mar 31, 2008)

When i had sword i use to have this problem when i pulled the plants up... I had eco-complete which has several different sizes of gravel all the way down to something about the size of sand. If you have been moving any plants around this could be why. Also if you have a powerhead pointed towards the gravel this could be causing it to move around and stir up the finer substrate.


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## BottomFeeder (Jul 26, 2008)

Is it detritus? I frequently get it when tanks are settling in or resettling if there was a major lighting change. I use otos to get rid of it.


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

I am going to do a quick search to learn what "detritus" is....


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

Avi said:


> I'm not familiar with the Miracle Baby Super One Denitro Substrate Nutrient that you said you added to the substrate. Could that be escaping from underneath the course river sand and gravel that you have above it when you put plants into the substrate and the cause of this issue?
> 
> But, whether or not is is, IMO, you could do better with more filtration than you have right now...I'd add an Eheim 2215 or at least another 2213. That would give you more flow to cleanse the leaves and more filtration to get the stuff out of the tank by keeping it in suspension in the water better so it can be taken in by the two filters instead of settling on the leaves. The additional filtration would also serve you better to keep the CO2, once you put it into the tank, better dispersed in the tank for more consistent success with your plants.


 The Miracle baby is a very light (beach sand) colored product so I don't think that it could be that, and it seems to be trapped under a good 3 inches of the two layers on top of it) .. so I am thinking that it isn't that. I hadn't considered an extra filter as the one I have is for a 200 liter tank and mine is only 150 liters. I had hoped that I had chosen more than enough for what I wanted to do.. In saying that, this is my first planted tank so I am quite sure that those of you with more experience will set me on the right path...



josh1604 said:


> When i had sword i use to have this problem when i pulled the plants up... I had eco-complete which has several different sizes of gravel all the way down to something about the size of sand. If you have been moving any plants around this could be why. Also if you have a powerhead pointed towards the gravel this could be causing it to move around and stir up the finer substrate.


The plants were only planted about 4 or 5 days ago so I guess this could be very possible..


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## Avi (Feb 8, 2004)

Miss Jinkx said:


> ...this is my first planted tank so I am quite sure that those of you with more experience will set me on the right path...


I appreciate your mentioning that, that way, Missy. 'cause I don't want you to think I'd be lecturing you. I can tell you that I have two Eheim 2217s on my 58-gallon planted tank and I think that's just about right after increasing my filtration over time. And, I have additional flow from the Mag5 that I use to get the CO2 into my tank.


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## marrow (Feb 4, 2007)

Are you quite certain it isnt algae? Does it come off with just a tap of the plant or does it require a bit of a rub?


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

I'm having exactly the same issue right now. At first, I thought it was diatoms because I had done some major rescaping (including new substrate) and a resulting ammonia spike. 

My otos won't touch it and it does not behave like diatoms (doesn't attach itself to the glass, comes of by gentle tapping), so I guess it's just gunk.

I think one or more of the following factors are playing a role here:


Filtration. I have a 2213 on a 15g, which is more than decent, but the intake keeps getting grown over by plants.
Overstocking. I know I have too many fish in there. The water is good, but it's still a lot of waste.
Sand bottom. Sand doesn't allow the detritus to settle as well as coarser gravel does.


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

Avi said:


> I appreciate your mentioning that, that way, Missy. 'cause I don't want you to think I'd be lecturing you. I can tell you that I have two Eheim 2217s on my 58-gallon planted tank and I think that's just about right after increasing my filtration over time. And, I have additional flow from the Mag5 that I use to get the CO2 into my tank.


I will certainly look into boosting my filtration but right at this very moment I can't afford to do much more than what I did today which was buy a small internal filter to act as a bit of a boost - but mainly to get some extra movement into the tank. The leaved are swaying ever so slightly now and it seems that some of the "dust" is beginning to come off the leaves at the top of the tank (the higher swords) so I guess I will wait to see if this makes a big difference.. 


marrow said:


> Are you quite certain it isnt algae? Does it come off with just a tap of the plant or does it require a bit of a rub?


Its coming off with a tap and seems to collect more on the broader leaf plants like the swords... 



Aquarist_Fist said:


> I'm having exactly the same issue right now. At first, I thought it was diatoms because I had done some major rescaping (including new substrate) and a resulting ammonia spike.
> 
> My otos won't touch it and it does not behave like diatoms (doesn't attach itself to the glass, comes of by gentle tapping), so I guess it's just gunk.
> 
> ...


I have 10 tetras, 5 cardinals and 2 clown loaches in with the plants at this stage so I wouldn't suggest that I am overstocked in a 150 liter tank. I vacuumed up the gravel this morning and gave the leaves a tap. Hopefully with the added movement in the tank and some daily vacuuming and weekly water changes it will just go away..


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I'm pretty sure that this sounds like fine detrius. The clown loaches are probably stirring up the substrate. Extra water flow will keep it from settling on your leaves.


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

Hrrrmmm.. This light brown "dust" seems to be turning into light brown "SPOTS" and I am seeing it on the heater, and a rock in the tank too..


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Sounds like diatoms. Sand is silica based and diatoms are from excess silica in the tank. If you can stand it just try to clean it off of whatever it is on everyday and see if it persists longer then a couple of weeks.


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

bsmith782 said:


> Sounds like diatoms. Sand is silica based and diatoms are from excess silica in the tank. If you can stand it just try to clean it off of whatever it is on everyday and see if it persists longer then a couple of weeks.



Would water changes help also?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I would not go too crazy because you might start a mini cycle again. I would just dust every day or two and see what happens.


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

Ok.. ~ deep breaths~ I'll keep a close eye on it and dust, as you have suggested and let you know how it goes... It seems to really only be affecting the large sword.. I'll take some pics later and post them so that you can see what it looks like but from what I googled after you suggested diatoms, I think that you're spot on... pardon the pun...


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Good deal. Do you have any iron supplimentation in the tank particularly in the substrate? Swords are very heavy root feeders and LOVE iron. So hopefully it's not a compounded issue.


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

Its a new tank (less than a month) and I have a substrate nutrient layer on the very bottom and fertilizer tablets pushed in to the substrate to about 5 cms.. I am not dosing with any fertilizer at this stage. Should I consider it now?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

What is your lighting and do you have a co2 setup?


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## Miss Jinkx (Aug 6, 2009)

I have 2 T5's totaling 80 watts. One is white spectrum, the other is red and I am a couple of days into having diy co2..Still getting the mixture right.. some days it works...other days its a flop...


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