me love fishy Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Hi Guys I have an Eheim 2217 cannister filter for my 4 ft tank, which at 1000 l/h should be heaps of filtration, but my plants get sort of rusty leaves and sometimes the leaves get holes in them too and from another thread I have read somebody suggested this could be a filtration problem. Java Fern is the main one that this affects, but there is another plant that also has issues with this but I don't know what its called (sorry not much help there). My filter is running properly and I clean it out every 6 weeks or so. What I am wondering is should I increase the amount of media I have in the filter and if so what extra should I put in. currently I have 1 box of eheim noodles (eheim mech) and two boxes of eheim lav (which is the pumice stones). I was thinking about adding some of the blue plastic mesh stuff too but I would probably have to clean out the filter more often then. Any ideas from anyone? And do you think this is a filtration problem or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 I have a cf1200 in my 4ft and while its a lot of filtration the flow of water is very gentle. I don't know a lot about planted aquariums but maybe the algae needs stronger current to keep it at bay. You might need to ask under the plants section? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Sorry, didn't mean algae meant to keep the leaves healthier. Should have read my reply better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Strange I know but I have found that the more I neglect Java fern the better it seems to do It even survived a winter outside in the frost with very limited light in a plastic bin with no filtration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 probably nutrients.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 iron deficiency? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Yeah java fern just up and dies if you do water changes too often. It loves nitrates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 yeah the funny thing is the Java Fern although it has heaps of kind of "rust" on it, it grows like nothing on earth, I have so much of it and it always has bubba ferns growing on the ends of the leaves etc, the leaves slowly over time get rusty and holey. and another thing I have noticedsometimes the newer leaves get a kind of thing on the end of them like if lettuce gets stuck to the back of your fridge and it gets freezer burnt. (sorry best way I know to describe it) The other plant that this seems to affect also grows like wild fire (whatever that means ) but gets the holey rusty affect on some of the leaves. This plant grows quite tall and has light green oval shaped leaves .The leaves get to about 15 cm in length, and the leaves get a pinkish tinge to them, I think they would be pinker if I had stronger lighting. I'm not sure about the current adodge cos it is not that fast except where the inflow pipe is, but I do have two airstones in there which give the water alot more movement. Maybe I should post a pic, so you can see what I mean. Will try and do that in the wkend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 Pics would help, and also some info about nutrients. What substrate are you using? Do you add any ferts to the water? To me it sounds more like a nutrient deficiency rather than a filter issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 What looks like roots on Java Fern is just an anchoring mechanism. They feed through the leaves so need their nutrients in the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted March 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 sorry didn't get a chance to post any pics in the weekend. But in answer to your questions whetu I just have gravel as my substrate and I don't add anything to the water, I once used 7 balls under some new plants but off course can't use this for Java Fern and I didn't use it for the other plant that has this problem. I have noticed that this rustiness also appears on the older leaves of my anubias too, which I did put 7 balls under. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Hi MLF, sorry it's taken me ages to get back to this thread. To me it sounds like you might need some fertts in the water column. Try something with iron in it - rusty leaves with holes in them can sometimes be caused by an iron deficiency (so I've heard). Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted April 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 thanks for that Whetu Can you tell me which ferts with iron would be the best to use? And are they readily available at an lfs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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