powder on the leaves

V

valerie

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Apr 18, 2001
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Edmonton, AB
I was doing my water changes yesterday and was looking at my tank a bit more closely then usual and noticed that there is white/grey stuff on the leaves of my E.osiris sword plant. It looks like its covered in powder and is rough to the touch,it remind me of calcium deposits. What is this? What is causing it. I haven't changed anything with the tnak in a long time. My tests are the same as usual NH3-0 no2-0 no3- 10 ph- 7.8 kh8 gh11.

What is this?
 
My guess is biogenic decalcification. This happens when CO2 levels are low (with your pH and KH, your CO2 levels are around 4ppm, fairly low) and light levels are pretty high. Some plants are capable of "stealing" the carbon atoms they need from Calcium Carbonate in hard water (your water is fairly hard). This leaves calcium deposits on the leaves. It isn't harming anything, but can raise the alkalinity over time. Some plants are especially adept at biogenic decalcification, like Valsineria. If left to continue, without water changes, some pools of water have been found to have a pH as high as 9 or 10!
Either start adding carbon via Flourish Excel, Yeast-Sugar CO2 reactor or any other variety of CO2 supplementation. Or if your plants are growing fine with the carbon they manage to steal, then just keep up with the water changes and they'll be fine!
 
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