fine brown dust on plant leaves

[plantnoob]

im getting this annoying fine brown dust on my leaves . looks like its coming from the aquasoil as its the same colour . ive got a combined flow/turnover of 2190LPH . plenty of movement in the plants , yet i clean it off and a few hours later its back . oddly , the ozelot at the rear right corner is unaffected . any thoughts on cause/cure?

ps , deffo not diatoms

 

[gmartins]

ps , deffo not diatoms

Are you sure? Check again. It sounds like it by your description. How old is this tank?

 

[plantnoob]

tank has been planted 2 or 3 weeks . i only say that i dont think its diatoms , as its exactly the same colour as the ada amazonia , and i would expect diatoms to be on the glass / heater too . more worrying though is i have started to notice what i think is hair algae , leading me to think my co2 isnt as good as my drop checkers have me believe . looks like i need to look at my configuration and try and get co2 better .

 

[plantnoob]

well i just had my 1st planted tank eye opener . thought id do 2 things . 1st check the co2 system for leaks etc and 2ndly experement with spraybar/powerhead configuration . 1st thing i noticed was the bubble counter . bubbles were very sporadic/irregular . figured id do the spraybar etc 1st then come back to that . went i reached down the back of the tank to get some slack on the filter outlet pipe , it hit me smack in the face . the pipe was full of gunk , like a blocked artery . must of sucked up some serious crud when i disturbed the substrate whilst planting / filling . took all the pipes off and cleaned them through . got some serious thick black sludge from them . lesson learned check pipes as well when cleaning the filter . hooked it all back up and went back to the bubble counter , which was no running nice and regularly . notably more co2 mist too . must of had a serious blockage going on .

as for the hair algae , it looks like ive caught it early as its not long like the pics online i found , but really short . i have ramped up the co2 as high as i dare and will keep an eye on the fish . other than cleaning the system out to improve flow etc and increasing co2 do i need to be taking any other action ?

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
Did you carry out a water change too?
Always advisable to do a water change when carrying out any maintenance in your tank...filter, trimming, replanting etc.
Pleased you've discovered the problem and caught it early. Hopefully with an extra water change or two and the adjustments you've already made all will be well and the algae will subside.
Cheerio,
Ady

 

[plantnoob]

yep , did a big waterchange once id finished . touch wood i havent seen any hair algae since . the dust on some of the leaves is still there , but its massively reduced . im wondering if it was crap from the filter pipes though , as it is all concentrated on the plants where the spraybar is , whist away from the spraybar the plants are unaffected , and thats where the slowest growers are , ie crypts etc . either way im pleased that all is returning to a good state .