Pin holes in leafs

[Dolly Sprint 16v]

Could somebody please help in identifying the problems as the leafs on my plants are getting pin holes and after a period of time the leafs break off the main stem of the plant.

Tank Aqua AR980
TetraTec 1200 external
Dennerle CO2 Kit
2 x 30 watt Plant growth tube
1 x 25 watt Natural light tube

Current tank readings
pH = 6.4
KH ppm = 3
GH ppm = 0
Nitrate ppm = between 5 & 10
Nitrite ppm = 0
PO4 = between 25 - 50 closer to 25 than 50.

CO2 - 2 x bubbles per second indicator showing lime green
Addivites added each week
Nitro
Easy Carbo - each day
Profito
Ferro
Waterlife Bacterlife


Assistances greatfully received.

Regards

Paul.U

 

[vauxhallmark]

Could you post the tank dimensions for people who aren't familiar with the Aqua AR980?

I'd be interested in this - my Pogostemon develop holes in the oldest leaves, but they don't dop off/rot off/get eaten off, unfortunately. I only have them in one fairly small area, so I pulled them out after 4 months, pulled off a few baby offshoots and chucked the rest (actually, in future I will offer them to anyone who wants them - did it for the first time today, and hadn't planned ahead - oops).

Hope some one can help you with your problem. It would probably help the experts if you said which plants were afected, which weren't, and whether it only happens to old leaves or to any leaves too.

Ta,

Mark

 

[aaronnorth]

PO4 = between 25 - 50 closer to 25 than 50.

Do you mean 2.5ppm - 5ppm?

25-50 sounds really high

 

[Dolly Sprint 16v]

Mark

Aqua Ar980
39" x 15" x 18" = 217 litres approx according to aqua one.

More like 200 litres now my gravel & plants are in.

Aaron
PO4 test strips use division of 0,10,25,50 & 100 there is no decimal point between the numbers - i use precision strips bought from Aqua Essentials

NB plants are growing fine tank looks great apart from these tiny pin holes in certain plants.

Regards

paul.u

 

[Luketendo]

Those 'precision' strips don't sound very precise then.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Paul,
Really there are too many mysteries associated with the data you gave with your tank to troubleshoot correctly. I'm not a fan of any test kit and your data makes me even more cynical. Are you using RO water, or is your water supply naturally soft? A zero value for GH is unusual for tap but is consistent with a near zero KH. Are you sure the KH reading is 3ppm and not 3 dkH? The difference is a factor of about 17. In any case a zero GH, if accurate, suggests that some trace elements such as Calcium, Magnesium and so forth may be missing.

As Aaron and Luke pointed out, the PO4 reading is suspect and you don't appear to be dosing any form of Phosphorous so this can be problematic.

Any tissue loss or structural failure in plants should immediately raise suspicions of poor CO2 or poor flow, despite your dropchecker readings. 2 bps and a 300 GPH filter on a 50 gallon tank each sound weak. What kind of water is used in your dropchecker? Is it distilled water adjusted to 4 dkh or are you using tap or tank water?. If using anything other than 4dkh water in the checker this will give you a false green reading.

In fact it's not clear how often you are dosing or how much. A weekly dosing per bottle instruction could easily be insufficient based on the lighting level. From a holistic standpoint it's conceivable that you have several nutritional issues in the tank which need to be addressed. From your list of dosing items you seem to be adding things that you don't need such as "Waterlife Bacterlife". This is completely redundant. Profito included iron so that addition of Ferro is also redundant. If you wish to use a commercial dosing product you might be better of switching to Tropicas TPN+ and you can save money on that size tank by using the dry salts.

Cheers,