Tip of my Java Ferns fades.....

[kajaksurfa]

Hi, the outermost tip (10%) of my Java Fern leaves have lost green color but instead turned milky or transparent .
It has happened to almost all of my ferns in the aquarium recently . They are all tied with their rhizomes to roots and have grown quite nice for about a year in this tank of about 500 litres(200x50x50cm).

I am about to remove all full grown leaves since the rhizomes all of a sudden started shooting a large numbers of new leaves .
Cryptocorynes recently added, 3 weeks ago, they start to grow beautiful though.

Lighting 10 hrs/day:
2x 36W Osram 77 Fluora new,
2x 36W Osram 830 Warm white, quite old. (Planning on changing these to Osram Skywhite 880)
2x 3W Blue Moonlight LED

Water: pH 7.2, dH 6, Waterchanges 50% twice a week.
Filtration: Fluval FX5 3500L/h
Co2: 6kg bottle: 2-3 bubbles/sek, Ferplast CO2 power reactor.
Fertilizers: Tropica Master grow 5 ml/day, Evolution Happy Plant 5ml/day. Tetra Initial sticks under the rooted plants.
Substrate: English beach gravel, there is some remains of faxe lime sand in the bottom substrate.

Inhabitants (Asian Sumatra biotope):
7 Clown loaches 4cm each,
30 Harlequin Red rasbora,
5 Flying fox,
10 Micro Galaxy rasbora.

Plants:
Java Fern, Java Moss, Cryptocoryne becketii, Cryptocoryne parva (or willisii).

Thanks , Leif from Uddevalla Sweden .

 

[ceg4048]

Yes, there is strong evidence that this is one of those pesky CO2 issues. Unfortunately, the level of CO2 required to completely eliminate it is so high that it would be difficult for the fish. It can be mitigated by upping the injection rate and/or getting better flow into the fern bed. Keeping the fern from getting too thick by regular pruning is also a good idea.

Cheers,