# So I discovered the trick to amazing red root floater



## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Just toss it into a tumbler glass with tap water, no prime, and 1 osmocote+ ball and leave it in a south facing window, then forget about it for a week.









Looks like the roots bathed in the blood of its enemies.


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## vigilanterepoman (Mar 16, 2018)

How do these guys multiply? Will this one start to spread in there? 

Very cool though!


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## Mike A. (Jan 6, 2018)

Now I just need to figure out how to get those glasses to float in my tank...


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Like that! Proof that the Chlorine in tap is often not as tough as we think? 
Don't happen to know if the water is chlorine or chloramine treated? My thinking that what remained may have acted more as a dip for snails might have. That could mean the chlorine put in at treatment had weakened enough to let this go or could have gassed off by just simply setting out in the air. Or if chloramine treated, we know one of the advantages of chloramine is that it isn't necessary to use nearly as strong dose to get the correct amount to out taps. Perhaps it was chloramine but such a low dose that it only reacted with a bit of dirt other other grime to leave the plant material pretty good shape. 

Either way, interesting find!!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

That is so red. I always thought chlorine from tap would hurt plants, too.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

JJ09 said:


> That is so red. I always thought chlorine from tap would hurt plants, too.


That's the part that interests me as I do use lots of bleach and find it is a matter of judgement as to how strong and how long when I dip plants. So this appears to be a weak chlorine mix, assuming it is chlorine, as the time is certainly long. 
When I get plants that appear to be a total loss or something that I really don't care much if they do survive, I have done dips using bleach and it takes a pretty quick dip and quick rinse on most plants to avoid real damage. 
Perhaps the weak mix combined with having the osmocote to also react with was just the right amount to simply act as a form of fert but not strong enough to harm things. 
Interesting what plants do, at times.


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## madcrafted (Dec 23, 2017)

It really just depends on tap water in question and the plant species. I've kept Lobelia Cardinalis and mosses in glass bowls in a window sill for months sitting in tap water. No ferts whatsoever. They did just fine. I even kept carpeting plants like HC, DHG and monte carlo in the same spot for a few weeks in tap while I decided what to do with them. They did okay. However, I have melted crypts and other softer stem plants by doing this. These plants don't fair well with change but they will usually adapt if rhizome stays alive. My window also faces east. If it got anymore than just a little morning sun, things would be very different. The nutritional demand would exceed the conditions of my water and temperatures would be quite higher. I feel like my plants are in energy saving mode and when they finally get planted in ideal water conditions, their growth takes off very quickly.

As for the chlorine in my tap, I'm not sure what the levels are but it doesn't really seem to effect my aquatic plants. When watering our outdoor garden or making compost "tea" we just add a little molasses to react with the chlorine. The effect is instantaneous and microbial activity doesn't suffer. Anything organic will react with chlorine and neutralize it. It doesn't take much.


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Yes, my tap water is treated with chlorine according to the reports for clark county. Tap never smells like chlorine though, I've lived in places with fiercely pungent tap water.

Placing the glass in the window probably burned off the chlorine pretty fast in the sun most likely. The pool I take care of is in full sun almost all day and so I have to use tri-chlor due to the inclusion of cyanuric acid to act as sunscreen for the chlorine in the pool. Previous guys used Di-chlor and were constantly battling low chlorine levels in the pool.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

One thing about fish folks who also have pools. It certainly brings home how fast the chlorine will gas off when you have to keep putting it in the pool! So when we want to clear/sterilize wood, rocks, etc. for the tank, we can just let it dry to get rid of the chlorine. So many people do resist that idea??


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

PlantedRich said:


> ... So when we want to clear/sterilize wood, rocks, etc. for the tank, we can just let it dry to get rid of the chlorine. So many people do resist that idea??


I do that- boil the driftwood in tapwater and then dry in the sun. After a day it barely has any scent of chlorine and I let it dry another two to be sure, turning now and then to air out all the sides. My county does some kind of big flush out every spring, and I do notice the tapwater smells strongly of chlorine at that time. I used extra prime the first few times it occurred just because it concerned me how much chlorine seemed to be in the tap.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Just letting it dry totally is one way to deal with chlorine. It was pretty much a shock when I got back into keeping tanks and found I had to use treatment like Prime to clear it as my local supply then had changed to chloramine. 
I like the reason for chloramine but for fishkeeping it did add another little wrinkle to have to treat tap water. 
Algae in waterlines is getting to be more problems as things gradually warm up and my local supply also does a burnout where they come to each neighborhood and inject the treatment much nearer the house. It's about the only way to get the allowed amount closer to the max without putting it over the limits near the treatment plant. 
I never worked water treatment in an area where that was needed but it has to be a bit of a nightmare and lots of time and effort. 
In case somebody reading might think that they need to take special precautions, keep in mind that Prime is designed to handle the max chlorine/chloramine allowed so just using the regular dosing will handle the burnout as well as the normal routine. No panic overdosing needed!! We get so used to NOT smelling the stuff as chloramine doesn't gas off very much so we smell it very little and then when they do use chlorine, we may notice the smell much more, even when it is at the specified levels. Kind of a factor of how spoiled we get with not having the regular chlorine in water.


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## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

I want to see a week from now.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Sunlight is the best light source in the world. I'd suspect it's a significant factor. 
Why not experiment? Try the same thing on different windowsills, and slightly different things (no ferts, different water) on the same windowsill. See if you can pin down exactly what did the trick.


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## Surf (Jun 13, 2017)

Some notes on Chlorine. Scientists have determined the Chlorine is essential for plant growth. So plants do need it. However the form and concentration it is in can damage the plant or help it. If you add Chloride salts (such as sodiudmd chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride or magnesium chloride at a dose of 0.1ppm is not harmful to plants and the plants can use it. But if you gradually increase the concentration it will eventually damage the plants. 

However if it is in the form of CL2, HC, or chloramines it can quickly chemically burn the roots and leaves of the plant These forms of chlorine are very reactive and will react with most things in the water. including bacteria and viruses. Which is why we use it in tap water. However after all the bacteria and viruses have been killed any excess chlorine will react with water pipes, and other minerals in the water. The resulting chloride salts (like sodium chloride) is less dangerous to plants. So by the time the water reaches your aquarium it maybe safe. 

But we never know if the water is safe so we add water conditioners to make sure it is safe. But people also add bicarbonate to the tank to help control PH swings. The carbonate will also react with chlorine and convert it to chloride salts.


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Raith said:


> I want to see a week from now.


Me too, I'll of course post about it again. So far it's still just growing and making more pads and roots. I keep the glass topped up with tap water.


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## tamsin (Jan 12, 2011)

Red root floaters react to light - it's not the contents of the water that's done it, it's the sunlight  The higher the light the redder they get - with sunlight being the brightest. In an aquarium, depending on your lights and current, you might notice a difference between ones tucked in a corner and ones directly under the light. When mine was packed enough they didn't move in the current, you could actually see the rectangle outline of the lights mirrored in the colouring - there was a neat rectangle of red ones under the light!


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Sunlight


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

How long has it been? Anyway, here's another shot of these epic roots. All top ups of water have been just tap water. Also starting an outdoor project with a little patio 'pond'. Does EI dosing work outside in the sun?


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

My pond is under natural sunlight now that it's summer I'm having to use green shadecloth over the top to dampen the intensity.

Here's that pond last February..






The Salvinia growing around the edges has now taken off, so much so that I'm pulling a couple pounds of it every other day out of the pond and composting it.

Sunlight is very good _in moderation_, for growing aquarium plants.


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