# Red Plants... Not so Red!



## Chasintrades (Oct 11, 2009)

Hey everyone, I am hoping someone could help me with my plants a bit. I am posting here since the growth is great but the coloring is not as good/strong as it could be and I figure it is my water and ferts.

Here is some background. I fill tank with soft NYC tap water once per week. I had green plants in tank but rescaped with a lot of harder to grow well red plants. Most plants in tank are new to my tank (about 2 weeks in tank)

Here goes...
Plants are doing great and there is no algae in the tank. However my reds (and purples) the new growth is decidedly green and the existing plant is turning less red. I am wondering what tweaks to my parameters I should look to employ.

STATS
40 Breeder 
3X39 T5HO (8 Hours) (Catalina on legs)
Pressurized CO2 3bps
Eheim Pro 2075

I am using the following EI regime diligently
50% H20 change-weekly
*1/4 Tsp-KN03 3x a week
*1/16 Tsp-KH2P04 3x a week
*1/16 Tsp-K2SO4 3x a week
*1/16 Tsp-Trace 3x a week
* No additional FE as of yet
*No GH booster as of yet 

All ferts are dry ferts from GLA/Orlando. 

Nitrates are around 10-15ppm


Here are the some of the plants in my tank 
Starougyne Repens 049
Blyxa Japonica
Cabomba furcata
Tonina Fluvialitilis
Ludwigia Acruata
Limnophila aromatic 
Tonina sp Belem 
Ammania gracilis 
Ludwigia Inclinata verticillata ‘cuba’ 
Green Rotalas
Pogostemon stellata broadleaf
_Ludwigia inclinata_ var. _verticillata_ 'Pantanal' 

What can i do to coax the red in these plants. When I received them they had much more color. 

Kindest regards,

Ari :fish:


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## Dempsey (Oct 27, 2009)

This is what you need. roud:


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## darkoon (Nov 11, 2010)

if the new tips of Ludwigia Inclinata come out white or green, you're not adding enough Fe. Try adding more Fe Gluconate, which is supposed to be better than Fe EDTA or FE DTPA. http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/ has it.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Trace and GH booster will help a great deal, particularly with NYC tap water which is very soft.


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## Chasintrades (Oct 11, 2009)

Thank you for your replies. I want to share an interesting exchange I had yesterday. I wrote an email to Orlando at GLA (thank you for taking the time with me - you're awesome!).

We had a discussion about the fact that no one really knows exactly how to coax the red out of plants - otherwise the info would be right our fingertips. If you ask a 1000 people you are bound to get 1001 responses. 

Orlando shared a photo of aquatic plants in NATURE in Florida. He suggested that the red portion (lets assume certain species and variates) are generally redder near the surface (more light and available CO2).

Here is the picture he shared with me - notice the red on top and green a bit lower into the water.










I then mentioned that for me I am having a dramatically opposite experience. For me it is the crowns (and new growth) that is green (Although some plants are losing their red/purple elsewhere in the tank).

Here are some pics from my tank...








and 









Orlando's comment was "Wow, thats really weird. How long have you had them?" 

I loved that! 

Anyway, I am just going to enjoy and watch the plants for the next few weeks or so and be pleased with hopefully good strong plants no matter the color. 

To answer Orlando's question... they have been in the tank for a little over two weeks. Perhaps as most will say, with patience and small changes great things will happen. 

PS - Thanks Joraan for all of you help and guidance.


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## fishykid1 (Apr 5, 2010)

They probably got acclimated to your tank. Whoever you got them from probably had higher light, co2 and/or iron in the water or substrate. Mine did a similar thing when I first got my Aromatica. Then I started tuning it in, and am finally getting more reds out of it.


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## Chasintrades (Oct 11, 2009)

fishykid1 said:


> They probably got acclimated to your tank. Whoever you got them from probably had higher light, co2 and/or iron in the water or substrate. Mine did a similar thing when I first got my Aromatica. Then I started tuning it in, and am finally getting more reds out of it.



Thanks fishykid1. I do have 3X39w over the 40 breeder so I am pushing nearly 3WPG of T5H0 and I am running 3BPS through a Rex Grigg Built reactor with what I would think is decent flow (Eheim 2075). Drop Checker is pale green/slight yellow after a few hours. 

I will potentially up the CO2 since no one in the tank seems to mind at this level. Eventually some additional FE may enter the tank as well as potentially going a bit leaner on the KNO3. 

Last move is I still have an additional 2X39 over the tank that is not turned on as of yet (my really high light option). 

Presently no visible algae in tank except some green spotting on the rock hardscape.

I think you are correct that they are still acclimating to my conditions. I will continue to document my efforts here to see if I can coax a change.


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## fishykid1 (Apr 5, 2010)

That's a lot of light already. How are you dosing this tank, and what's the substrate like.. just for giggles..


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## feral13 (Jan 17, 2006)

Those look beautiful.

I am having the same issues in my high-tech setup. Some red plants are turning green and some green plants are turning red. I have been meticulous about the tank and the nutrients, but I decided to just "go with it" and let them be whatever color they want...as long as they are growing.


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## Chasintrades (Oct 11, 2009)

fishykid1 said:


> That's a lot of light already. How are you dosing this tank, and what's the substrate like.. just for giggles..


I listed a lot of the tank specs up top... 
Substrate is ADA AS 1 top 2/3 - bottom 1/3 layer is mixed Eco and Flourite. 
Temp 77-78 via Hydor 
Stocking is very light at the moment... 
3 OTO
10 Amano
3 2" SAE
20 CRS

Here was the original specs includes the dosing - standard EI. 
STATS
40 Breeder 
3X39 T5HO (8 Hours) (Catalina on legs)
Pressurized CO2 3bps
Eheim Pro 2075

I am using the following EI regime diligently
50% H20 change-weekly
*1/4 Tsp-KN03 3x a week
*1/16 Tsp-KH2P04 3x a week
*1/16 Tsp-K2SO4 3x a week
*1/16 Tsp-Trace 3x a week
* No additional FE as of yet
*No GH booster as of yet 

All ferts are dry ferts from GLA/Orlando. 

Nitrates are around 10-15ppm


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Plant cuttings come from the growing tops of the plants, which are necessarily closest to the light. You then plant them down on the bottom of the tank, where the light is less intense. So, the new growth reflects that lower light. As soon as they grow up near the top they should be colored nicely again. (Until you prune and replant again.) If you try to defeat this by increasing the light intensity that works too, but soon you find yourself growing a beautiful crop of BBA. I tested this idea - not exactly on purpose.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I agree with Hoppy that you just need to let the plants acclimate/grow into your tank but I have never found a single tank that would not/did not benefit from a little more co2. 

Turn up the co2 in very small increments over a day until you see distress in your fish. Then turn it a notch down. This assures that you are putting as much co2 as possible in the water as your fish will allow. 

If I followed my drop checker (w/4dkh solution) and stopped upping the co2 when I got a mountain dew colored reagent not only would my plants be horribly stunted but I would also have a serious algae factory. 

I would say (rough estimate, no scientific results here) that I ended up being able to put 30%-40% more co2 (bubble rate wise) from when the DC turned yellow to when the fish got stressed. My plants have never looked better.


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## Brian3 (Jan 14, 2008)

For having red plants I learned this: Good, bright light. Dont focus on watts, focus on lumens and spectrum. For red plants i will go for blue lights (this not mean putting all the tubes blue, if you have 3 put one blue the others white) Red tubes are no-no for red plants. Having very good intense ligh (just look for people that have very red plants and ask how many tubes they are using). After that, Go for CO2 and then go for nutrients, all the nutrients. As Tom Said also use GH booster. For I see you have good healthy grow, try to down Nitrate and up Phosphates a little (with ferts, no fish poop) and go for 2 more tubes.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Patience, some tweaking of the CO2, GH booster additions. 
Not much else really. Giesemann powerchrome and aquaflora mix seems to yield some nice colors.


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## darkoon (Nov 11, 2010)

Could lighting spectrum have anything to do with this?


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## Brian3 (Jan 14, 2008)

Use blue spectrum


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