Help. Red plants turning green

[Daveb82]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium with several plants. I have injected co2 going into my aqua medic co2 1000 reactor. My drop checker is green to lime green. *My lighting is a 4x54 watt t5ho light fixture with 4 lunar LEDs which gives me 3.93 wpg. I have two 6700 bulbs and two 10,000 bulbs. I run my lights with a three hour siesta. My lights run from 7:00-12:00 then off from 12:00-3:00 then back on from 3:00-8:00. I add macro and micro nutrients according to packages. My plants grow fairly fast and are always healthy.*
* * *Only thing is my red plants always turn green over time. I'm not sure what species they are. One is a green lily with a lot of red dots all over it. It is growing and spreading (lots of runners) but the red dots slowly keep going down in number. Also have some other red plants which are slowly turning completely green. Anything I should do or change? Is my lighting type ok? *I have searched all over net but didn't find anything really helpful.*
Thx

 

[aqua_chem]

You haven't found anything because no one knows. Lots of speculations, lots of hogwash, but no good answers. I tend to lean towards the spectrum being a major factor. What kind of bulbs do you have?

 

[richpowell1989]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium with several plants. I have injected co2 going into my aqua medic co2 1000 reactor. My drop checker is green to lime green. *My lighting is a 4x54 watt t5ho light fixture with 4 lunar LEDs which gives me 3.93 wpg. I have two 6700 bulbs and two 10,000 bulbs. I run my lights with a three hour siesta. My lights run from 7:00-12:00 then off from 12:00-3:00 then back on from 3:00-8:00. I add macro and micro nutrients according to packages. My plants grow fairly fast and are always healthy.*
* * *Only thing is my red plants always turn green over time. I'm not sure what species they are. One is a green lily with a lot of red dots all over it. It is growing and spreading (lots of runners) but the red dots slowly keep going down in number. Also have some other red plants which are slowly turning completely green. Anything I should do or change? Is my lighting type ok? *I have searched all over net but didn't find anything really helpful.*
Thx

I heard this was due to the lights not being strong enough or wrong spectrum

 

[Daveb82]

I have two 6,700 and two 10,000 all are. T5ho 54 watts

 

[aqua_chem]

I have two 6,700 and two 10,000 all are. T5ho 54 watts

Right, you said that in your post. What KIND are they, ie, brand name? I'm more interested in the spectrum.

Also, how old are they?

 

[Faile]

Some people have found success with limiting nitrates or increasing iron.

 

[BillD]

The normal cause of red plants turning green is insufficient light. The red is sort of a protection against high light. If the light intensity isn't high enough the red is diminished or disappears.
The K rating on the tube doesn't tell you every thing you need to know, and specs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer with tubes of the same K rating. I would suspect that you would improve your results if you replace the 10,000K tubes with a couple of 6500Ks, or even 5000K (my preference) of the right type. The PUR values of the tubes will tell you more about the available light coming from your tubes. If you don't have the right wavelengths in the red and blue, plant growth will not be all it can be.

 

[Daveb82]

Thanks for the info. Only thing I know about is the k rating. I am thinking of switching out all four lights since I am not sure how great they are.
I will be buying four 48" 54 watt t5ho bulbs what types would you buy? Go 2 and 2 or get all 4 different. What k rating. Not sure if you can recomend a brand over another? And how do I make sure it has good spectrum or intensity?
Thx

 

[aqua_chem]

Giesemann bulbs are a great brand and worth the investment. They have strong bands in the blue region, which will help bring out your reds. I would get 2 aquafloras and 2 middays.

Aquacave has affordable prices and good shipping for giesemann bulbs.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Agreed. That's the configuration I use. One each in my 2 bulb fixtures, 2 each (staggered) in my 4 bulb fixtures. I also get mine from aquacave... they have the best prices and cheapest shipping I've found so far.

 

[Daveb82]

Ok thx. I will look into that site, hopfully they deliver to Canada. Do you know if coralife or zoo med make a good bulb? My lfs can get stuff from Big Als Pets Canada in two days and it looks like those are the brands they carry. I'll still look into other site

 

[Daveb82]

So they will ship to Canada so I think I'll order from them. I read some review and did some research. Looks like the Giesemann midday are a great choice. Now for second bulb trying to decide between giesemann aqua flora or aqua medic plant grow bulbs. What would you say are better? Or do one of each?

 

[mfdrookie516]

I only have experience with giesemann, so my opinion may be biased, but once I put half aquaflora and half midday over my planted tanks, the results were amazing. The aquaflora has, arguably, the best spectrum for plant growth.

 

[Daveb82]

I wrote Aquacave a few days back to see if they would ship the bulbs to Canada. I have yet to get a response which makes me doubt going with them. are any of the zoo med or coralife bulbs a good combo for plants? mainly red colored ones.

 

[aqua_chem]

I know some zoomeds have decent blue range emission. I think the aquafloras are the ones I'm thinking of.... I'll check the box I have upstairs later.