Telanthera Cardinalis

[Aquastrategist]

Got this awesome pinkish red plant at petsmart today. There seems to be hardly any info about it, I just need to know how many watts per gallon. I have .6 per gallon now (not nearly enough) but I plan to upgrade. I have a 50 gallon tank but we really dont want something to crank up our electric bill. How many watts per gallon will it grow in?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Watts per gallon is not really used as a good judge of lighting nowadays. With the advent of better reflectors, T5HO's would produce more intense lighting than a T5NO with the same amount of power consumption. But if increase lighting is what you're after without hurting your electric bill, then LED's are the way to go. They're a little more upfront cost but they pay for themselves by not having to replace bulbs and by lower power consumption.

The Telanthera Cardinalis needs moderate lighting to thrive. Having a decent substrate, fertilizer dosing, and co2 (or liquid carbon) would also help. I don't have this particular plant, but I think it's like my Alternanthera reineckii (or related).. so I'm basing my advice related to that. I could be off target?

What is your substrate and other plants in the tank?

 

[Rivercats]

I just commented about the planting of this on your other thread.

This is the lighting you have listed on another thread... 2 18' Aqueon 15 watt lights (30 watts). This lighting is too low to support this plant and it won't keep it's red coloring.

 

[Aquastrategist]

Other planta in the tank are java moss java fern Argentine sword anubias and oak leaf watersprite. All are relatively new so they havent had a chance to rot yet. My substrate is a mix of white sand and gravel. What lighting should I have? I want to just buy a bulb or tube, not a whole new fixture. To my understanding, t8 is the size so the light must be a t8. What other specs should the lights have as far as watts and other stuff? (I sont know much about light) I have two 18 inch lights so I need two lights.

 

[Rivercats]

If you have a T8 24" bulb that is all you can use in that fixture. You can't put a higher wattage bulb in that fixture. IMO you need a better fixture like a T5HO 2 bulb fixture or LED's which I know nothing about.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I'd go with what Rivercats says. When you mentioned "upgrade" i thought whole new fixture like T5HO or LED's. Your other plants seem low light tolerant though, at least the sword and anubias. I'm not too familiar with T8 so I'm uncertain if two tubes can do much? Or even adding a second T8 to have 4 tubes.. Perhaps watts per gallon may apply in that context? I'd like to find out myself.. Sorry couldn't help. Good luck!

 

[Aquastrategist]

Couldn't I just unscrew my current bulb from my fixture then get 4 50 watt bulbs from home depot (1 on each side two fixtures) and as long as there t8 they will fit?

 

[Rivercats]

They don't make different watt bulbs for the same size fixture. So the only thing you can do is buy the same watt bulbs for the fixture you have. And I am pretty sure with these bulbs you can use the watts per gallon rule.

 

[Aquastrategist]

So if I want to grow my plants, I need to buy a new entire fixture? Any cheap but good ones you use or know of?

 

[Hholly]

Aqueon has a cheapish t5 ho unit on amazon.com

 

[Rivercats]

One thing tho is if you get a T5HO fixture that doesn't have a good reflector your still not going to get good light output. So before you buy anything you need to read customer reviews to see how well they are preforming.

 

[Aquastrategist]

Cardinalis isnt looking too good, a lot of white and brown. I'll follow rivercat's advice and spread them out, do they require root tabs or liquid fertilizer more?
I heard they are stem feeders but im getting root tabs for my swords who are root feeders. Would root tabs and medium light be enough for this plant to recover?

 

[Rivercats]

A root tab by them won't hurt. Spreading them out will help and better lighting will help also. They are also going to need ferts, either liquid or day. They don't look that bad so they should do fine if you correct the issues discussed.

 

[Aquastrategist]

Got some API root tabs and Seachem Flourish excel. Didn't get lights, want to do some more research before I spend that much money.

 

[aqua_chem]

Just so we're 100%, when you say Telanthera cardinalis, are you talking about Alternanthera reineckii? Google it and tell us if it's the same as what you have. Some stores seem to have issues getting names straight on plants.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Judging by the newer plants I see packaged by the gelled tube plants at Petsmart, I think it's really Telanthera... I searched online and found a picture of what I've seen there when I was surprised (last year) to find DHG (e. parvula) and micro swords (among others) now being offered at Petsmart.

I believe this to be the specimen in question (not my pic):

 

[aqua_chem]

Telanthera isn't actually a species of aquatic plants though. It's one of those fictional latin names that pops up once in a while.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Oh really.. Learned something new. I wonder why they labeled like that then? Is it really Alternanthera reineckii? I kinda thought it would be or looked very much like it. That was in the second post on this thread...

 

[aqua_chem]

But yea, there are a lot of latin misnomers running around the hobby. The 3 or so with Alternanthera reinkeckii are the most common, but you see some in other species as well. For example, ludwigia peruensis is actually ludwigia glandulosa.

EDIT: Ah, see what you were talking about in the second post.

 

[brennae]

I bought one of these boxed plants- same label, same plant it looks like. I didn't have enough light so it died. I get mad when they don't put the light requirements on the boxes/tubes and there is no info on the plants in the store. One time I bought El Nino Fern marked aquatic and got home to look it up and find out it was terrestrial. I took those suckers back the next day! Ah the price we pay for convenience of just going to the store instead of ordering online!

Good luck with your plant, I hope yours fairs better than mine did.