Alternanthera reineckii not very red.

[Tobykourtney]

I have a 75 gallon with a 48" ray 2 and a dual T5HO aquaticlife fixture. I dose a modified ei to keep my nitrates and phosphates down to a somewhat reasonable amount and use root tabs on my scarlet temple and amazon swords. When I first bought these plants they were bright red and purple but over time they lost the bright colors. Can anyone tell me why they look so dull.





Phosphates:5ppm
Nitrates:40ppm
Ph:7.0
Ammonia:0

 

[Zimmanski]

Might want to keep your nitrates a little lower, but I'm not familiar with the EI method tbh. I know rivercats has had succes actually keeping lower nitrates and higher phosphates, but I don't know what her exact nitrate number is. Also something to remember, the ray 2 doesn't show off the red colors in plants very well as we see it. Your plants also look very young, as the grow the color will change especially if they were grown emersed when you bought them.

 

[Tobykourtney]

Might want to keep your nitrates a little lower, but I'm not familiar with the EI method tbh. I know rivercats has had succes actually keeping lower nitrates and higher phosphates, but I don't know what her exact nitrate number is. Also something to remember, the ray 2 doesn't show off the red colors in plants very well as we see it. Your plants also look very young, as the grow the color will change especially if they were grown emersed when you bought them.

The t5ho fixture with an aquaflora and midday are above the scarlet temple. I have the finnex ray 2 in the front. Hopefully rivercat pops in and throws her input on the phosphates and nitrates. The plant was one large plant and had roots everywhere so I split it up into more plants that's why they are so small.

 

[Rivercats]

I keep nitrates at 10ppm and phosphates between 5-10ppm (yes that high). Also when AR is lower in the tank, even in my very high light tank (but it's deep too), it is dull close to the bottom. As stated it sounds like yours was emersed form when got it which would explain the colors. AR has a duller more bronze-ish color on the leaf top but under the leaf color should be very bright. It should color up more as it gets closer to the light. But also as already stated if a light doesn't have a good red spectrum it doesn't show the red color in plants very well. Could you put the AquaFlora bulb in the middle with the LED in front of it and the Midday bulb behind it?

 

[Tobykourtney]

I keep nitrates at 10ppm and phosphates between 5-10ppm (yes that high). Also when AR is lower in the tank, even in my very high light tank (but it's deep too), it is dull close to the bottom. As stated it sounds like yours was emersed form when got it which would explain the colors. AR has a duller more bronze-ish color on the leaf top but under the leaf color should be very bright. It should color up more as it gets closer to the light. But also as already stated if a light doesn't have a good red spectrum it doesn't show the red color in plants very well. Could you put the AquaFlora bulb in the middle with the LED in front of it and the Midday bulb behind it?

The aquaflora is in the middle with the midday in the back and the finnex in the front . The bottoms of the leafs are purple if you look at the picture you can see the bottom of one of one of the leafs. It's good to hear that high phosphates won't cause problems because I rarely dose it because its usually around at 5 ppm. Do you think ill have problems with my nitrates being so high?

 

[Rivercats]

High nitrates make it harder for plants to color up and nitrates shouldn't be higher than 20ppm. Is your tap water adding nitrates or what is causing them to be so high if you even know. I think 5ppm is a good amount. I find the at that level even in high light you don't get spot algae even on slow growing plants. Plus phosphates are what plants use to make their color change, which the color is like a sunscreen for them and protects them from higher light. You have to have high enough light tho.

 

[Tobykourtney]

High nitrates make it harder for plants to color up and nitrates shouldn't be higher than 20ppm. Is your tap water adding nitrates or what is causing them to be so high if you even know. I think 5ppm is a good amount. I find the at that level even in high light you don't get spot algae even on slow growing plants. Plus phosphates are what plants use to make their color change, which the color is like a sunscreen for them and protects them from higher light. You have to have high enough light tho.

I'm trying to lower it slowly by cutting around half a gram off my dosing a week. I started ei dosing method when I added the finnex because with the increase in light pps pro wasn't cutting it anymore. Ei says to dose 4 grams every other day and I've cut down to 2 grams so far. I just don't want to cut to much out a have it bottom out. According to the par measurement people have been getting on the finnex and aquaticlife fixture I have around 100ish par so I think I would have high light.

 

[Rivercats]

I don't dose nitrates at all and my 220 and rarely in any of my tank and they all hang around 10ppm. I test weekly and don't worry about it bottoming out. You can stop dosing it until your tank level drops down. It won't bottom out overnight. Then see where you tank is going to run at naturally and then figure if you need to dose any and start at the lowest amount and go from there.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I don't dose nitrates at all and my 220 and rarely in any of my tank and they all hang around 10ppm. I test weekly and don't worry about it bottoming out. You can stop dosing it until your tank level drops down. It won't bottom out overnight. Then see where you tank is going to run at naturally and then figure if you need to dose any and start at the lowest amount and go from there.

Ill stop then I just figured it would drop quickly but you've been doing this for awhile and your advice is greatly appreciated. What test kit do you use for testing nitrates?

 

[Tobykourtney]

I don't dose nitrates at all and my 220 and rarely in any of my tank and they all hang around 10ppm. I test weekly and don't worry about it bottoming out. You can stop dosing it until your tank level drops down. It won't bottom out overnight. Then see where you tank is going to run at naturally and then figure if you need to dose any and start at the lowest amount and go from there.

I mean what brand of nitrate test kit do you use in particular. My wording on the previous post made me sound like an idiot.

 

[Rivercats]

I use API nitrate and phosphate tests.

 

[Tobykourtney]

High nitrates make it harder for plants to color up and nitrates shouldn't be higher than 20ppm. Is your tap water adding nitrates or what is causing them to be so high if you even know. I think 5ppm is a good amount. I find the at that level even in high light you don't get spot algae even on slow growing plants. Plus phosphates are what plants use to make their color change, which the color is like a sunscreen for them and protects them from higher light. You have to have high enough light tho.

I stopped dosing nitrate and decided to stop phosphates too to see where it balances out and after a week phosphates have swayed from 5-10 ppm and nitrates are steady at 20 ppm.

 

[Rivercats]

You need to get nitrates down to 10ppm if at all possible to get the best color.

 

[Tobykourtney]

You need to get nitrates down to 10ppm if at all possible to get the best color.

I'm doing a 50% w/c tomorrow so that should knock it down to 10 ppm then ill see if it goes back up after that.

 

[Tobykourtney]

You need to get nitrates down to 10ppm if at all possible to get the best color.

I have noticed a huge increase in pearling since I stopped dosing nitrates and phosphates. Usually my plants an hour before the lights go out. Now they pearl from an hour after the lights go on til they go out.

 

[mohican]

Mine have done well keeping the above low, but keeping a steady dosing of iron too. They're iron feeders too.

 

[Tobykourtney]

Mine have done well keeping the above low, but keeping a steady dosing of iron too. They're iron feeders too.

I've been dosing 1.5 grams of plantex every other day which is 7% iron. Is that enough?

 

[Rivercats]

While iron is needed it's actually phosphates that the plant uses to make the chemical change which allows it to color up which is actually the way plants protect themselves from higher light. I dose normal amounts of micro's 1ml per 10g water but keep my phosphates at 5-10ppm. Also lower nitrates also allows plants to color up better. That is why I keep mine at 10ppm. Since I have high light in the 220g and keep these nutrient levels I have incredible color. I also am running a 55g with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture with the same nutrient levels and those plants are coloring up almost as nicely as the ones in the 220g.

 

[Tobykourtney]

While iron is needed it's actually phosphates that the plant uses to make the chemical change which allows it to color up which is actually the way plants protect themselves from higher light. I dose normal amounts of micro's 1ml per 10g water but keep my phosphates at 5-10ppm. Also lower nitrates also allows plants to color up better. That is why I keep mine at 10ppm. Since I have high light in the 220g and keep these nutrient levels I have incredible color. I also am running a 55g with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture with the same nutrient levels and those plants are coloring up almost as nicely as the ones in the 220g.

I put some watersprite in the tank today in hopes of it bringing the nitrates down a bit.

 

[Rivercats]

That usually helps. What really works well is floating plants like small water lettuce, red rooters, duckweed (which I don't recommend because it is so messy) along with many others. Their root systems just suck nitrates right up.