How to turn my Rotala red?

[Matts Tanks]

So I have a 55 gallon tank with a Coralife T5 HO quad fixture, with a Co2 system! I bought a few bunches on Rotala Rotundifolia at my LFS about a year ago and it has grown quite large and spread. But it has turned from a beautiful Reddish Orange, to totally green. I've been dosing 5ml of Iron once a week, but that hasn't really been helping, so just wasn't sure what you would do to fix that problem!! I would really appreciate the help!!!



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[Ziggy953]

I'm not an expert by any stretch but I have a similar plant. From what I can tell it requires a good bit of strong light to keep the red or in my case pink leaves. I don't know much about the light you have on your tank, I custom built LED lighting for both of my tanks.

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by Ziggy953

I'm not an expert by any stretch but I have a similar plant. From what I can tell it requires a good bit of strong light to keep the red or in my case pink leaves. I don't know much about the light you have on your tank, I custom built LED lighting for both of my tanks.

+1. Pretty intense light will help with the red coloration. I have Rotala colorata and Rotala roundifolia and only the stems near the surface become pinkish peach. This is under a Finnex Planted+.
Rotala macrandra is reddish pink to start with in case you are looking for red plants.


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[Matts Tanks]

The very top of the plant is red but that's it


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