Red Plants

[ricardo48]

How do you keep red plants red?

I have 3wpg of light and im EI dosing with 30ppm co2 and co2 misting.

Is it just case of dosing iron seperately or do i need to limit no3? Im scared to do this incase I get algae due to deficiency

 

[Etunes]

Usually it is from having really high lights, co2, etc. You usually have to have a high tech tank to keep them red.

 

[Blueiz]

to the previous post. What kind of plants do you have?

 

[timwag2001]

tom barr said that red in plants are usually a sign of stress or where new growth hasnt developed choroplast or something like that. i think that some plants benefit from some extra fe but other than that i think it's stress from lack of n.

i have a lot of plants that should have a bunch of red in them like rotala singapore, rotala wallichi, rotalla indica, pogostemon stellatus, broadleaf ludwigia, and alternanthera reneikii. they are in a 55g and i dose according to ei for a 60-80g tank. i have co2 that is over 30ppm. but my reds really dont pop out too much. i have recently increased fe dosing and the only plant that is showing any more red is my alternanthera

 

[timwag2001]

oh yeah. i also have 4wpg t5ho

so it's not just ferts, co2 and a ton of light

 

[ricardo48]

But how do you stress plants from lack of N03 and not cause a deficiency which brings on algae? Seems risky to slowly cut back my N dosing to get more red and then as side effect bring on algae

 

[gheitman]

What kind of plants do you have? Many will bring out the red by increasing the amount of iron that you dose while others may require changes in other nutrients.

How do you keep red plants red?

I have 3wpg of light and im EI dosing with 30ppm co2 and co2 misting.

Is it just case of dosing iron seperately or do i need to limit no3? Im scared to do this incase I get algae due to deficiency

 

[timwag2001]

measure your nitrates in your tank right before you do your weekly water change. lets say they are at 10ppm.
ok. now figure out how much you dose during the week. lets say you dose 7ppm 3 times a week. that would give you a total of 21ppm per week that is dosed.
now test again at the end of the week right before your water change. if it is around 10 ppm again then you know that you use a rough est of about 11ppm a week.

if you cut you're dosing by 50%you would be nearly bottoming out and i think would be a little risky. i would start by cutting back by about 25%. and watch carefully for signs of deficiency in your fast growing plants.

things arent gonna change overnight. cut your dosing and wait a couple weeks. keep testing your parameters. adjust accordingly.

remember that ei isnt an exact science. you're basicly just giving the plants more than they can use in a week so that you dont have to worry about bottoming out. you can adjust ei to whatever works best for you

 

[ricardo48]

Decided not to worry about it... too much risk.

The gains dont out weigh the potential risk involved