Myriophyllum tuberculatum

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Grafalski

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Do you guys have any experience with Myriophyllum tuberculatum (red)?
I got 2 bushes of this plant and it looks like it doesn't wanna grow. I planted it a week ago giving for 4 hours over 3 wpg, using EI method and still the plant is not growing. I'm not sure if I'd have to cut down on KNO3 in order to make it red but why my Myriophyllum tuberculatum is not growing...
 
Tom Barr

Tom Barr

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I think they use to call this M matogrossense "Red".
It's a fast growing plant with good CO2.

Never seemed too picky if you did that.
It will not grow if you do not address CO2 well.

High or low N have zero to do with it or it's coloration.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
G

Grafalski

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My Co2 level is good (green color in the drop checker + plants are pearling). I read this plant is pretty sensitive to micro dosing especially iron: " Without sufficient micronutrients, the stems of this species will become very dark and small, and in cases of extreme deficiency, the death of the meristem will result. When conditions are to its liking, M. tuberculatum will attain a maximum diameter of four inches and will turn to a rusty red color."
I use TMG in my 29 gallon tank 3xweek 5 ml. Not enough?
I don't why but I kinda always struggle with "red" plants. My red temple was also not growing and now this one is causing trouble.
 
VaughnH

VaughnH

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If I read your initial post correctly, you only have your lights on for 4 hours a day. If so, that isn't an adequate time. As I understand it plants need around 6-8 hours minimum lighting time per day. You can limit the very high light to only 4 hours a day, but you should have lower light for another 4 hours or so.
 
Tom Barr

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I like it when folks tell you the obvious, you need to add ferts or micros, of course you do.

Tell me something I do not know.
Red plants are not different than green plants other than color really as far as needs.
3x a week was plenty and what I added and the stuff grew are a break neck rate.

Are the Myrio's pearling?
Not the other plants.......they are not the sensitive ones........

You can always add more TMG if you wish, you might add a teaspoon of MgSO4 in the TMG bottle(say 1 teaspoon per 500mls).
Sometimes low Mg causes folks issues with some plants.

The rest at that point is really CO2.

So try dosing 4mls per 80 liters of tank 4-6 x a week.
This should be about 1.5-2x the max possible demand.
So if you still have the issue then(adding some Mg and more traces), then it's got to be CO2.

You can rule out nutrients easy.
CO2 is far more difficult to get a handle on.

That's why I test and explored the upper ranges that are non limiting rather than tweaking the edge of the bare lean minimums, you cannot know what is really going on when you go too lean and see issues with plants.

I'm not sure your light routine, but 10 hours ought to do.



Regards,
Tom Barr
 
G

Grafalski

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My light routine is 10 hours. Only for 4 hours I have my second PC bulb on and that's why I get over 3 WPG at this time. The rest of this is 65 Watt.
I'll try to add more Co2 and play around with Mg.
I use 25% of RO water in my tank and I add Greg Watson's GH booster.
My Gh is around 7. Maybe it's not enough Mg.
Tom. If I'd use MgSo4 with TMG should I give up Gh booster or just add less of it? Or maybe I should add more GH booster so I can hit Gh level let's say 9-10?
Do you think that might take care of possible Mg problem or still I'd have to add some extra Mg?
 
Tom Barr

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No, I do not think it's GH then if you add that much GH booster, enough to raise it 2 degrees, you have plenty of GH.

So now you are down to more TMG and CO2.

Light sounds fine.
Actually this should help if it's CO2(less light= less CO2 demand, but slower growth).

You can also try using lower light and seeing, vs the higher light.
I can do this over any range on all my tanks at home now.

Then you can see such issues fade away and manipulate the CO2, or the nutrients etc, which ever you chose to experiment with.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
G

Grafalski

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I'm going to increase my Gh to 8-9 anyway and I'll add 8ml of TMG 3xweek. Since mg deficiency prevents a plant from properly using iron so maybe inreasing Mg dosage will help my plant to use iron more efficiently.
I've already increased my Co2 and we'll see what happens.

I'm trying to put things together and I remember I started having some problem with plants after mixing my tap water with RO. It looks like something is missing in my tank water. The Gh in my tap water is high and in order to make it softer I started using RO. Maybe it's too much.
 
Tom Barr

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GH is 2 things, not just Ca or Mg.
RO might have removed enough Mg to cause an issue, hard to say.
But you can add some MgSO4 to the TMG (TMG has some Mg in there anyway FYI, but not a lot)

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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