R. Macrandra Help

[daniel deacu]

hy. last days i have some problems with Rotala Macrandra and R Macrandra narrow leaf. problems is that the old leaves get some sort of green . or it gets green spots. I increased the magnesium dose in the idea that there might be a deficit.

i increase dosage of ferts but no result,the plant grow well, with colored leaves even at the level of the substrate, then the old leaves are turning green , my other red plants are doing fine, like Ludwigia R. Rubin, Ludwigia sp. super red, limnophilla belem, etc... no stunted growth, nothing wrong... just the Macrandras... water test:
NO3 - 30ppm
PO4 - 8ppm
NO2- 0
Mg - 20ppm
Ca - 70ppm
K - 25ppm or more
Fe - 0.4ppm
KH - 2
GH- 12
CO2 - green-yellow maximum, somewhere at 50mg
PH - 6.5
lights 7h / day with T5 HO tubes . cca . 70lumens per liter
TDS - 521 ppm

today after i've made a WC of 40% my plants was pearling like crazy

 

[Phishless]

Macrandra & magenta(narrow) are light hogs.
What PAR levels are on them?

 

[Allwissend]

Give them more space, flow and CO2. They look like they are squeezed between the other stems. Try and put one R. macrandra stem where it is not crowded on any sides. See if you get the same spotting on this stem.

 

[daniel deacu]

i already done this. i have three threads in full light. open space. the new growth are fine but as the plant grows, the aging leaves get the green color it may be the TDS value? maybe to high? after WC i have 521 ppm on my TDSmeter.

i don't have a PAR Meter. my light bulbs are:
3 T5HO 865 Osram. 54W . 6500K
3 T5HO 830 Osram 39W 3000k
4 T5HO 865 Osram 39W 6500k
2 Giesmann Aquaflora 39W
1 Sylvania Grolux 54W
aquarium is 640 liters gross, when I dose the fertilizer I also take into account the amount of water in the sump.

for CO2 distribution , i use 3 powerheads in aquarium and to dissolve CO2 i use a Reactor in my sump. (is the aquarium from my jurnal)


thanks in advance for your help

 

[skija]

You say your PH is 6.5, but how much is your ph with fully degassed tank?

 

[Allwissend]

i already done this. i have three threads in full light. open space. the new growth are fine but as the plant grows, the aging leaves get the green color it may be the TDS value? maybe to high? after WC i have 521 ppm on my TDSmeter.

i don't have a PAR Meter. my light bulbs are:
3 T5HO 865 Osram. 54W . 6500K
3 T5HO 830 Osram 39W 3000k
4 T5HO 865 Osram 39W 6500k
2 Giesmann Aquaflora 39W
1 Sylvania Grolux 54W
aquarium is 640 liters gross, when I dose the fertilizer I also take into account the amount of water in the sump.

for CO2 distribution , i use 3 powerheads in aquarium and to dissolve CO2 i use a Reactor in my sump. (is the aquarium from my jurnal)


thanks in advance for your help

That is a good spoonful of light. Do they have individual reflectors ?

Once the plant grows do you prevent branching ? Try to have it like single straight stem and see what happens. What happened to me in past aquascapes is that once the plant got crowded it started getting green lower. I don't know about such high TDS, but Rotala macrandra can grow in both high and low KH/GH.

Another questions would be, does the whole leaf get green? Does it maintain integrity of does it melt ?

 

[daniel deacu]

@Allwissend
i have a single reflector for all of my bulbs, i think i've got a lot of light... i don't know what PAR i have, i have no measure device.
the leaves are only partially green, mostly those that are covered by branches, i have added light over to the plant. to watch the effects in the coming days. does not melt and preserves its shape, I can say that besides being partially green, the leaf is healthy
I took a thread and put it in the full light, unclouded and with a lot of current from one power head, it shows 2 or 3 leaves with tha same spots, but the new branches are fully coloured and grow very fast. in other words, the thread is healthy...

it may be the lights, not enough??!! or some sort of element from ferts that i use and is missing??

@skija
i never test fully degassed water for PH, but, my morning measure of PH give me a 6.8 PH with no CO2 added. in the evening i have PH 6 after adding CO2 almost all day long maybe for 10 hours.... and my drop checker stay yellow-green(50mg/l) about another 2-3 hours after i stop addition , if I take into account that the drop checker it indicates 50mg/l and my rich O2 water , because my fish are ok, i think i have enough CO2... my tap water have a PH of 7.4

thanks!!!
thank you both!!

 

[Allwissend]

I also think you have lots of light. The leaf remaining intact is a good sign and similar to what happened to my plants. Let's see how the plant does in the coming days, but I honestly cannot say it is one thing or another. It might just as well be some mobile micronutrient needed to produce the red pigmentation that needs to be recycled. Needs to be tested in a experiment -control setup to be sure.

Keep us updated.

 

[daniel deacu]

I increased the magnesium concentration in my macro fertilizer, I lowered the NO3 and K levels from the aquarium, by not fertilizing for a few days. Let's see what it will be like

 

[skija]

In the first post you are saying "today after i've made a WC of 40% my plants was pearling like crazy"

Are your plants pearling without water change ?

 

[daniel deacu]

sometimes yes , somtimes they don't .... this is that crazy pearling.

 

[skija]

Can't see the video but if you say sometimes they pearl sometimes they don't, then i think you have a co2 issue, try to increase a bit co2

 

[daniel deacu]

this is the colour of my drop checker, this is how it look when the lights go on. i already ordered a few days ago another CO2 difuser, i will try this too. thx a lot!! i'll try to exclude all the negative posibilities

 

[daniel deacu]

and the colour go to yellow, in the photo is the colour when the lights go off

 

[skija]

I saw the video now , co2 seems to be in good shape , what's happening if you trim the plants and replant the stems ? are they growing ok ?

 

[daniel deacu]

yes, the tops, if i planted them, grow up very nice. this is one of them . that is the only leaf that turn slightly green and ...
from almost the same day that macrandra gained those green leaves, senegalensis, behind that thread, the lower leaves became dark

 

[daniel deacu]

I increased the potassium(30ppm) and magnesium(25ppm) levels in the aquarium, the new growth are ok, with no green spots. however, how much can I grow potassium level. without creating aquarium imbalances?

 

[skija]

If you have GSA than this is a sigh you have too much light or not enough co2 , you say in the first post u dose 8 ppm PO4 , so this is not PO4 deficiency

 

[daniel deacu]

no GSA, no GDA, no other algae , just some litlle spots of BBA on some wood that i take it from local park...and i put some moss( fissidens fontanus) .. but is not a problem. the wood is very small, some 10 by 10cm... Macrandra is growing nice. the thread that i put it in full light is growing healthier. now, only the Ludwigia Senegalensis show on the old leaves a dark color...and i put a few threads of Rotala Sunset from a friend in aquarium....

my question now is: how much potassium i can add? or how much can I increase the level of potassium in the aquarium? without create imbalance or some other nutrients deficiency?

 

[Christophe]

my question now is: how much potassium i can add? or how much can I increase the level of potassium in the aquarium? without create imbalance or some other nutrients deficiency?

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I'd say what you're doing now looks good. Keep going as you are for at least a month, see how things go from here.