red growth

[numbr_9]

My show tank is 29 gallons and heavily planted. (www.reggiesaquaria.com for pictures) While most of the plants are doing pretty well, I'm having two problems.

The first one is that I'm having trouble getting very red growth, specifically out of my Ammannia Gracilis. It is a light pink, and doesn't turn red until it gets right to the surface.

The other problem is that I am continually getting bba on my rocks and old leaves of the crypts, hairgrass, bolbitis, and lobelia cardinalis. I'm also getting a very sparse green fuzzy algae on many of the healthy leaves of the other plants; this algae isn't unsightly, but I always feel like i'm right on the edge of a huge outbreak.

Are these problems inter-connected? I have 2x55 w cf lighting, dose appx 3/8 tsp KNO3, 7 ml plantex, and a little less than 1/4 tsp KH2PO4 3x weekly. Pressurized CO2 @ 3-4 bubbles per second.

I've been nudging the CO2 up and manually removing all algae a couple times a week. What am I missing???

thanks,
Reggie

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: red growth

Low NO3 will produce reds but it can stunt your tips. Less light allows you to maintain a lower NO3 level without deficiencies much easier. It can help to have a good fish load that you feed consistently also for N supply and back off the KNO3 dosing. Most people that have high light tend to roast their plants at some point doing this.


You definitely need more CO2. 1/8 teaspoon on the KH2PO4.

That's all fine, the CO2 is not. Add more till the BBA stops growing.

If you want, you can back off the KNO3 dosing amounts, notn the frequency and lower it down to bring out the reds more.

Regards,

Tom Barr