dinesh

HI their
I wanted to know how can we get red plants to look more red any particular dosing cycle if please explain how to go about it.looking foward.

Regards,
Dinesh.

gheitman

It depends on the species of plants that you are talking about. For instance, some crypts will look more red if you regularly dose them with iron. Others may also require phosphorus dosing or more CO2. I suggest you look up the species you have in the PlantFinder to see what comments there are.

dinesh

Thank You for Ur reply im looking for red plants like rotala macaranda.

Regards,
Dinesh

dinesh

What is the EI method can some explain.


Regards,
Dinesh

jeff5614

Dinesh, I think this thread explains it much better than I can.

http://www.barrreport.com/estimative...chy-folks.html

gheitman

You can learn more about growing that plant in the PlantFinder at http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...us&spec=Rotala.

As it says there, low NO3 levels coupled with high PO4 will lead to compact, bright red growth. I don't have any personal experience with this species but I'm sure some other members will chime in with their results.

jmhart

It took a good long while for me to get my reds to really go red.

Things that are important to red plants are high light, good levels of iron, and GH.

I does EI with Plantex, so I'm getting good iron there. I was running 208 watts of CFL 6500k lighting inside a DIY hood with white paint as the reflector. I also had absolutely no GH. I upgraded my light to 2x96w of power compact lighting with ah supply reflectors 1 10,000k, bulb and 1 Coralife Colormax-6500k bulb. I also raised my GH to 6 degrees.

Now, even my Blyxa Japonica is turning red, much less my L. aromatica and R. macrandra.

hoppycalif

One thing lights do affect is what you see. If your light bulbs produce very little in the red part of the spectrum you can't see much red even if it is there. Conversely, a bulb that produces a lot of red lets you really see the red that is there and it looks much more intensely red.

I always found that it takes high light to get plants which tend to be red to really be very red. You can best see this effect when your "red" plants are only red up near the top of the tank, where the light is much more intense.

dinesh

Thanks guys for suggetion.

Regards
Dinesh