Do I need to add iron for red plants to supplement Thrive?

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

jonatheber

New Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
50
Reaction score
5
Location
Philadelphia PA
I have green and red plants in a high tech tank. I use seachem root tabs and Thrive all-in-one from Niloc-G. The plants are "happy" and are growing. My concern is that the red pants to have new growth coming in green (picture #1), or ALL of the growth of the rotala rotundifolia picture #2 I put in a week ago and has doubled in size is green.

Do I need to do anything other than what I'm doing below to get them red? Add iron to supplement the Thrive? More light?

Some particulars of the tank:
46g bowfront
CO2 pushed so the dropper is middle green (no yellow)
Fluval 3.0 light on at 75% brightness for 6 hours a day (mostly to control the hair algae that has been a problem for me)
Thrive 5 sprays 2x a week.
Weekly water changes of 33% or so.
water parameters ok
pH around 7.6-7.8
FYI, the Thrive chemical composition is:
Total Nitrogen(N) 3.09%
Available Phosphate(P2O5) 1.58%
Soluble Potash(K2O) 10.4%
Magnesium(Mg) 0.32%
Calcium(Ca) 0.03%
Sulphur (S) 0.76%
Boron(B) 0.008%
Copper(Cu) 0.0002%
Iron(Fe) 0.65%
Manganese(Mn) 0.168%
Molybdenum(Mo) 0.0006%
Zinc(Zn) 0.0038%
 

Attachments

  • picture 1.jpg
    picture 1.jpg
    350.5 KB · Views: 30
  • picture 2.jpg
    picture 2.jpg
    406.8 KB · Views: 26
All red plants need iron supplements to stay red otherwise some may die or just go green...
 
Lighting is more important when it comes to trying to grow red plants that are traditionally green. The red pigmentation Is a defence mechanism from the plant when it is under very intense light to try and counteract the effects, it is a response to stress. Naturally the more light you add the more nutrients you will need to add also, so if you increase lighting intensity ensure you balance your CO2 and Ferts too.
 
Lighting is more important when it comes to trying to grow red plants that are traditionally green. The red pigmentation Is a defence mechanism from the plant when it is under very intense light to try and counteract the effects, it is a response to stress. Naturally the more light you add the more nutrients you will need to add also, so if you increase lighting intensity ensure you balance your CO2 and Ferts too.
Am I better off turning the light to a higher percentage (assuming I can keep the algae under control) or leaving it on for more hours in the day?
 
Thrive has enough iron for plants pigmentation. Red and green plants. Dosing more iron may do more harm than good. Its has always been a misconception that red plants need a lot of iron for it to be red. Not so. Lights that produce high par and strong in the red and blue spectrum will help get your plants redder. Unfortunately the Fluval 3.0 doesnt really have. Dont get me wrong, its still a good light fixture. I had them before. Plants grew well but red plants just wasnt as red. Also nitrate limitation assist in getting red plants redder.
 

Attachments

  • 20220411_060342.jpg
    20220411_060342.jpg
    258.6 KB · Views: 30

Most reactions

trending

Members online

Back
Top