help save my r. macrandra!!

[danepatrick]

1/4 tsp KNO3 3x a week

1/8 tsp PO4 3x a week

50% wc once a week.

116 watts over a 38g tank. 3 wpg.

any other specs needed?

[ringram]

Well I'm growing a couple stems of it that are doing well in my 20g tank. Here are my specs:
1/4 - 3/8 tsp KNo3, 3x week
1/4 tsp KH2Po4
50-60% wc once a week, sometimes after 4-5 days
110 wpg / 20H tank = 5.5wpg

ph~ 6.4
KH/GH ~ 5

[Aquaspot World]

Assuming that you add CO2, you also need to dose micros like Iron (Fe) each week.

[danepatrick]

i guess i forgot to mention i dose CSM+B 3x a week as well.

[kotoeloncat]

the internodes looks a little long, what kind of lighting you using wattage alone isnt always the answer and do you use co2 ?

[Overfloater]

How is your water hardness.. specifically alkalinity? CO2? I find this plant does well with tons of light and really requires CO2 to grow at all.

Your picture looks like a plant that is not getting enough light. Mine looks just like that when it gets shaded even a bit.

[danepatrick]

water is kind of hard. 11 degrees kH. pH is at 6.4 while in the day. co2 is almost 4BPS. i'm going to up my CSM+B to 5ml 3x week instead of 2ml. that's 9ml more a week. almost two whole capfuls. might not seem like a big increase, but i guess it is.

[defdac]

Those look like curly/crinky new growth (calcium deficiency) and the loss of pigment (green streaks) looks an awful lot like this:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ge...t-trouble.html

Burned/curled leaves - tips on how to improve the condition - Aquatic Plant Central- aquascaping...a living art

leaves are growing curled - Aquatic Plant Central- aquascaping...a living art

Which deficiency? (pics included) - Aquatic Plant Central- aquascaping...a living art

(The two last speculates about established root system.. )

[medicineman]

I used to keep rotala macrandra (quite lots of them) in my previous setup.
Medium-hard water (kH, gH above 8). 260 gallon tank with metal halide and PMDD EI ferts. Back then my dosing regime was not good and unbalanced due to trial and error, but for sure the plant grows fast and cuttings turned into towering mass of 70cm tall.

I also have another tank to compare to. Almost same size and spec. The plant is not doing as good.

One thing I observe is that they love better some current and lots of CO2. In the tank which I use both CO2 diffusion and micro bubbles alike shows better result.

I've never been growing perfect macrandras though. It is one of those difficult plants.

[fresh_lynny]

Originally Posted by danepatrick

water is kind of hard. 11 degrees kH. pH is at 6.4 while in the day. co2 is almost 4BPS. i'm going to up my CSM+B to 5ml 3x week instead of 2ml. that's 9ml more a week. almost two whole capfuls. might not seem like a big increase, but i guess it is.

Dane, If those are from mine, mine do very well, but I have a KH of 1. I am not sure if that makes that much of a difference, but mine is deep red and grows like a weed. I hav metal halides and does micro/macros and pressurized CO2.

[Overfloater]

I still think it's insufficient light. Look at that plant... that's not a minor deficiency, it's a major problem. Also the alkalinity of your water is too high for this plant to work IMO.

I know plenty of people will say that they have grown this plant with 2 WPG NO and it was deep red but IME, even under almost 5WPG if it becomes even slightly shaded the leaves become light green and then start to dissolve.

Is there anyway you can get more light onto it?

[danepatrick]

lynn - yes, it is from yours. sorry that i have not made you proud.

i'm not sure as to why it looks like this. it isn't shaded. it's in the back of the tank, but is directly under light. i thought that could be seen from the photo. guess not. take a look at my journal and you can see where it is. i guess i could try moving it to a different area but i'm thinking about totally changing it out for another red specie.

[fresh_lynny]

how much light do you have over that puppy?
I am not worried about you not doing me proud...I see other stuff in there doing well. Maybe you can try a Ludwigia glandulosa in its place?

[Anthony]

My guess would be lack of light, or stress from uprooting the plant. The bottom shaded parts of my stems look like that, and the whole stem will also look like that after I have uprooted it. Macrandra IME seems to do MUCH better when the roots are left undisturbed.

[danepatrick]

Originally Posted by fresh_newby

how much light do you have over that puppy?
I am not worries about you not doing me proud...I see other stuff in there doing well. Maybe you can try a Ludwigia glandulosa in its place?

3.05 wpg to be exact. i don't understand why it looks like that. i did really well with it before, but lately, it's been discouraging me. yea, i thought about the glandulosa. it looks a bit like the red temple, and i wanted something a little different looking as i have some on the other side of my roundfolia.

Originally Posted by Anthony

My guess would be lack of light, or stress from uprooting the plant. The bottom shaded parts of my stems look like that, and the whole stem will also look like that after I have uprooted it. Macrandra IME seems to do MUCH better when the roots are left undisturbed.

i haven't uprooted the stems since the first time i've planted them.