Red vallisneria leaves?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
K

kev82

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 7, 2005
169
0
0
42
Iceland
www.fishfiles.net
I recently (2 weeks) got a few vallisnerias and most of their leaves are red new. The plants seem to be reproducing like normally, but why are the leaves red?

The leaves kinda look like they're rotting too..
 
some species have a reddish tint to them but if they are rotting it maybe a reaction to the new tank but you have had them two weeks this processshould have been happening earlier than this
 
The red color happens in many plants when they are under an intense enough light, with enough lumens.
 
The light is pretty intense... 2 T5 bulbs... 54W if I remember correctly...

The amazon swords are loving it tho.. and the anubias (thought they didn't like this much light)... There's a little algae forming on them tho.


The vallisneria.. will they grow new leaves - new leaves that are fine with this amount of light or something like that?
 
Red val has red leaves and are alot harder to keep than say jungle val. The red val needs co2 unlike jungle val and it also needs more ferts and intense lights.
 
How big is the tank. Wattage is not a very good indicator of intensity. Unless your bulbs are HO T5, the wattage should be cut down by half in order to get a good idea of what you could consider the wpg rating. Anubias can withstand low light, but will do well in any lighting. Mine are under 715 watts of compact florescent lighting. The vals will grow new leaves.
 
This is not a red vallisneria breed - the leaves are supposed to be red :)

It's a HO T5, 2x54w (2.5 watts per gallon or so)

I don't have CO2 in the tank - It was supposed to be just a lightly planted aquarium with no special plant stuff except the lighting :)
 
Ah so each bulb is a 54W HO. Then yes, that is the cause of the red coloration. HO T5 bulbs are very impressive.
 
I was going to have this tank for saltwater but didn't want to bother with all the hassle so I just got freshwater bulbs and such :)

What plants would you recommend for me? The pH is around 6.5, water is soft, no extra co2, a little iron every now and then. Any hints? :)
 
Well what size is the tank? That will help quite a bit with the types of plants. Have you considered DIY CO2? It is very cheap, and will work decent enough for many plants. Another option is seachem's excel. If your tank is fairly large, many of the 'swords' will do quite well. Anubias are always a good choice, as well as cryptocorynes, aponogetons, vallisneria, sagittarias, possibly ludwigia, and bacopa species as well. What kind of filtration are you running on the tank? Check here to find out several basics. I would definitely consider using Greg Watson ferts on the tank, as they are cheap, and will last a very long time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom