[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Making red plants really red



>From: "A. Inniss" <andrewi at u_washington.edu>

 I remember speculating, some time
>back, that _blue_ light was used more by red plants. 

My simplistic
>reasoning at the time was that red plants reflected more of the red end of
>the spectrum, so therefore they must use more of the blue spectrum. 

This speculation fits with my current experience with the collected
Ludwigia (now properly identified as L.repens). In the outdoor tank, it
gets morning sun which is a red light. The plant lost its red color. In the
tank with Triton/GrowLux mix... probably less intensity.... there is
proportionally more blue to its red... all the plants are a brilliant red.
[this is my "red" tank. It has Ludwegia species, E. horemanii-red, Ammania
senagalensis, Rotala macrandra, and a few green plants for balance <g>.
{anyone have any Eustralis stella for trade??)

Another supporting piece of evidence is that another interesting collected
plant - Gratiola ramonsa - has become very leggy (long internode distance)
in the patio tank. Another 'possible' indication of insufficient of blue.


 I had
>attributed the redness to the blueness of the light, but that was before I
>knew about anthocyanins, and before I'd read about Neil's Rotala
>macrandra, which was maroon in a 70 gal w/ a mere 80watts of light.

My 80 watts are a triton and gro-lux. Same light as the other tank above.
The macrandra is very similar!

Incidentally, I recently increased my carbonate and calcium/magnesium
hardness with crushed coral in filter and plants seem to love it.... no
change in colors.... only problem is the horemanii leaves are getting large
again (Ca was probably too low). The hardness does not seem to have
affected the colors... but remember, I am colorblind. :-)


From another message
>
>>George B:.  
>
>We boost both our GH and KH to 5 degrees (about 100 ppm for the math
challenged). 

George: what is your preference for expressing general or carbonate
hardness in ppm. Calcium, calcium carbonate, or ?

NF