# Plant leaves turning red-ish



## Aggelos (Jul 25, 2016)

Hello there 
We just moved into a new house and - to our delight- it came with a really nice aquarium!
It's a 260lt tank equipped with two water filters, a UV water treatment and a CO2 system 
When we arrived it was overwhelmed by plants which we reduced, we cleaned both filters and, for a month or so everything looked just fine.
Last week though we noticed that some of the leaves turn red-ish 
Ph is normal 7,5
NO2 unknown 
I'm sending some photos of the plants 
Can anyone tell me what I should do?
Thanks


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Aggelos,

Welcome to APC!

It actually looks like you have several nutrient deficiencies going on in your tank. What fertilizers are you using and how much and how often are you dosing them?
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/members/aggelos.html


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## orichid (Jul 13, 2016)

looks like you need to do several wateral changes you have algae growing and I would start dossing with sea chem excel excellent algae remover also get some nerite snails from your local petco or pet smart wow what a nice find for your new home lucky you


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## Aggelos (Jul 25, 2016)

Hi there & thanks for the feedback.
I just changed the CO2 bottle, renewed one third of the tanks' water & started DENNERLEs' plant elixir-universal fertilizer, as suggested by my local pet/aquarium shop owner.
Do u think I should do otherwise?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Aggelos,

When reddish / purple pigment occurs in older leaves it is usually a sign of phosphorous deficiency...does the elixir contain phosphorus/phosphate?


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## Aggelos (Jul 25, 2016)

Hi there 
The Dennerle elixir contains NK3+13 fertilizer (& a total N of 0,02%), 
K2O 0,11%
0,02% magnesium 
0,14% sulfur 
0,025% Fe
0,01% Mn
B, Cu, Co, Mo, Zn, Al, Li, Ni & V

I started a weekly dose -the recommended by the manufacturer 

What do you think?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Aggelos,

I think I don't see any phosphorus or phosphate so it is unlikely to address the condition you were concerned about. I also see any minimal macro nutrients of N and K; looks like mostly trace elements.


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## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

The red I see in the pics is algae/cyano. Replacing your CO2 bottle will help your plants out-compete them, but there is more to the solution. 
Would you be able to provide a full tank shot and pictures of the equipment being used? This would answer a lot of questions we have very quickly, like planting density, how much light, etc. What is the dimensions of your tank?
As Seattle_Aquarist stated, the Dennerle product you purchased is not a complete fertilizer product. You might start by reading at least the first page of Estimative Index(EI) Dosing Guide since it sounds like there are a fair number of plants in the system and it likely doesn't have soil. You might look into Osmocote + capsules on Ebay too. EI dosing is very easy to do, you can modify it to your own preferences, and it's inexpensive.
The next part is lighting. If you take a picture of the fixture and bulbs, some of these questions will be answered. How many bulbs and how many watts? How many hours of day are they on? When were the bulbs last changed? In general, 8-10 hours of light is perfect for a planted aquarium. Bulb lifespan is different for planted aquariums than it is for normal human usage. Most bulbs need to be changed about once a year to keep light intensity and color shift changes to a minimum. Some fluorescent tubes loose 70% of their output in 12 months and all lighting gradually shifts to a yellow/green color as they stop producing red and blue. Of course red and blue are the favorites of plants, and yellow being favored by many alga and cyanobacteria.
Algae eating animals are also important, but I like to use them as my final stage. Fix what you can, then add them to clean up the scraps.
I hope this helps you get started. It might seem overwhelming at first, but we'll help you figure out a system that works for you, on your schedule.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Looks like Rhodophyta 2 to me.


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