Rotala ?

[tinkerman]

Does anyone know if there is a trick to growing rotalla speices? I have had rotalla indica and now havRotala macrandra and the leaves are very small, the tops don't seem to grow. The rollal indica i had did the same thing for me also. Other wise I just don't think I will ever be able to grow this speices. Thanks for any help.

[Mellonman]

I sometimes had troubles with different Rotala species (macranda red and green, rotundifolia, sp. green...) : after weeks of fine plant growth, new leaves turned out to be very small and white instead of green (or pink instead of red), and old leaves were melting...

It doesn't seem to happen anymore since I increased my dosing or K and Mg...
... but I can't tell if your problem is the same...

[tinkerman]

I am dosing 2 tsp kno3, 3/4 tsp phosphate, 1 tsp plantex csm+ b, 1/4 tsp iron, and 2 tsp barr gh boster at water change, macro and micro's are alternating days. The tank is 125 gal with 4x 96 watt pc lighting for 9-10 hrs a day. All plants are growing very well except rotalla whallichii and Rotala macrandra. The rotalla whallichii I have had for close to a yr now and don't make any head way with as any new growth gets trimmed and replanted to replace the stuff that has been taken over by algea.

[Dave66]

Tinkerman,
Those Rotala species need copious amounts of light; more than 4 wpg full spectrum and as high a lumen rating as you can get. The macaranda needs iron fertilization to maintain its color, along with the very bright light.
The diminished leaf size, growth and color is primarily caused by lack of a suitable light level.
You haven't said anything about your substrate, but it needs to be fine and quite iron-rich for those species. Also, both plants like it warm, say 77 to the mid- 80's.

Dave

[KristinM85]

What is your substrate and are you injecting co2? IMO those would be limiting factors, as it seems you have alot of light and a good fert routine.

[tinkerman]

I have about 3 wpg on this 125 gal tank and have it posted on this site. I picked up some potassium today add will start adding it also. When I had rotalla indica it was in my old 29 gal that had 130 watts cf and diy co2. I still have alittle problems with fert dosing and have pressurized co2 now. I will start with the potassium and any other suggestions. Thanks for everyone's feed back.

[Joe Faria]

Hi,
I had Rotala's before and almost every week I had some trimming to do...

Most times I managed to have a layer of laterite in my substrate, very bright light (personally I use bulbs between 7000K and 10000K, sometimes higher) and lots of CO2 in water column.

Regards,

Joe Faria.

[blue33]

Basically Rotala's need alot of Nitrate, Iron, Calcium and Magnesium to make them grow well, also Potassium to make the plants open their mouth to consume. More lighting, it does help but you need alot of nutrients to supplement them, more light you have, you'll see more obvious sign of deficiency symptoms of your plants as it need more nutrients to catch up with. 3-3.5wpg is good enough. Actually rotala's species need little light it still can grow well, is the balance of nutrients and condition that you provide them.


Cheers

[tinkerman]

Well I finally got my rotalla macrandra to start growing and my rotalla wallichii is doing alot better. I added 2 more 36 watt cf and 2 36 in reg flourecents with the 4 96 watt cf and upped potassium to 3 tsp by 3 times a week.