# Green small roots on my red root floaters!



## DD1880 (9 Aug 2019)

I was wondering why almost all the pics I see of red root floaters and the ones I bought them from at the lfs are longer and red compared to the ones in my tank? I’ve had them for a while and they grow and cover almost the whole top but the roots aren’t red or the tops. And the tops don’t have the bubbled look. They are almost flat and green. I dose Nilocg thrive all in one fert 3 times a week. I have a Chihiros rgb 60 set at 47% as of today and am slowly raising it to try and avoid algae even though I still get it on the glass haha! Any ideas on why the roots are so small and green even though they are growing and I toss a few when I do water changes cause they start stacking!? Thank you for any help cause the whole reason I got them was for the cool looking red roots!


----------



## DeepMetropolis (9 Aug 2019)

The roots are always small, they get red only under really high light.. At me they only color a bit orange direct under the light spot.. Place some in a cup outside in the sun you will see that they get red.


----------



## DD1880 (9 Aug 2019)

DeepMetropolis said:


> The roots are always small, they get red only under really high light.. At me they only color a bit orange direct under the light spot.. Place some in a cup outside in the sun you will see that they get red.


Thanks! Was just wondering cause the ones at my lfs that I got them from the roots are 3 times as long and the tops are pinkish red! Maybe mine just need more time? I think they are using a fluval 2.0 or 3.0 and the light is directly on them. What light do you use and what ferts and how often do you dose? Thank you for the info.


----------



## DeepMetropolis (9 Aug 2019)

I dose my own mix made of salts.. Just macros weekly at water change day and micros every day. It is based on Estimative-index. The lights are aquamedic qube plant. I use them at 80% at +-20cm from the surface..


----------



## dw1305 (9 Aug 2019)

Hi all, 





DD1880 said:


> the ones at my lfs that I got them from the roots are 3 times as long and the tops are pinkish red!


It might be a nutrient, as well <"as light">, effect.

Floating plants with a large root to leaf ratio have usually grown in a fairly low nutrient environment. The plant can <"choose" where they allocate growth"> ("biomass partitioning"). If the plant puts a large proportion of its biomass into root growth it is usually in a low nutrient environment.

There won't be any research of _Phyllanthus, _but there is some on Duckweed (_Lemna minor) _which shows that phosphate levels and root length are inversely related.

Same applies with nitrogen, <"plants grown in a lower nitrogen environment"> will have less less chlorophyll content and this will allow other pigments (like anthocyanins) to show through.

This is why deciduous tree leaves turn red in the autumn, the plant withdraws the chlorophyll from the leaf and the, previously masked, red pigments then show up.

cheers Darrel


----------



## DD1880 (9 Aug 2019)

DeepMetropolis said:


> I dose my own mix made of salts.. Just macros weekly at water change day and micros every day. It is based on Estimative-index. The lights are aquamedic qube plant. I use them at 80% at +-20cm from the surface..


Thank you. This is how they looked when I first got them.


----------



## DD1880 (9 Aug 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, It might be a nutrient, as well <"as light">, effect.
> 
> Floating plants with a large root to leaf ratio have usually grown in a fairly low nutrient environment. The plant can <"choose" where they allocate growth"> ("biomass partitioning"). If the plant puts a large proportion of its biomass into root growth it is usually in a low nutrient environment.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info! That’s why I got on this forum! So what your saying is maybe I have to many nutrients in the water and that’s why they are green and don’t have longer red roots? I dose this 3 times a week! 3 pumps every 3 days then 2 pumps 2 days before my weekly water change! I have a big Java fern and Anubis also!


----------



## DeepMetropolis (10 Aug 2019)

No the length of the roots could be nutrients, the red color should be light. I have short roots also, here it grows like duckweed I have to scoop the half out every week.


----------



## dw1305 (10 Aug 2019)

Hi all,_


DeepMetropolis said:



			No the length of the roots could be nutrients, the red color should be light. I have short roots also, here it grows like duckweed I have to scoop the half out every week.
		
Click to expand...

_That would be my guess. 





DD1880 said:


> I have to many nutrients in the water and that’s why they are green and don’t have longer red roots? I dose this 3 times a week! 3 pumps every 3 days then 2 pumps 2 days before my weekly water change! I have a big Java fern and Anubis also!


 You could try less nutrients, both your Anubias (<"_Anubias barteri">)_ and Java fern (<"_Microsorum pteropus">_) don't have high nutrient requirements. I'd also investigate turning the LED intensity up. 

Ideally you want to change the parameters one at a time. I'd try higher light first, if you get 

Redder leaves, 
don't have an algae out-break, and
your other plants look OK.
I'd settle for that. If that remains the same for a couple of weeks, then I would have a go at dialing the nutrients back, again observing what happens.

cheers Darrel


----------



## DD1880 (10 Aug 2019)

DeepMetropolis said:


> No the length of the roots could be nutrients, the red color should be light. I have short roots also, here it grows like duckweed I have to scoop the half out every week.


Ok thanks!


----------



## DD1880 (10 Aug 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,That would be my guess.  You could try less nutrients, both your Anubias (<"_Anubias barteri">)_ and Java fern (<"_Microsorum pteropus">_) don't have high nutrient requirements. I'd also investigate turning the LED intensity up.
> 
> Ideally you want to change the parameters one at a time. I'd try higher light first, if you get
> 
> ...


Thank you. Yeah I have been raising the light slowly. When I raised the light 3% the other day I started to get some white film on the glass almost right away. Kinda frustrating! I’ve been trying to raise it 5% a week. 3% the day of a water change and 2% 4 days after the water change. The one time I got impatient I raised it from 35% to 50% I got this fine green hair like algae on my java fern and Anubis! I still have a little of it on some of the leaves and try to pull it off when I do water changes. Also some of the old leaves on my Java fern and Anubis have been turning yellow. The new growth though seems to be ok!


----------



## DD1880 (10 Aug 2019)

Also I really wanted that bubbled look on the tops at least. They seem very flat looking to me compared to how they looked when I got them. Any ideas on how to get that look back? I really appreciate answering all my questions! Thank you.


----------



## DeepMetropolis (16 Aug 2019)

I had a hanfull off floaters last waterchange, dropped them in a bowl outside just to see what happens, after three days the already showing some orange and it was mostly gray and rainy days..


----------



## DD1880 (16 Aug 2019)

DeepMetropolis said:


> I had a hanfull off floaters last waterchange, dropped them in a bowl outside just to see what happens, after three days the already showing some orange and it was mostly gray and rainy days..


I really want that color and bubbled look in my tank! And the red roots!


----------



## DeepMetropolis (24 Aug 2019)

Here is the result so far of having daylight they where flat and green also..


----------



## DeepMetropolis (14 Sep 2019)

In tank vs out door comparisons..


----------



## sovrappensiero (12 Mar 2021)

This thread is really old...but I found it while searching for posts about the same problem the original poster has.  I just wanted to add that I actually did put a handful of my red root floaters in a bucket of tank water outside under the sun, and they DIDN'T turn red.  They've been out there for a month, and I bring the bucket in when the temps go under about 15 degrees C.  Mine also have very short, green roots. 

I'm not sure about my light because I made it myself (10 CREE XML RGBW's, 5 CREE XP-E2 10,000K, 5 CREE XP-E2 royal blues...running at about 50% because my heatsink isn't large enough to run at full power...which I had calculated but I didn't want to spring for the next size up and thought 50% would be "bright enough.")  I would say my light is medium or low-medium hanging about 18cm over my 60L tank.  My Ludwigia arcuata gets vibrant red at the tops but not lower, Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' and Hygrophila araguaia both are red, but Rotala macrandra 'Mini butterfly' gets orangey-red, big leaves at the tops but mostly struggles. 

Regarding nutrients, I usually run at 0.5-1.0 ppm phosphates, 10-40 ppm nitrates, 15-40 ppm potassium, and I think around 0.08 ppm iron.  It actually seems like some of my plants might be struggling for MORE nutrients (the stem plants grow roots from the middle, above the soil, older leaves of my H. araguaia sometimes melt off, and new leaves seem to grow in smaller.  The plants growing like gangbusters are Hydrocotyle types and the Hygrophila pinnatifidia (which is mostly green...again making me believe my light intensity is more low-medium).

I'm just adding this in case it's helpful for someone else.  I don't know whether it's possible that there is a "green" version of red root floaters floating around the hobby (see what I did there? ha), but mine even when left in the sun in tank water do not get red.  I will test it during the summer when the sun is hotter for longer and see if there is any difference!


----------

