A whole new scape!

After months of on & off taking care my tank, now it looks better. In between has problems arisen, such as lack of Ferrum(iron), Calcium and etc.  For Iron deficiency is pretty easy to spot on the young leaves turns to white with green veins, just dose with liquid iron or iron pallet push in the soil. 

And Calcium is a bit hard to tell how much to dose in a week, because plant does not need so much to grow, but for snail use it as building the shell for its protective layer. I did an experiment on stop supplying Calcium for a week or 2, then immediate all the shell of snail turns to white(shell detoriation), the following week onwards keep supplying Calcium, then the shell started build a shining and transparent healthy layer. In this small experiment tells that Calcium is important to keep snail in a healthy condition in the tank. So far each week dosing 1 teaspoon of Calcium Chloride in my 122 litres tank without any problems. Read more about Calcium Chloride at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_Chloride

Tested JBL Ferropol

Tested the JBL Ferropol fertilizer to find out how much Iron in it. The result as seen in the photo, the test value is over 1.0ppm(mg/l).

Testing done by mixing 5ml aquarium water (0ppm Iron) with chemical solution and add 1ml of Ferropol in the test tube. This shows that JBL Ferropol is providing sufficient Iron for the plants.

Why red plants aren't red, always turned into green?

After failing to keep the Ludwigia in my tank, there are many questions floating in my mind. Did alot of searching on internet to know how to plant it and why it happened. Many forumers also complain about the red aqua plant that it is kind of difficult to keep, always turning green from red, no matter how much irons added into the tank. Actually the main reason is that different light demands from the red plant and the green plant, therefore when most of the green plant grows healthily, the red plant always turned into green. Thus confirming that both plant's light innate nature demand are different.

Green leaf absorbs red and blue light in spectrum and red leaf needs blue and green light, this is because red plant has anthocyanin in the leaf. They are actually reproached outside the B chlorophyll; therefore the red plants looked red. If you place the red leaf in hot water, the anthocyanin will then be able to dissolve in hot water, causing red color turning into green.

The secret of how to make the red color plant look gorgeous:
1. Extend the illumination period,
2. Increase the light intensity and carbon dioxide densities,
3. Make sure water is in low PH value and low temperature.If the above conditions are obtainable, then planting a red plant is not actually that difficult.

Regardless of green or red plants, both has iron in it, but is only in a micro substance (standard content is approximately 0.076ppm). Iron is important to many kind of enzymes, in the aqua plant, it is extremely important to oxidation reduction catalyst, like the carbohydrates oxidized nitric acid and sulfate return to original state, it has the close relationship with the iron.

On the other hand, oxygen produced during photosynthes is also depends on the iron albuminate-the organic compound, when lacked of iron, plants will then go into etiolation stage, and if condition worsen it may cause the plant to necrosis. Ferrous iron ion (Fe2+) is the most valuable ion in aqua plants, when the water chemistry changed from neutral to alkaline (i.e. when the PH value was equal to 7 or above), the iron can precipitate and becomes non-dissolved iron, this is the reason why PH value is preferred at the low level. Thus, from the above theory, no matter red or green plants, Iron (Fe) is an indispensable trace element.