caring for rotala rotundifolia

[starlord]

I've got a Hygrophila costata with this crazy pinkish-red color at the base of the leaves - never seen it before, and I'm giving the extra iron the credit. My Alternanthera and Ludwigia are also looking way more vibrant with the iron boost.

[mattify]

"Looks great, had to trim my rotala tonight during water change, it's literally grown 3 inches this week since adding extra iron"

[mattify]

@starlord hi again, been upping my iron dose, now at 5ml and I've noticed my water has turned a bit cloudy, not really cloudy but you can see the difference, it's a white/blueish colour that fades throughout the day. I'm thinking maybe I'm adding too much or is it just an imbalance since I'm not adjusting my other ferts?

I had something similar before, @sSjey thought it was a bacterial bloom, I overfed my tank one day and that was the cause, but that was a while ago.

[starlord]

Is it the bloom or the iron causing the cloudy water? If it's the iron, I'd reduce the daily dose. Had the same issue, water wasn't crystal clear. Stopped iron for three days, cleared up. Fish were fine. Now I add a third of what I used to, and my swords are thriving, deep colors and all.

[mattify]

I'm thinking its the iron that's causing the cloudy water, nothing else has changed and the extra iron has really kicked the plants into gear. I'm guessing I just need to drop the iron ml, I'm dosing 4 out of 6 days with ferts, Sunday is maintenance day. I had a slight bloom yesterday but the other days were fine, so I'm thinking maybe just ease off the iron a bit and try to balance it out. Is the bloom caused by too much iron?

[starlord]

I'm guessing you were overloading the system with iron, more than the plants could handle. I've worked with plants, in horticulture, and I've never seen iron do what it does in aquariums, it's like magic. I think the chelation in the iron helps other nutrients get absorbed too, like manganese, so you're getting more bang for your buck.

[mattify]

Thanks for the advice, I'll dial it back and keep an eye on things, appreciate the help.

[mattify]

@starlord yesterday I dosed 3ml of iron and the water was fine, today I've done the same and there's a slight cloudy white colour to it. 3ml was my original dose before I started upping the iron, been following the same dosing schedule for 2 months now and it's only started doing this more regularly. I'll post my dosing schedule below if it's any help to you or anyone else.

[starlord]

When your plants catch up with the growth spurt, you can think about adding more iron. They seemed fine to me initially, but the extra iron has definitely given them a boost and now they're looking lush again.

[mattify]

I've been doing some reading online and I'm a bit worried I might be overstocked, but I've had the same stock since the start so I'm not sure that's the issue, the only thing that's changed recently is the filter, I swapped out the original aqua one that came with the tank, it had a really strong flow that I thought might be hindering plant growth, the plants were always arched over in the current, but yeah the extra iron has definitely given them a boost.