Pepere Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 (edited) I have not had any success trying to get Scarlet temple established in my tanks. three attempts from 3 different vendors so I know it is me…. water temp around 74-78 depending on ambient heat load this summer, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate kept between 20-40, not at 40 very often at all. Co2 30ppm. Gh, kh, 3 degrees. light period 8 hours a day split in to 2 periods, morning and afternoon. mesh bags of aquasoil under the gravel. Easy green twice a week, easy iron 2 a week, easy carbon daily currently trying to get algae under control. Hoping to taper off… the Scarlet Temple has struggled even when not dosing easy carbon… I have been fighting hair Algae in the tanks and these do seem the worse for it. Top of leaves has a greenish mottled cast with hair algae growing around the edges of the leaves. If it wasnt such a pretty plant with the under leaf color I would move on to something else….. the rest of the plant life is generally thriving, vals, crypts, hornwort, wisteria tiger lotus, red root floater, dwarf water lettuce, assorted unknown stem plants regularly topped and replanted…. box filter in front is temp. I used some hydrogen peroxide on some plants and driftwood over weekend and noticed trace nitrite under 0.25 ppm afterwards so added another cycled filter on temp basis. Box filters have crushed coral in base with nylon pot scrubbers as biomedia and polyfill mechanical on top. I pulled 4 stems of it and I am soaking it for the day in seltzer water and a dark room and will replant tonight. Edited August 24, 2022 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 Definitely had more luck with ST in colder water 73-75 degrees. This summer it all but melted with warmer water. At the time here was my recipe for sucess. Water temp 74 degree average. Nitrates 5-10 (i literally could not get them higher) Kh 2-4 Gh 8+ Ph 6.8 (abouts) Nutrient rich substrate eco complete, Seachem root tabs and Mexican potting clay. Point of intrest, I also used a liquid fertilizer with higer calcium (i don't believe EG contains calcium, or it has very little) Light was on for 14h at 35%, this got ramped up as lower leaves began to fall off. Hopefully I can save a sprig or two , if not I guess ill buy more this September/October. My best advice is try it again in cool weather, if the top leaves are opening and closing based on your lightning schedule its growing and you don't want to change much. Imo ST is just temperamental and it pays you back with too many changes by melting. Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted August 24, 2022 Author Share Posted August 24, 2022 (edited) Glad I am not the only one struggling with this one… “Pink to Red Color Stem Plant Not Demanding Scarlet temple is a vibrant stem plant that is relatively easy to care for. “ this description led me to believe it was only me… weather will be cooling here in the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully they can recover as it cools. if not,I think I will look elsewhere for red plants… Edited August 24, 2022 by Pepere 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 On 8/24/2022 at 9:53 AM, Pepere said: Glad I am not the only one struggling with this one… “Pink to Red Color Stem Plant Not Demanding Scarlet temple is a vibrant stem plant that is relatively easy to care for. “ this description led me to believe it was only me… weather will be cooling here in the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully they can recover as it cools. if not,I think I will look elsewhere for red plants… Not really struggling, more so realizing (at least in my case) the planted tank goes through a cycle of seasons. Summer being the season of melt, algea and die off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted August 24, 2022 Author Share Posted August 24, 2022 On 8/24/2022 at 10:25 AM, JoeQ said: Summer being the season of melt, algea and die off. In general? Or with this plant in particular? I am newly reentered into the hobby having started my tank in early March. algae largely has been kept at bay until recently. Been struggling to knock down Algae over past 4 weeks or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 On 8/24/2022 at 10:47 AM, Pepere said: In general? Or with this plant in particular? I am newly reentered into the hobby having started my tank in early March. algae largely has been kept at bay until recently. Been struggling to knock down Algae over past 4 weeks or so. I think in general , I have plants that are weathering the summer better but definitely not growing like during the cold, others have just totally died (s repens, ST) and the Algea (staghorn, hair algea) is just maddening! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 On 8/24/2022 at 6:53 AM, Pepere said: Glad I am not the only one struggling with this one… “Pink to Red Color Stem Plant Not Demanding Scarlet temple is a vibrant stem plant that is relatively easy to care for. “ this description led me to believe it was only me… weather will be cooling here in the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully they can recover as it cools. if not,I think I will look elsewhere for red plants… Yeah I think they really need to change the description on this one. I've had mixed results (mostly bad) and it just gets covered in algae eventually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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