Thoughts on red plants and green water

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3:
• PO4:
• Iron:
• Dosing: 5 mL Flourish
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
I've noticed that my "red" plants are growing in particularly red lately, especially the Rotala indica/rotundifolia. The rotala is much more consistently red and the leaves are growing in broader than usual, even though I have been consistently keeping the NO3 levels above 10 ppm. Usually, people recommend keeping nitrate levels at 5ppm or less to bring out the reds. When I have had low nitrate levels, the plants were less green, but they were more yellow than red. In my opinion, these "yellow" plants are N deficient. It seems that keeping the phosphate levels up above 1 ppm seems to actually help bring out the reds, as well as help the leaves grow in more lushly. Overall, this seems to be a better option to bring out the reds in a healthy manner.

On the other hand, the green water has been at its worst this week after the heavy pruning/uprooting. It's getting to the point where I am having trouble even seeing into the tank. I'm just gritting my teeth until the next water change and am waiting for the time when the diatom filter finally comes in.

I'm also still having problems with some of the java fern leaves turning brown and melting away, including new leaves, while other leaves stay green. I found a posting where people were having the same problem.

I've read that that algae growth might be encouraged by harder water, so I think I will definitely lower the GH for the next water change. The java fern melting problems also seem to begin at the same time I was upping the dosage of Equilibrium, so by lowering the dosage of Equilibrium (to lower the GH), I hope that will have some effect on the java fern melt as well. I'm not sure if it's because of excess potassium, or some Ca/Mg/K ratio imbalance. I'm going to try to reduce the GH levels from 8-9 to 5-6.