The present paper discusses the flow visualization for turbulent free convection in a tank of water with the bottom surface being a smooth or a grooved surface and the top of the water surface exposed to ambient. The grooved surface is of parallel 90° V-grooves with groove height of 10mm and groove width of 20mm. The experiment is carried out with aspect ratio (AR) of 2.9 and Rayleigh number (Ra) in the range, 1.3×10 7-4×10 7. Here AR is the aspect ratio (= width of fluid layer/height of fluid layer). Heat flux at the bottom surface is from electrical heating. From the pH-dye visualization, interesting flow structures are observed and these structures are analyzed with the help of plumes dynamics and temperature variations with time. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.