# Stunted Alternanthera reineckii w/ Black and Green Algae!



## biglos201 (Jan 28, 2013)

Hey folks, 

I have a fairly well-established 55 gallon planted tank. I seem to be having some stunted growth and curling leaves on my Reineckii Capitalism and mini. I tend to get Black and or green algae on the leaves and try to prune off as many ugly leaves add possible during WC's. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm at my wits end with this species of red plant. 

Routine:
- EI dosing
- cO2(7-8bps) inline diffuser 
- Iron capsules at the roots
- Ada multi bottom root tabs
- Weekly 50% water changes.
- Lighting is a 10k BML and Ecoxotic e-120
- 250 gph power head 

Pics of the ugly plants!




























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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Micro-tox. Massive water change as close to 100% if possible.


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## aclaar877 (Feb 19, 2014)

I'm fighting the same thing with my AR - possible trace problem due to excess CSM+B, O+ tabs, and unknown levels of traces in tap water. I haven't dosed CSM+B in 10 days, so I hope to see some good new growth soon. I would also reduce your light - a BML plus other fixture is a lot for a 55g. Hopefully you have the BML dimmer...

Also leave the plants in place if you can - don't uproot, just pick the ratty, algae covered leaves and aim for good new growth. The plant will probably put out new shoots from the bottom.

With mine, I may try a blackout while I'm away a couple days for Thanksgiving. I've done that before and plants bounce back nicely for the most part.


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## biglos201 (Jan 28, 2013)

aclaar877 said:


> I'm fighting the same thing with my AR - possible trace problem due to excess CSM+B, O+ tabs, and unknown levels of traces in tap water. I haven't dosed CSM+B in 10 days, so I hope to see some good new growth soon. I would also reduce your light - a BML plus other fixture is a lot for a 55g. Hopefully you have the BML dimmer...
> 
> Also leave the plants in place if you can - don't uproot, just pick the ratty, algae covered leaves and aim for good new growth. The plant will probably put out new shoots from the bottom.
> 
> With mine, I may try a blackout while I'm away a couple days for Thanksgiving. I've done that before and plants bounce back nicely for the most part.


Thanks! I'll definitely try this, I thought I might not have had enough light. Luckily I do have the dimmer and it's at 100 percent right now. I haven't moved them only trimmed off the ugly leaves at every water change. 

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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

First thing I'd wonder about is your lighting. It looks like you have algae elsewhere, like the rock and whatever it is behind the rock.

The E-120 claims to have a bit under 60 PAR at 20", and the BML 6700 is probably around 60 (assuming you just have one LED strip?). I don't see any info on a 10k from them, so not sure what they think its PAR would be. That's a whole lot of light. So the first thing I'd do is use the dimmer, and hold off on anything else for now. Best to change one thing at a time so you can narrow down the cause.


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## biglos201 (Jan 28, 2013)

kevmo911 said:


> First thing I'd wonder about is your lighting. It looks like you have algae elsewhere, like the rock and whatever it is behind the rock.
> 
> The E-120 claims to have a bit under 60 PAR at 20", and the BML 6700 is probably around 60 (assuming you just have one LED strip?). I don't see any info on a 10k from them, so not sure what they think its PAR would be. That's a whole lot of light. So the first thing I'd do is use the dimmer, and hold off on anything else for now. Best to change one thing at a time so you can narrow down the cause.


Thanks Kevmo! I brought the BML down to about 70 percent. Here's a full tank shot. I do have some of that black algae on some other plants as well. Is this from high light and too much ferts? 









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## biglos201 (Jan 28, 2013)

So I gravel cleaning bright the lighting down and kept the Dose at normal range for EI with promising results! The reneckii grew quite a bit with gorgeous red leaves and very little algae. But looks like I'm getting some that are curling upwards? 

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