# Stunted alternanthera reineckii. Help!?



## xUvitende (Aug 26, 2015)

So i'm having some issues in my tank at the time. 
My alternanthera reineckii pink and mini are totaly stunted, and have som poor coloring. Pretty much everything is wrong.
Any tips & tricks for pretty growth on the A.R?

My tank :
60 Litre
Tropica soil
2x24 T5 - Juwel daylght + colour
Ei dosing
Co2 drop checker - Lime green

Todays parameters :
Kh: 3
Gh: 6
Ph: 6
Nh3/4: 0
No2 : <0,3
No3 : 20
Po4 : 7 <- guessing that's the problem?
Fe: 0,5

Thanks!


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

What are you dosing for micros? 

There's a bunch of threads on CSM+B toxicity, your plants may be suffering from micro toxicity. Results in stunted new growth. Here's a couple to start you off with. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...xicity-experiment.html?highlight=CSM+toxicity
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...se-csm-b-toxicity.html?highlight=CSM+toxicity


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## xUvitende (Aug 26, 2015)

Micros : 

MiPlus
Liquid (25ml added in a 500ml bottle of water)
Fe 20 g/l
Mn 10 g/l
Cu 0,52 g/l
B 4 g/l
Mo 0,75 g/l

I have seen the treads on CSM+B toxicity, and now i'm really low on dosing, 1,5ml x3 a week.
Dosing is supposed to be 10ml once a week.


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

I suspect some lack of flow in your tank is shutting off the alternanthera reineckii pink from required nutrients. See that the tank water is in motion around the AR. A bit of trimming of the crowded foliage around the AR and removal of the older leaves of AR may help.

This is a mini - it has inhibited elongation and cannot come out of the crowding and would like some space around it.


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## Positron (Jul 22, 2013)

xUvitende said:


> Micros :
> 
> MiPlus
> Liquid (25ml added in a 500ml bottle of water)
> ...


I'm trying to figure out these numbers here. The stock solution contains 20 grams per liter of Fe? You dilute this by a factor of 20 by putting 25mL into 500mL?

That would equal your dosing solution being 1 gram per liter? You dose 10mL of this into your tank?

Typically the concentrations added to a tank need to be in the 0.05 to 0.5 parts per million range (or milligrams per liter)!


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## xUvitende (Aug 26, 2015)

Says so on the bottle yes. Sums up to 1g Fe in 1litre of dialuted mixture. Is that to much or to little? My Fe readings says it's fine?


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## Positron (Jul 22, 2013)

Okay so 10mL of that solution means you are adding 1 mg to a 60 liter aquarium. Accounting for water displacement from rocks and substrate typically. That is around 0.02 ppm of iron per dose. 

It sounds ok. Especially if the iron is not chelated. 

AR is a pretty hard plant to get to grow correctly. I'm just now having success after over three years. I find it likes Urea, lower KH (less than or equal to 2), and high co2. Beyond that it's hard to tell why AR is such a pain to grow. 

How are your other plants?


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## aclaar877 (Feb 19, 2014)

I started that CSM+B toxicity thread (I should have included Osmocote+ in the title since that probably contributed to my problems) and I struggled with regular AR for the better part of two years. I chased higher and higher CO2, high light, lower light, flow, different placement, full EI, half EI, limited nitrates, and nothing really worked. Right now I'm growing the best-looking AR to date after reducing trace dosing. While the root tabs helped a bit at first, I always had some plants with stunted tips, and those that grew would end up with only the top couple of leaves looking good. The rest was brittle, ratty and a GDA magnet. 

If you can increase CO2, do that and watch the fish. I also did a month of weekly 60-70% water changes with no CSM+B dosing to reset levels. My iron/trace doses now are 0.1 ppm every other day, half of that coming from CSM+B. Also, I never tested my GH but others in the area said my water had GH of 6 but made up of mostly Mg. Yesterday I added 10 ppm Ca just to see what happens, so that may help my plants further--we'll see. Focus on getting good new growth, and try not to move them around too much. If lower leaves get really bad, you can pinch them off or just cut and replant tops. For light, I have a single T8 bulb on 9 hrs a day and BML Dutch and a single T5HO bulb on for six hours.


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## Kavak (Oct 12, 2014)

what is ur light?
red plants need red spectrum more.if u have led do u have deep red 660?


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

So I have AR mini and AR Roseafolia in a few low tech tanks. 

2 tanks have pond soil plus fine gravel cap. Initially I was dosing Excel, Flourish Iron, Flourish K, and Fluorish comp on a weekly basis. The new growth was pale and stunted. 

Then I read the thread on CSM+B toxicity and stopped dosing the Fluorish comprehensive. I continued the excel, iron, and potassium but dosed twice weekly. After almost a month the plants started looking and growing normally. So, low tech definitely works for this plant, it's just the colours are not deep pink. They look healthy but the low light certainly results in longish internodes too. Not going to sweat it as at least they look pretty good:grin2:

I am now resuming Flurish comp but only going to dose maybe every 3-4 weeks. Good thing I keep notes.


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Pictures clearly show trace toxicity. Reduce trace dosing further.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Resume dosing Excel and continue macro/micro dosing as currently.
Reduce lighting period.


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