# Alternanthera reineckii not doing very good



## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

I have it planted in my 92 and its growing as I see side shoots off of the leaves and in the gravel but its not growing fast. Its leaves are getting nasty and falling off. Everything else in that tank is doing great! On the same note I have 2 stems in my 29 and they look ok, not growing real fast but not losing its leaves either. I dose with ferts, flourish, DIY co2, 4wpg pc, flourite. What gives? I've cut off the tall top pieces they where half way up my tank and just left the bottom part with the baby plants coming out of the gravel.


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

Some more info on what types of ferts your doseing and how much, along with what your water param's are like would be much helpful in allowing us to help you  Also one thing I can see from right off the bat, at 4wpg, though a very general term for amount of light that isnt all so great to describe how much intensity there really is, is a lot of light, and I am willing to guess your plants are sucking up that CO2 faster than the yeast reactors can make it.... which would be a pretty good explaination for why your not getting very fast growth. 

But more info about whats going into the tank. and what the tap water and tank parameteres are like would be much helpful 

Matt


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## steel1212 (Feb 21, 2006)

Its 4 watts per gallon of PC or power compact. A mixture of 6500k, 8000k, 10000k. I would understand if every plant in there wasn't growing well but every other plant in there is doing ok. I really need to get my compressed co2 up and running. As for the rest of the parameters I'm not really sure. I keep discus in that tank and I have it setup for them mainly. The plants are just a bonus.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

In my experience, Alternanthera reineckii is a fairly slow growing plant. Slow in relation to other stem plants anyways. If it is grown in a tank with stable pressurized CO2 or one without CO2 it seems to do pretty well. 

However, when I had issues with erratic bubble counts on one of my JBJ regulators (i.ei inconsistent CO2 levels) the Alternanthera was the first to noticeably decline. Maybe this plant needs a bit more stability than DIY CO2 can give at your lighting levels???

Mr Sanders, I believe he is using Greg Watson's KNO3 and KH2PO4 in his tank


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I have a few stems of alternathera reinickii rosaefolia in my 29 gallon tank, with 3.8 watts/gallon, pressurized CO2 Mist system, and full fertilzer regime. They are doing very well - growing slowly, good color, no dropping of lower leaves. Until I doubled my lighting and switched to full misting of CO2 they didn't do as well.


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## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

My Alternanthera reineckii was falling apart, until I started dosing Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4). This is in addition to the Potassium in the KNO3 and KH2PO4 that I dose. It still sheds a lot of leaves and some smaller stems, but it is big and healthy (growing out of the top of the tank if I don't trim it).

-Russ


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Mine also seems to grow kind of slowly (compared to hygro). For some reason it seems to grow in spurts for me. I'll not notice any growth at all for a few weeks and then it will take off like crazy for a while. Maybe conditions are changing that I'm not aware of, but my routine has been pretty standard lately.


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