Stunted sword plants - advice anyone?

[csmiller]

Can anyone help? Any advice appreciated.
My echinodorus sword plants, red leafed species, Osiris or Rubra, or Ozelot (can't recall which) are stunted, in that the new leaves are all very small, each new leaf is smaller than the last, not deformed, just tiny. The original leaves were approx 20cm long, but all new leaves are no bigger than about 6-8cm now, and old leaves attracting algae. By contrast my stem plants seem to be doing well. I have a bba problem too, but I seem to be getting on top of it.

Tank is 90cm (3ft) tank, approx. 150litres (45g?). Substrate is gravel with some laterite within. Lighting is 2x T5HO hagen tubes (Power-Glo and Life-Glo I think) ~9 hours a day. C02 used during light period but bubbles fluctuate a bit. Using Flourish ¼ teaspoon 3 times a week. Carbonage hardness at 4-5dch. Temp ~24C.

Tank is still beautiful, but I'd love to know what I’m doing wrong with my sword plants!

 

[misha]

Check what you do differently, may be too much effort to fight BBA , feed the roots with root tablets. Check CO2 level with Drop Checker.

 

[jerrybforl]

Sounds like some sort of deficiency! What are you ferting? Swords are root feeders and need fertilizing by the roots. Dosing the water column with Flourish will not solve your problem. You should really consider EI dosing.

It eliminates the deficiencies. You also may not have a lot of light. What watts are your bulbs?

 

[csmiller]

Thanks guys! - I've was told laterite would contain sufficient sustrate nutrients, but perhaps I didn't use enough, or perhaps it has more iron than anything else. I think my lights are bright enough, as they are high output and my other plants that need bright light are doing well. Anyway, have started using root tabs under gravel, and the new leaves already look a bit different - will see what happens !