Vallisneria

[mitche8359]

I've tried jungls vals before through a mail order and the plants did not arrive in the best condition. I bought some new one recently at the LFS which were in good condition. However, they have deteriorated. Getting holes in the leaves and breaking off. Not sure what the problem is. The otos are on the vals almost constantly. Could they be the culprit? I also only have 2wpg and I've readt that vals like 2.5 -3.0 wpg. In either case, I'm going with a bunching plant more native to South America, just wondering what the problem might be.

 

[malkore]

vals feed off the substrate. are you fertilizing them there? how about ferts in the water column?
CO2?

are you cutting the runners off the mother plant when there are more than 2 daughter plants? (you should)

 

[MantisX]

I grow vals in a tank with the "stock" lighting setup so im sure lighting isnt your problem. It has to be ferts if you have 2 watts of light.

 

[djlen3]

I grow large stands of Val. with anywhere from 2.5 - 3.5 watts/gal. with water column fertilization only. I do have them growing in Flourite and/or Schultz soil conditioner which are both Fe rich.
I think that kH plays a roll in how they grow to some extent. They use more kH than many plants do.
As far as lighting goes, I think that 2.0watts/gal. is the bottom level that they will grow in successfully.

Len

 

[TankGirl]

I personally have had the most success with them in my ARLC tanks and a sandy substrate with root tab feedings and moderate light, no liquid ferts, but there may be more factors involved in my case. Just my personal experience with them. They floundered in my higher light, CO2, lower pH tanks.

 

[mitche8359]

Ok I'm almost ignorant with some of these terms. I've only had a planted tank for a year or two. Not exactly sure what is meant by water column fertilization. I was using stick fertilizers for some of the plants, like the swords. I also started adding Kent Fresh Water Plant Supplement twice a week. The plants do not have runners at all. No CO2, from what I've read with my light level CO2 would just cause an algae bloom.

What is an ARLC tanks?

Maybe its the amount of light. If I remember correctly, I'm only giving the tank 7 hours of 2wpg lighting. The tank gets extreme low leverl light for another good 7 hours but thats only what filters in from a basement window. The other plants in the tank are doing fine and the anubia has put out three new leaves since I got rid of the bunched plants five weeks ago.

 

[malkore]

Co2 doesn't cause algae blooms...if anything it lowers your risk of a bloom.

if the plants have no runners, then they're terribly unhealthy, lacking nutrients, and dying.
Water column fertilization means you put liquid fertilizer in the water...sounds like that's your Kent stuff (I've never used it, but I'm assuming its' a liquid fert)

Increase lighting to at least 10 hours, if not 12 hours a day. What's your Kh and Gh? How often do you do water changes, and at what percentage?

Also, anubias can almost grow in the dark, so they're not a good way to judge any other plants in your tank.

ARLC is an African Rift Lake Cichlid tank.

 

[mitche8359]

I was keeping the amount of light at 7 hours on recommendations here a long while back to reduce the algae. Actually the bunched plants took care of the algae, but I got rid of them a month back, thus an algae bloom.

The Kent product is a liquid fert. I use it at the recommended dosage twice a week. I've been doing water changes weekly, the last one was close to 50% at least as I was working on relandscaping and cleaning a neglected tank.

I'll have to measure the Kh. Not sure I have a Gh kit. I looked for one a year ago at the LFS and couldn't find one. Now that my kits are close to expiration, I might jsut order a kit online that has everything. Only problem with ordering online is you don't know how old they are.

 

[malkore]

places like Big Al's online move a lot of inventory, so you're pretty much guaranteed a fresh test kit...as opposed to some LFS's which may have expired kits for sale.
An Aquarium Pharmaceuticals master fw test kit would be perfect. I'd also get a SeaChem Phosphate test kit while you're at it.

Knocking a few hours of light off isn't gonna stunt algae, and in fact it stunts your plants more than the algae. A better trick is to run your lights for about 4.5 hours, shut them off for 2 hours, and then run them another 4.5 hours. Algae needs a moderately long, uninterrupted photo period to thrive...but plants are a more complex organism t hat can deal with a few hours of 'shade', while continuing to stay in a photosynthetic mode, which means they're still soaking up nutrients.

The biggest problem I see in your tank is that you have moderate lighting, but no fast growing plants. Thats why your stem plants helped with the algae...they grew quickly enough to outcompete algae for nutrients. The instant you pulled them, the algae started gaining the upper hand. I'd suggest finding a stem plant you like the looks of, and planting some. Stems do have to be pruned several times a month, but that's part of aquatic gardening.

 

[djlen3]

Tom -
Water column fertilization refers to just about any nutrient, liquid or dry, dosed
directly into the water table/column. Basically, it's just about any fert. that is not an 'in-substrate' tab type.
Many people swear by the plant tab method. I don't use them, because if you forget where you've placed them, and disturb them before they spend themselves, they can cause real problems with green water and other algae issues. Also, I never felt the need for them. All the 'root feeder' type plants I keep do well with the general water column nutrients that I dose.

It is always a good idea to have a mix of plants between the slower growing 'rosette' types, and some stems to suck up excess nutrients, IMO.
Also, I have found that it is never a good idea to pull up/change more than 25% of your plant mass at a time. Make small changes, trying to maintain the balance of plant mass. Not doing this (and I have thoughtlessly pulled too many) can/will cause the equilibrium of the tank to be thrown off, followed by algae problems.

Len

 

[mitche8359]

Oh yeah. I agree that the algae problem is due to the removal of the anacharis. The plant did an excellent job sucking up the nutrients in the tank. I was hoping the other plants had grown enough not to need a bunching type plant. I do have plans to replace it with cabomba carolina as soon as a friends plant takes off and I can get some cuttings. It's native to SA which is the theme to my tank, anyway.

Not really sure what fert plant tabs people are using, but I read on here years ago that the fert sticks for houseplants work and I used that for several months before running out. I might get some more and try it since the spikes were easily inserted into the substrate.

I'll try giving the plants more light in two daily doses to see if that helps the vals and the algae issue. I can live with the algae, just would like to see the vals pick up.

 

[TankGirl]

I tried the Jobst plant sticks and even though I buried them well I had a serious algae outbreak, so I abandoned their use. Others have had success with them. I use the root tabs by Seachem.

 

[mitche8359]

AH.. that could have been part of my problem early on with algae then as well. When I ran out I stopped using them. Have to add the Seachem tabs to the list. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

I've never used plant sticks. From what I have read, the only sticks you want to use is for lush ferns. Otherwise you'll have to much Phos in your tank. Leading to algae. Aqain, I've only read this.

Personally I'd stick to ferts formulated for aquariums, such as Seachem root tabs.

 

[medge00]

the jobes sticks for ferns is what to use! I should've mentioned that somwhere. They've nver caused me a problem.