Val is very thin and almost translucent

[FrostiesFishes]

My Val in my 72 bow front tank grows like crazy but the plants seem thin and translucent and just don’t look great over all I does 7 pumps of easy green weekly 

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by FrostiesFishes
I couldn’t flip a photo?

[yannachka]

do you have any roots tabs in? that looks like standard gravel. val is a very heavy root feeder and from my experience gets most of its nutrients from the substrate. 

[FrostiesFishes]

I put root tabs in six months ago 

[DaveSamsell]

10 minutes ago, FrostiesFishes said:

I put root tabs in six months ago 

@FrostiesFishes In my experience, the Val in my tanks really didn't start thriving until I stopped gravel vac'ing near them.  They seemed to love a rich substrate with finer gravel.  Some of my Val looked weak, but suddenly grew new runners, fairly quickly, after leaving an area of the aquarium all for themselves.

[ADMWNDSR83]

I'm realizing more and more reading posts that I probably need to stop vacuuming my sand!  

[ange]

Generally speaking less vacuuming is better for planted tanks. Mulm is good for plant growth even if it is unappealing. If you ever want to try removing larger pieces of detritus, some people will use a turkey baster to suck it up instead of busting out the vac.

[FrostiesFishes]

Thanks everyone I’m going to try root tabs 

[yannachka]

 

On 9/19/2020 at 2:52 PM, FrostiesFishes said:

I put root tabs in six months ago 

i would add some more, they may have depleted those root tabs at this point.