Alec2cool Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) Hi all! I've had Valisnaria for over 6 months now and it initially threw off some runners and grew quite quickly. However, about 2 months later, it paused it's growth and it's leaves started looking pretty tattered. It's mantained this look since then, throwing out a runner here and there while also a few of them dying back. Since planting it, I've kept it fed with API root tabs and I give it about 10 hours of light a day. It is in a pool filter sand substrate The reason for this post, I want a gorgeous Valisnaria forest going on but I'm obviously not doing it right. Parameter's and other information pH - 8.2 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 20 ppm Substrate - Pool Filter Sand Light - Finnex Stingray Tank - 55g Light Duration - 10 hours Nutrients introduced via API Root Tabs It's sitting on a hill of sand about 11inches from the light 1 large "mother" plant and 7 runners If you have a solution, advice or questions, please share! Edited November 19, 2020 by Alec2cool I tried rotating the image but it keeps setting itself sideways for some reason, sorry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Val will suck up a lot of nutrients through their roots. I would add more root tabs space them out all through where the val is growing. The sand substrate doesn't have any nutrients in it except for what you add, and it is hard for any fish poop, excess food etc to make its way down in and become food for the plant, and it also can compact and make it hard for the roots to spread out and get the nutrients to feed the plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec2cool Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 17 minutes ago, Andy's Fish Den said: Val will suck up a lot of nutrients through their roots. I would add more root tabs space them out all through where the val is growing. The sand substrate doesn't have any nutrients in it except for what you add, and it is hard for any fish poop, excess food etc to make its way down in and become food for the plant, and it also can compact and make it hard for the roots to spread out and get the nutrients to feed the plants. I appreciate the feedback! I did try to supplement the Val with more root tabs a few months back, this promoted some runners but they eventually died back, even though I continued feeding the Val with 3 root tabs monthly. Could the sand be making the Val's roots have difficulty drawing nutrients from these tabs? Another thing I just realized, could my Malaysian Trumpet Snails be eating these root tabs? I have quite a few MTS in there, possibly in the triple digits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dyer Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 I wouldn't think the MTS would bother the val, but would help keep the substrate from compacting. I have never had great luck with val or dwarf sag spreading well in sand while for me both thrive in eco complete, crushed coral and stratum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 On 11/19/2020 at 1:35 AM, Alec2cool said: The reason for this post, I want a gorgeous Valisnaria forest going on but I'm obviously not doing it right. Stalled Vallisneria seems to be a common issue. I have the exact same problem but no suggestions. I hoping someone will comment here as to whether some of the Vals may actually have different temperature requirements. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 On 11/19/2020 at 12:35 AM, Alec2cool said: Hi all! I've had Valisnaria for over 6 months now and it initially threw off some runners and grew quite quickly. However, about 2 months later, it paused it's growth and it's leaves started looking pretty tattered. It's mantained this look since then, throwing out a runner here and there while also a few of them dying back. Since planting it, I've kept it fed with API root tabs and I give it about 10 hours of light a day. It is in a pool filter sand substrate The reason for this post, I want a gorgeous Valisnaria forest going on but I'm obviously not doing it right. Parameter's and other information pH - 8.2 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 20 ppm Substrate - Pool Filter Sand Light - Finnex Stingray Tank - 55g Light Duration - 10 hours Nutrients introduced via API Root Tabs It's sitting on a hill of sand about 11inches from the light 1 large "mother" plant and 7 runners If you have a solution, advice or questions, please share! Have you clipped the runners off the mother plant once they get a few inches tall? That helped me a lot. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec2cool Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 1 hour ago, StephenP2003 said: Have you clipped the runners off the mother plant once they get a few inches tall? That helped me a lot. I have only "accidently" clipped one but now that you mention this, that particular one is doing very well, it's about half the size of the "mother" plant. I'm tempted to clip the rest now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 35 minutes ago, Alec2cool said: I have only "accidently" clipped one but now that you mention this, that particular one is doing very well, it's about half the size of the "mother" plant. I'm tempted to clip the rest now. Yes, when the baby plants are connected to the mother plant, they are still leaching nutrients from it. So the mother plant gets stressed and of course won't send out new runners, and at worst has to sacrifice its own leaves to regain nutrients. If the runner plants have leaves that are at least a couple inches tall, set those babies free and give them their own root tabs. With the exception of my red gigantea val, which took off immediately, my other vals had a fairly long adjustment period in my tank before multiplying like crazy. Now I have a surplus that my LFS is not interested in buying. 4 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec2cool Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 Thank you for the help Stephen! I'm excited to see the results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandy Pearl Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 I have some baby corkscrew that I'm sure i need to feed with root tabs. Thanks for the advice regarding 'freeing' the child from the parent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 I'll be trying separating them also. Mine has been in the tank for months and sets out new small plants but nothing actually takes off. I might try it on the Dwarf Sag also as it seems to be behaving the same. I'll report back in a few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 The Val responded well to being separated from the others. Still no forest yet but have more hope. Dwarf Sag didn't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 21 minutes ago, Ken said: Dwarf Sag didn't care. Similar to vals, my dwarf sag sat pretty dormant for months before it really took off. I have so much of it that the offshoots are literally on top of each other, super dense like a suburban lawn. I have never bothered to clip the runners from the dwarf sag. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoolFish97 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 I'm also for chopping parents from buds. They feed of the parent if not enough food which is detrimental plus mother plants won't make more if they are feeding a one or two so dividing helps encourage more. Ive seen wild Val forests in the wild and they readily split by choice or get broken apart by flow etc. The ones that don't they sort of take a lot longer to grow more vals but I do notice the difference is they have a tonne of food/nutrients in the soil/substrate compares to our aquariums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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