Jungle val not growing tall

[Juan colin]

I got a single jungle val from aquarium co op 1 month and 3 weeks ago.During this time it has grown new leaves and sent out 4 shoots with plants about 2 cm each.i have seen significant growth but not the  tallness of a val.i use root tabs and liquid ferts.i dont know if its the lighting or what.

[Yanni]

It might be the light, what light do you have on the tank right now? And how big is the tank? What are the inhabitants in the tank? 

[Juan colin]

37 gallon aquarium kit from petsmart,white leds,3 angelfish,2 khuli loaches, bamboo shrimp, gourami

[Jungle Fan]

Against what many people say, Vallisneria is not really a low light, but a moderate to high light plant if you really want it to thrive and grow tall in my experience. Generally aquarium kit lights are the bare minimum, just enough so you can see your fish but not to effectively grow plants, although Java fern, and Anubias are so resilient they can even thrive under those conditions.

If you want better plant growth I'd recommend looking at the selection of lights on the Aquarium Co-Op web site. On my small plant holding tank I'm using a Fluval Plant 3.0 and it works.

[sreding]

I've had some jungle val in my 75 gal for about 5 weeks - It is spreading VERY nicely (tons of new plants on runners - it's more than doubled), but wasn't even half way up the water column.  I had been running my lights (nicrew skyled +) on 60% for 10 hours a day (+30 min ramp up/down) since I didn't want bad algae.  Last week I decided to try 100% intensity for 9 hours (+ 30min ramp up/down) and the jungle val has really taken off.  My other plants look to be doing better as well.  I think I may be starting to get a little BBA (i've removed the leaves where I've seen it) so may have to reduce the lighting duration, but am trying daily Seachem Excel (low dose so the val doesn't melt) and 1/2dose 2x/week easy green along with root tabs.  The first day after increasing the light I started to have pearling - and I didn't have it prior.  

Edited February 23, 2021 by sreding

[Juan colin]

How many watts would you guys recommend for a 37 gallon and does anyone know how many watts the light petsmart 37 gallon kit has?

[James221077]

If the leaves are cut they will not grow any taller. The new growth will be taller than you can handle. 

[Ben_RF]

A lot of folks find that vallisneria (including jungle) to be slow inititially.  In my own personal experience over the years, I have found for myself it typically takes 1 to 4 months to get established before it goes bonkers in growth and spreading. Now I also want to say some people have success early on with vallisneria, within a few weeks. Typically before mine really take off, they have to get a good root structure going.  Once the roots are well and established, then the plant has always taken off for me.

[Bethily777]

My angel mowed my single Val plant to 1/3 of the size it came as.  Won’t leave the Val OR my octopus plant alone ugh

[JaredL]

1 hour ago, Juan colin said:

How many watts would you guys recommend for a 37 gallon and does anyone know how many watts the light petsmart 37 gallon kit has?

I don't think watts is how lights are usually measured now. More accurate factors such as par and light spectrum are what are important. However, it can be alot of information to take it when you dig into it. I would do some research on this forum to see what people would have success with.

The stock lights on those aquariums don't do justice to the beautiful inhabitants of your tank as far as showing off their colors IMO. They aren't very bright and don't cover a wide color spectrum. Keep in mind if you go with another light you will likely need to look for a lid for your aquarium as well.

I use a Finnex Planted+ 24/7 HLC. It allows you to set custom lights for different times of day, much like some Fluvals. However, this kind of customization can take some time and patience to dial in. A good quality "on/off" light hooked up to an outlet timer works just fine.

Sorry for long winded reply, just wanted to address your question about lights.

[Juan colin]

Oh i didnt know the lights were measured by par and spectrum thats good to know.I said watts because i asked my dad and he told me watts 

[Andy's Fish Den]

I got some jungle val a few years ago, that out of the 12 plants I got, a few of them would not grow any taller than 6" or so. I am not sure what caused it, same tank, planted next to the taller ones, just never took off. It was almost like a dwarf version. 

[Lifeisgood]

Yes, there are different types of Val and some stay shorter.   It took longer than I thought it would for mine to take off as well.  I only have the Topfin light that came with my aquarium kit at purchase. But once that Val gets going—now I have to take the machete to it to keep it where I want it!  I just harvested a five gallon bucket of plants out of my 55 with bushy root structure and five foot long leaves! 😁  I am trying to think of some kind of Val salad or sushi recipes to deal with the harvest.  Any ideas?