Italian Vallisneria Removal

[PlaneFishGuy]

Getting a planted tank set up and realized I may have gotten too many plants for my tank. I am considering leaving out the Italian Val I ordered.

1) If I decide to plant it can I aggressively prune it back later without killing it? 

2) Can I later remove it without uprooting my entire tank 

3) In general do you ever have to worry about aquatic plants choking out other plants like you do in a lawn/garden. 

[Brandy]

Val propagates by runners. Put it this way--if it goes out of bounds, you have to stop it immediately--either redirect the runners where you want them, or cut them off while small. If you let it get a foothold you will uproot everything trying to get it out. So I have it in the back of one of my tanks the minute I see a runner headed to the front I pull it out. If I don't pay attention, it will shade and entangle itself in things and take over. 

That said, it isn't the fastest grower. Your just have to be able to get to it when you see it, leave it for a few weeks and you will make a mess getting it back in bounds.

[PlaneFishGuy]

@Brandy are the runners above the substrate or do they grow below and then pop up?  

[Brandy]

They can do both, but mine mostly run on top. They tend to burrow when they hit an obstacle, like a big rock or driftwood. In that case my strategy is just to break it on the small end, and then pull both ends out. It only roots where there are leaves.

[MDoc]

17 hours ago, PlaneFishGuy said:

may have gotten too many plants for my tank

I didn't know that was even possible to do.  😁😄

[PlaneFishGuy]

Its "forcing" me to get another tank to keep them in.... 

[Tanked]

25 minutes ago, PlaneFishGuy said:

Its "forcing" me to get another tank to keep them in.... 

We should all have such problems.