# valisneri care



## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

I am having some trouble growing valisneria.
Any tips?
I am having quite a bit of success with a bunch of differentechindorus.
The vals however are growing and the leaves are turning brown.

I am not dosing.

Rick


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

More info needed. Lighting? Substrate? are you dosing any fertz or nothing at all?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

A picture of the tank might help. Temperature, lighting, substrate and pH/GH/KH might also. Are you adding salt to the tank at all? If you're not dosing, and the plant mass is high, I would say that's pretty much the problem. Vals grow so fast (what type of Vals do you have?) that they suck up the nutrients out of the water column pretty quickly.


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## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

ok
more info. This is a tank I take care of at st pauls so I only see it once a week so I am hoping any possible suggestions for the vals will be simple.
ph 7
gh 4
kh 3
ammonia 0
nitrit 0
nitrate 5 ppm
temp 25
substrate gravel.
I do 30% water changes once a week.
I do dose I guess with equilibrium but that is it.
I noticed, this week that the Vals, sorry I don't know the varieties, were beginning to get some black hair algae. I think this may be being caused by the neutral regulator, for the kh, I am using which is phosphate based, (seachem).
So, My plan is to switch to a kh regulator that is not phosphate based and them to doe a bit more I guess, But with what? I would like to keep it as simple as possible.
The lighting is full spectrum flourescent. In general the plants I have put in have gone gang busters. Mostly echinodorus and some of the more aggressinve stem plants. Man I am laxadasical about the varieties. Gotta get better at that.

Thanks again all

Rick


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The Vals, as I said, have a very high uptake rate, so at 5 ppm, your nitrates are probably marginal for sustaining them. BBA is not a phosphate problem, it's a too much light and not enough carbon problem. Since you're not injecting CO2, you're kind of stuck to lowering the light as you can't use Glute for a multitude of reasons (Vals, only once a week maintenance etc.). If there are lots of Vals, the first thing I would suggest is pruning some out to reduce the plant mass so the uptake rate is lower. The next thing to try is root tabs.


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## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

if I chose to inject co2 would i be asking for trouble given I am only there once a week?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I could be wrong but Seachem Equilibrium is not a Fert at all. It is meant for people who use RO units which strips out all the minerals. You than use the product to add the essential minerals back into the water. It also help with GH. I bought this same product a few years ago and after reading the label I decided not to use it.
Seachem. Equilibrium

I suggest using Seachem Alkaline buffer with the Acid buffer together 2 to 1 or buy the Seachem neutral buffer. That keeps the Ph perfect. Im not a believer in adding tons of products as I like to keep my tanks simple too. I rarely test my gh or kh and dont really care too all that much anyways. I have always had sucess keeping to the basics. KISS (keep it simple stupid) a teacher once told me. If my plants grow any faster I might have to hire a gardener. LOL. If its a tank at work than im sure you dont feel like working on it all the time. Go buy some sort a Liquid Plant fert. That will help for sure. I cant remember which one I use but im sure seachem makes something for that too.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Rick, 
I would just keep it as simple as possible. Vals are probably lacking nutrients within the gravel. Shove some root tabs or jobe's spikes underneath them and they'll do fine after a week or so. If they melt and die-off, contact me and I'll hook you up with some more vals. I'm growing mine in sand and I had experience them dying off at the beginning but then re-establish growth thereafter after I shoved some Jobe's spikes underneath. GOod luck.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

rickwaines said:


> if I chose to inject co2 would i be asking for trouble given I am only there once a week?


It wouldn't be inviting trouble, but may be more complicated than you would like for just growing a few simple plants. I think I would go with jobber's route first. With CO2, you would get more growth which means more pruning and possibly having to dose ferts, so simple is best. I would worry about any other buffers other than a good GH buffer, myself. That's what I do with all my tanks except the shrimp tanks which need more carbonate and Ca. Those I dose plaster of paris, believe it or not.


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## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

some spikes it is.
thanks all!!!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

rickwaines said:


> some spikes it is.
> thanks all!!!


Just make sure they are buried deep and can't be exposed or you can get an ammonia spike.


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## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

so, follow up question. Why does the the BBA only grow on the vallisneria?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Some suggest a high uptake rate causing local depletion of nutrients (mainly CO2) around the plant itself and higher lighting levels. I've never figured it out myself, when I was growing them. I just kept removing the BBA affected leaving, but eventually went away from using them due to the intolerance to Excel spot treatment to remove BBA.


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## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

when you say high uptake rate do you mean that Vals, in general are heavy feeders?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Yes, high growth rate, heavy feeders.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

the biggest thing to recognize with vals is their two growth modes per se 

when grown in a nutrient rich environment with ample CO2 in the water, they are massive consumers of said substances. their second form of growth involves lower nutrients, no supplemental CO2 and a high KH. in such conditions, growth is achieved, though it is slower, it is still healthy. Vals can consume carbonates from the water and substrate for their carbon source. this is likely your method of growth. insure their is plenty of calcium/magnesium/alkalinity in general in the root and water columns. and the vals should grow nicely for you providing lighting is sufficient.


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## gsneufeld (Jan 28, 2012)

above, yes. vallisneria is one of those plants that'll grow in even brackish water, so it's considered an easy plant, but it doesn't do well without carbonate hardness, thus the insanely soft water most of us have here in bc doesn't bode well for it. below 5 degrees kh is very soft.. i would move it to a different tank. maybe search wetwebmedia re vallisneria faq.


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