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Vallisneria and soft water

Gypsum

Gypsum

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I threw a bunch of vallisneria into my L199 tank the other weekend because I'd read that it can cope with high flows, and I've got three powerheads going in there. The leafy plants aren't managing so well. Then while searching the internet for something else, I stumbled across someone on a forum suggesting that val will struggle in soft water. Oh no, I thought, I have soft water. I couldn't corroborate that information, though, as plant sites just said that it's an easy plant to grow.

Does anyone know? I feed the plants Seachem Flourish Comprehensive once per week. That gives them minerals, right?
 
I have pretty soft water and haven't had trouble growing val over the years. Just the opposite.
 
Cool. Most of Scotland seems to have soft water, so hopefully that means my plants will be happy. :)
 
How soft is the water? Mine is 5.7 dGH and vallis grows ok for me, its a root feeder so i think root tabs help or a nutrient rich substrate, either way.
 
mbsqw1d said:
its a root feeder so i think root tabs help or a nutrient rich substrate, either way.
Click to expand...
Definitely need root tabs in soft water. For me in soft water it takes ages to establish properly but once it does it really takes off.
 
What root tabs do you recommend? I've never used them before. Do you just bury them next to the plants?
 
Gypsum said:
What root tabs do you recommend? I've never used them before. Do you just bury them next to the plants?
Click to expand...
Flourish root tabs make a comprehensive root tabs which has calcium in it among many other nutrients, which Val's love. Val's are heavy root feeders
 
Gypsum said:
What root tabs do you recommend? I've never used them before. Do you just bury them next to the plants?
Click to expand...
As youre in the UK I'd recommend TNC root plugs. They dont need replacing as often as other root tabs/plugs that ive come across.
 
All species of Vallis do better in hard water with a pH above 7.0. However, many of the smaller species will grow in soft water as long as it's not too acidic. Giant Vallis is the main one that won't survive in soft or acid water.
 
Got soft water here too, I got vals from my native rivers, since they grow native here.

Root tabs! Definitely what they need.
 
Jungle val is known to wilt down when first added. It'll come back with proper lighting and nutrients
 
Plants are bloody complicated. Who woulda thought. I have no idea what type of val I have. It's whatever Maidenhead Aquatics sold. I'll pick up some root tabs and hope for the best.

Hopefully it will grow, but if it melts on me, what else works with lots of current and soft water? Ph is 6.6 or so.
 
Twisted Val does very well in soft acid water, I had a friend with a huge discus tank and that is all he had in it. It looked amazing.
 
Vals are prone to melting. Since moving mine back into my 55 after the whole mess with the hand sanitizer, my vals are protesting being moved and have melted lol

Anubias may be able to handle some flow too, given theyre fairly sturdy
 
I've had anubias in that tank before, and it did terribly. I ended up throwing it out. I have anubias in my 240L tank and it looks great, so no idea why it took offense at the 125L.

I like the look of the val.... sort of a naturalesque rivery thing going on, if you ignore the aircraft carrier.

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