I Am Giving Up On Vallice!

[craynerd]

Hi Guys

I grow / have grown an aweful lot in my tank and have had some sort of success with everything. It seems the only one i really strugle with is vallice. It survives, but doesnt grow and the ends just go brown and die off on the longer strands. I am talking about all types of vallice, long straight, twisted, giant..u name it, the same thing happens.
What i can`t understand tho is that it perls like anything, so it must be photosynthesising!! It even sprouts new stems, its just the ends go brown and die off which looks a mess!! Since everything else in my tank flurishes i am putting it down to the general tap water chemistry it must not like, do you agree?

Its annoying me now and since it is not 100% healthy i refuse to keep it in my tank.

So

1) Any tips or ideas to try and stop it from doing this?
2) Any suggestions of good replacement plants i could use? Obviously i am looking for a tall stem like plant maybe something a little difficult/more challanging to grow?

The look and position in my tank looks really cool, so its a shame it has to go really!

Chris

 

[zig]

It generally prefers water with a higher GH, i struggle to grow it as well, never goes brown though, just takes forever to grow. I wouldn't worry about it, tons of other nice plants to grow.

 

[George Farmer]

As zig says, it likes harder water - high KH too as it thrives on the bi-carbonates. I assume your water is too soft.

If you like the look of vallis then try Cyperus helferi or Blyxa sp. more demanding but slower growing and far more attractive IMO.

 

[craynerd]

any specific suggestions, soemthing to give me a bit of a challange?

Chris

 

[robjack]

It definately must be your water - in my Rio 180, stock lighting, no CO2 tank, the Giant Vallis grows like crazy and sends out some nice runners. But we're in a hard-water area.

Rob.

 

[George Farmer]

any specific suggestions, soemthing to give me a bit of a challange?

Chris

Look above your last post Chris.

 

[zig]

haha......try Cyperus helferi........thats a challange for you if you struggle with vallis, this has to be the slowest growing plant i have ever tried, although its still algae free, and thats part of the challange, growing it algae free because its such a slow grower. Try the blyxa, cant get it around here, wish i could, but its a lot easier to grow and more widely available than C.helferi. Really nice plant as well.

 

[craynerd]

Thank you.

I have ordered them both and will see what they look like and how they grow!

I will keep you posted.

Chris

 

[lisa_perry75]

I'm in a hardwater area and struggled with vallis, but after using eco-complete it was going a treat!!! Until I got given some troublesome scats and now it has a hair cut

 

[craynerd]

Received my cyperus helferi today, what a strange plant. Its got quite a rigid leaf hasn`t it. I also got a blyxa variety, large soft rush, thats a nice looking plant as well, but even this large variety is quite a lot smaller than vallis, more "grass" like. Maybe it will grow!

Anyway, thanks for recommending them, two super plants. I`ll let you know how i get on.


Chris

 

[NAL]

Cyperus helferi is spot on-Chris I've used it in my recent set-up (pics soon.....). In the 3 weeks now it has grown a fair bit as it goes. Mine came with what looked like ears of corn dangling off-check out the pic from the Tropica website. I also have to agree that it is a fair more elegant plant than Vallis.

Nick

 

[Bufo Bill]

Sorry to dig up this old thread, but my Vallisneria torta/tortifolia is giving me trouble. I have a sand substrate, pH 8.0, temp around 24-26 celcius. I have not tested the hardness, but I live in Wolverhampton and the water is fairly hard I think. I have high nitrates and there is some algae to prove it, but the vallis is kept free by amano shrimp (I check regularly). However the leaves die off within a few weeks and new ones only reach about an inch high or don't appear at all. Any idea what's going wrong?

 

[robjack]

Vallis are fairly heavy root feeders, so you might want to invest in some Root Tabs to stick near/under them. Other than that, in hard-water areas, Vallis should thrive, growing fast and producing runners.

Hope this helps,

Rob.

 

[saboy]

Whats bad news for craynard is good news for me, so jayjay was right when he said they like hard water, my water is ph 8.0 and very hard, so its gonna grow like wild - just what i want

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Have you "Chris" and you "robjack" thought it might be something to do with "allelochemicals

If you don't know what it is, its a process that plants take part in as a defense against algae, predation diseases or other plants growing/ taking over their habitat.

Theres allot of complicated names for the chemicals that the plants release but they all do similar things, the most interesting thing i read was that the plant "Nurphar lutea" ( yellow water lilly) causes death to duckweed and and water lettuce and this is done by chemical war fare, Nurphar lutea also doesn't suffer from algae growing on its leaves, also down to chemical war fare.

Another interesting fact about allelopathy is that its used by ADA in its product "phyton git" ( chris's ears have just popped up ) phyton git contains the chemicals that plants use in allelopathy, hence why its used to combat algae.

All this suggest that no matter what you do to your water or fertilization if it doesn't like its neighbour then they wont live happily ever after.

All that depends on all sorts of factors, but something to think about.