Vallis

[Fishy_7]

About a week ago, I bought some Vallis, along with Amazon swords and Hair Grass to place in my 35 Litre tank. A week on, the Vallis is not doing well at all, leaves have gone brown

Parameters:

• Temp - 26C
• Substrate - Aqua soil Amazonia
• PH - around 5.5 - 6
• Light - 22W total
• soft water
• Nitrate - almost 0

Does it need time to settle or are they doomed. I bought them as they were sold as non-demanding.

Thanks.

 

[Bigpig]

Might be the low ph? I believe Vallis like hard-water?

 

[aaronnorth]

are you dosing any ferts? The plants use NO3 so you may need to dose extra of this, about 20ppm is right.

 

[Bufo Bill]

are you dosing any ferts? The plants use NO3 so you may need to dose extra of this, about 20ppm is right.

sorry, what is the "common" name for NO3?

All the best from Bill.

 

[aaronnorth]

The most common used:

NO3 - nitrate
NH3 - ammonia
PO4 - phosphate
NPK - Nitrate, Phosphate & Pottasium
KH2PO4 - Pottasium Phosphate
KNO3 - pottasium nitrate
Fe - iron

 

[Bufo Bill]

The most common used:

NO3 - nitrate
NH3 - ammonia
PO4 - phosphate
NPK - Nitrate, Phosphate & Pottasium
KH2PO4 - Pottasium Phosphate
KNO3 - pottasium nitrate
Fe - iron

Very useful, thanks. I bow to the master.

All the best from Bill.

 

[RadaR]

Many people with soft water, find it very hard to grow Vallis.
You could try a GH booster. I think root tabs also have calcium in them, so placing a few under the Vallis roots could be good.

 

[ICEEGRL]

Mine grow fine in soft water. They do like harder water, but can deal with soft water. Pull one and see what the roots look like. You are checking for if they are brown or white. (brown is bad) Also check the stump where the roots and leaves join. It should be hard. If it is soft that isn't good. Pull the brown leaves. You don't want them rotting in your tank, and pulling them will encourage it to put out new ones.

How long have you had them? It could be shock from your tank being greatly different from where they were before.
Also they do like a decent amount of light. I don't do liters, so I don't know how that works out to wpg. Is it at least 1 1/2 wpg? If so then that shouldn't be the problem.
How deep are they burried? They do better if only the roots are burried. You should barely see where the roots begin...
Other than those things... I have no idea.

 

[ikongoni]

How long have you had them? It could be shock from your tank being greatly different from where they were before.

I'd agree with ICEEGRL.
Give your Vallis a little more time to establish itself.
Its a very easy plant to grow, but in my experience, it always has an initial die off before it gets acclimatised and then has a growth spurt.

 

[Fishy_7]

I yanked them all out of that tank last night. the roots were going brown and some of the leaves were so rotten, they were sludgy. I have placed them into my larger tank, which has harder and more neutral water to see if they can be rescued.

I wrapped lead weights to them ... would that have had a negative ettect?

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[aaronnorth]

dont use lead weights, it will restrict root growth and sometimes it can kill the plant.

 

[Wolfenrook]

I would put money on it been the soft water. Vallisneria likes a fair bit of calcium in it's water, which is absent in soft water. Give it enough calcium and it grows at an insanely fast rate (especially spiralis).

Oh and yeah Aaran is right, don't use lead weights on plants. Most of them will rot at the base if you do.

Ade