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? about jungle Val
2/23/08
Hi. I saw your article on Wet Web media, and I hope you don't mind me
bothering you. I'm expecting some jungle Val I bought from eBay any day now, and
I can't find info anywhere on how far apart these should be planted. My goal is
for them to make more plants than I bought. Do you have any experience on this
you'd mind sharing with me?
Thanks, Daniele
<Daniele, giant species Vallisneria should be planted at least 10-15 cm apart.
If they're happy (i.e., under bright light and in hard, alkaline water) they
grow exceedingly quickly, and the daughter plants appear on runners about 8 cm
long. So they will quickly fill out any empty space. Unless you have a giant
aquarium, you likely won't need very many specimens before they take over the
tank! Cheers, Neale.>
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Val's are melting - New planted tank 11/12/07
Hello.
I am on the second week of fishless cycling of my 12G Eclipse planted tank.
There are the parameters:
Ammonia 8
Nitrites 1,5
Nitrates 5
The light is 2W per gallon.
My Vallisneria is melting away. Not brown, but turns transparent as we speak.
The crowns are planted properly and the substrate is Seachem Flourish Do I need
to cut the old leafs, or wait, or dilute the ammonia? All other plants are OK as
of now (water sprite, Amazon sword, java moss, and java fern)
Thank you,
Tanya
<Hi Tanya. What's the pH and hardness of the water? Vallisneria do best in water
with moderate to high levels of hardness, especially carbonate hardness. In soft
water, especially at acidic pH levels, they do not thrive, and I have seen them
melt just as you describe within a couple of days under such conditions. The
ammonia level is very high, far too high for fish, and really much higher than
you need to cycle a tank. Even 1 mg/l ammonia will do for cycling a tank. While
ammonia doesn't normally harm plants (it is, after all, fertiliser) I'd still be
diluting the ammonia concentration. Having this much ammonia won't speed up
filter maturation any, because the limiting factor for bacterial population
growth isn't likely to be the ammonia availability but oxygen. In the meantime,
remove dead leaves carefully from the crowns of the plants. All else being equal
they will settle back in and new growth will develop in a matter of weeks.
Vallisneria is temperamental about being moved (in fact, most plants are). But
it is a robust species, and once settled in should do fine. Always ensure the
crowns are at or above the surface of the substrate. Good luck, Neale.>
Re: Val's are melting
- New planted tank 11/14/07
Neale.
PH is 7.0. Hardness -don't know because the master kit is still in the
mail. Cut the melted leaves off the Val's as you recommended, diluted
the ammonia and will wait. Thank you, Tanya
<Hello Tanya. That pH is a little on the low side for Vallisneria, which
suggests to me you may have a lack of carbonate hardness. While
Vallisneria can grow in soft water, they always seem to be more delicate
under such conditions. For now, wait until your test kit arrives and
then we can investigate further. With luck, your Vallisneria will get
over their sulk and start growing back. They often do, and once settled
in, they're quite reliable, bullet-proof plants. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Val's are melting
- New planted tank 11/14/07
Neale.
The test kit is here (Tetra Laborette).
GH 21
KH 0 or 1
PH 7
The volume is 12G
I want to keep a pair of Apistos or Blue Rams. What is better for my
water parameters? What about a pair of Kribs - my last choice?
Thank you,
Tanya
<Hello Tanya. The carbonate hardness (KH) is very low. This is going to
cause serious problems in a small aquarium. Carbonate hardness is what
holds the pH steady. General hardness (GH) doesn't do this to any great
extent. Unless you are an expert fishkeeper, I wouldn't recommend
keeping any aquarium at less than 5 degrees KH. We have an article all
about low hardness aquaria, here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsoftness.htm
. Have a read of that to understand the risks and benefits, and how to
work around low carbonate hardness. I can tell you from personal
experience that soft water where the pH fluctuates is lethal to
Vallisneria. They die practically overnight in such conditions. As well
as CO2, Vallisneria removes carbonate hardness from water as a source of
carbon, so the more they photosynthesise, the softer the water gets and
the more the pH fluctuates. Apistogramma species often (but not
universally) prefer soft water conditions, in which case using some
plant other than Vallisneria could make sense. Cryptocoryne for the
bottom of the tank and Ceratopteris for the top would be ideal.
Mikrogeophagus ramirezi want soft and unusually warm (28C) water. Kribs
prefer neutral pH and moderate hardness, but are tolerant. They are
oddly sensitive to pH though: acidic pH results in all-female broods,
and basic pH all-male broods. To get a balance of male and female fry
you need pH 7.0. Cheers, Neale.> |
Re: Jungle Val.
Hi there.
<Hello>
I am hoping you can help me with this problem.
<Will certainly try…>
I received (via the web) 10 Jungle Val plants. They came via USPS priority and
the inside of the box was relatively warm considering it is still winter in the
northern part of Illinois. The plants themselves looked dark green and were from
18 to 36 inches, with good root systems and some runners. The leaves had been
carefully rolled and double bagged.
<Sounds good so far>
I soaked them in some 70* water for a few hours and then planted them in my
planted' tank.
<A true quarantine period would have been better here.>
Within 48 hours all the leaves turned to mush and began to disintegrate. Most of
the leaves are now gone.
<Yuck!>
The question is: What went wrong?
<While it’s certainly not desirable, this does happen from time to time.
The may have been a change in the pH or some other value that affected them. The
change in temperature may have been a factor here too. The 70 degree water that
you soaked them in was undoubtedly cooler than your tank temp and the wide range
of temps experienced over a few days (including shipping time) may have shocked
them. Check the roots and see what they look like. If they still look somewhat
OK, it’s entirely likely that the plants will grow back, it will just take a
little time.
My tank specs are:
125 gal. 50% RO, 50% tap
3 inch substrate mix of gravel and fluorite
PH 7.2
KH 2
400 watts MH 8-9 hours p/day
Plant tabs and Jobe spikes
PMDD 2 ml p/day
approximate 20 amazons, anacharis, crypt. wendtii, water sprite. (plants are
doing well especially hair algae)
CO2 2 bubbles p/second
approximate 40 tetras/SAE's/FFF.
<This all sounds good.>
Any idea's would be appreciated. Thanks. Gil
<You're welcome! Ronni>
Eel grass
HI!!! M working on the biomass assessment and fiber characterization of
Vallisneria gigantea for my research. I've been urfing the net but so far, the
info i got about this invasive plant is not enough. I would really appreciate it
if you can send me more information about this plant. I really need it. Thanks a
lot
<Hmm, suspect you know more than any, perhaps all humans I've met on this
pest and aquarium species... Do take a look through the brief references on the
genus on our site, and if you're not more familiar than I on computer based
bibliography searches, and other techniques for looking through what's known in
print... do take a look at the articles posted there on those topics as well.
Home Page
Bob Fenner, who would also search the AGA (Aquarium Gardeners Association)
archives for references and practical husbandry matters. >
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