Growing vallisneria in soft water

[radface]

Vallisneria's known to drop its leaves when first introduced, but it'll bounce back with the right light and nutrients.

[bettaMagenta]

I'm still in the dark about which type of val I've got - just whatever Maidenhead Aquatics had in stock. I'll give root tabs a go and see what happens. Fingers crossed it'll take off. If not, I'm back to square one - what else can handle high current and our soft water? My pH's around 6.6, so that's another thing to consider.

[whetu]

I've had some experience with val in the past, and I can confidently say it does really well in soft, acidic water. I recall a friend of mine had a massive discus tank, and all he had in it was val - it looked absolutely stunning.

[CasCat]

Vals are notorious for melting, and I can attest to that - since moving mine back into my 55 after that whole hand sanitizer debacle, they've been protesting the move and have indeed melted. I've found Anubias to be fairly sturdy though, and they might just be able to handle some flow, worth considering in your case with all that current.

[bettaMagenta]

I had anubias in this tank before and it was a disaster, ended up binning it. I've got some in my 240L and it's doing great, so no idea why it hated the 125L. Guess it just didn't like the vibe.

I like the val's natural, rivery look - you know, if you ignore the massive decor.

[CasCat]

There's a type of crypt that I think might do alright in your setup, similar to vals, but the exact species is slipping my mind at the moment.

[shakinStevens]

My water's around 5.7 dGH and I've found vallisneria does alright, I think the key is it's a root feeder so it's probably more about the nutrients in the substrate or using root tabs.

Calcium and magnesium are essential for plant growth. Without enough, growth is slow or the plant dies. Most fertilizers, including Flourish Comprehensive, lack these or have insufficient amounts. While many fertilizers contain magnesium, I believe it's often not enough. Ideally, magnesium and phosphate should be roughly equal, with calcium three times higher.

The GH test measures calcium and magnesium. One degree of hardness should suffice for plants, but sometimes it's not enough. Most people aim for a GH of 3 to 6 degrees and use a GH booster to increase water hardness.

It's common for fertilizers to omit essential nutrients. Many don't believe chlorine is a plant nutrient, but it is. However, chlorine gas or chloramine in tap water is toxic, whereas calcium chloride is safe. Some fertilizers lack copper, which is present in tap water due to copper pipes. Most also lack nickel and are zinc-deficient. Fertilizer manufacturers often assume the water contains the missing nutrients.

If your tank has a nutrient deficiency, you'll likely experience algae growth. When all nutrients are present, algae control becomes much easier.

I know this from personal experience, having spent five years struggling to grow plants and dealing with hair algae. I used RO/DI water and an inert substrate, so there were no nutrients from the water or substrate. Flourish Comprehensive didn't work for me. I eventually created my own fertilizer, discovering that my problem was largely due to deficiencies in boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum.

[bettaMagenta]

I've got hardly any algae in that tank, so I ended up moving my otos to one that's got a bit more going on. Before we set it up as a pleco breeding tank and added all those powerheads, the big leafy plant was doing amazingly well. Turns out, lots of those leafy plants aren't too fond of strong currents, which explains why it's struggling now.