Caring for Vals

nagukush

nagukush

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Jan 1, 2008
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Hi Friends !

Just wanted to know more about the care and keeping of Vals. I'm not sure which types of Vals are the ones that I have but I guess they're doing pretty well. I say this because the plants which were in a real bad shape have almost reached the surface and have developed healthy green colors within a time of about 15 to 20 days... 2 of my vals have even produced runners and 1 baby plant each...

I'm planning to keep these vals as a majority - i mean have a theme of Vals jungle like thing... I have only about 5 plants which have become 7 now.

Just wanted to know more about their care and keeping so that I can have a dense jungle of vals !

What kinds of nutrients do they need ? Tablets or will Liquids do ?
Do they require very high Co2 levels ? Will a DIY co2 or Floursih Excell be enough ?

Kindly guide me a little because I dont want to spend too much on the plant things like lights, co2, nutrients etc, i.e if vals dont require them... I hope I'm not wasting money getting fancy things....

Kindly guide me a little...
Thanks and Regards
Kush
 
vals like light and co2, they are root feeders but can get enough nutrients through the water.. From what i remember your vals looked like Italian vals, which get really big. Once they start going over the water surface you will need to maintain them so they dont block the light.

And DONT use EXCEL with vals, you will lose all of them
 
for me they were the easiest plant. they grew in my 1 wpg no co2 or fert tank. it was just a mature tank with regular gravel.

to flourish, grow it in a med light tank with a good substrate and fert tabs. add co2 and dry ferts POOF! u'll have a forest in no time. I realized my vals are about 2 feet long and they covered the surface of the tank. sometimes they grew more than an inch a night. it was amazing.

i don't think u'll have any trouble at all.
 
My corkscrew vals are now flourishing since I moved them to higher light. They were doing very poorly in the shade of other plants but are now sending runners all over the place. I'm doing diy co2 and dosing dry ferts. I like the jungle look, too. :)
 
They will grow in low light with no CO2, but will grow like crazy in a high-light and CO2 tank.
 
Vals generally are quite hardy and do OK in low light conditions but better still in higher light and with proper ferts. It sounds like the environment in your tank is condusive to growing Vals. (are they Italian Vals?)

I have Italian Vals in my 40 gallon and they do pretty well with no ferts and 2 watts of lighting per gallon. They never quiet reach the surface however so it sounds like you are having better success than I.
 
I also kept vals in a low light tank (1.7wpg) with no co2, with plenty of fish in the tank. They grew plenty fast and big for my liking.

If you trim your vals, make straight cuts across the leaves so the remaining leaf doesn't start to split. If it gets ragged and begins to die, the entire leaf will die eventually. Don't bury the base of the plant (where the leaves come out) in the substrate.. make sure it's exposed.

Vals can't tolerate Excel.
 
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