Magic plants?

[fishorama]

I have a 75g that only had 2 big swords now. It used to have more but the "jungle" vals died off from Excel when I had BGA ~4 years ago. Well, really, they were stunted from the Excel & I pulled them out. Got that under control then got BBA maybe 2 years ago. The crypts hated that & I pulled off leaves as they got infected. Then recently it's been hair algae. It's seems to be on its way out, fingers crossed.

But now, suddenly! I have both a few vals & some crypts! So I guess the val roots were waiting for 4 years to come back to life? I know I missed some roots but 3-4 years later with no leaves at all? They don't look great (yet?), still small ~3 inches. The crypts I can understand since I just removed leaves but they had no leaves left either for, more than a year & no ferts. That's not quite true, I saw a leaf or 2 that eventually got BBA.

This is amazing to me!!

 

[Darth Vader]

Congratulations! Post a pic if you can.

 

[Pinkey]

Life, uh, finds a way. . .

 

[Darth Vader]

Life, uh, finds a way. . .View attachment 233397

Always loved jurassic park. Nice to see someone else here knows Dr. Malcolm.

 

[fishorama]

Sorry, I can't do pics. I don't have a smart phone. I think these maybe the "skinny" species of "jungle val". I have some that are little wider in another tank. I think the crypts are few different wendtii types.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Have you done any substrate ferts for them?

 

[fishorama]

Not lately. The tank has been set up for 12+ years so the is some fish poo

 

[Rbishop]

In my limited opinion, it may be time for some tank re-structure. Possibly a shallow replacement or about 20% of the substrate at a time. Allowing new growth for everything there.

 

[fishorama]

I used to deep vacuum before I had many plants. Now I only do a shallow vac near plants at most. I'm pretty sure the swords roots go everywhere! I accidentally uncovered 1 sword corm type thing (near the crown, I can't think of the name) & I can't get it buried between the roots & corys' digging. It's not a happy on that side but a less bushy sword might not be a bad thing. There's no hardscape in it anymore

My rehomed corys are pretty old so I'll probably wait them out to redo the tank again. I did it ~ 5 years ago. I was hosting my plant club & trying to tidy it up. I grabbed some java moss to thin it & pulled up all the wood in there, 3 ~10 x 5 x 5 inches, Just what I didn't want to do, especially right then! I deep vacuumed, put the wood in the garage & hoped for the best. Someone brought a baby sword so I planted it at 1 end.

I tend to treat my tanks as evolving, not always in ways I'd prefer. When I'm given plants, I try very hard remove any java moss but have it in 2 tanks; a little in this 75 & much more in my "river-ish" 55g (sigh). Might be as troublesome as duckweed...in the same 2 tanks

 

[fishorama]

Well, a short update. The crypts are growing taller & prettier. But the still small vals are popping up in surprising places. Of couse, the tallest val is at the front of the tank...Hair algae is back after I thought I had it on the way out...It's always something!