Valis Quandaries

[qwikimpss]

Before moving to maine my water was hard but I had a crappy substrate so I had tons of 3 1/2 inch tall corkscrew valis, after I moved I put in eco-complete and they shot straight up, but with the soft water I haven't seen as much as a single runner.

Has anyone else experienced this?

My set up is a 29 gallon tank, eco-complete substrate, a 65 watt CF light as well as a 20 watt normal output flourescent. I dose SeaChem Flourish 2 times a week with a DIY CO2 set up that usually stays right about 30 ppm. Current water stats are:

PH 6.6
kH 2 degrees (one degree equal to 17.9 ppm)
gH 2 degrees (one degree equal to 17.9 ppm)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 ppm

I've been thinking about putting in some baking soda to bring up the kH to see if the Valis would respond and send some runners but I don't want to bring up the PH too much because of my Rummy Noses and German Blue Ram. Any Ideas?

 

[zig]

Yeah i gave up on vallis a long time ago for the same reasons, my KH is also very low <2, it would grow but very slowly.......reallly sllloowwly, anyway, started growing Cyperus helferi instead, nice plant similar looking to vallis, and no problems growing it in low KH.

 

[qwikimpss]

Yeah, it grows relatively fast now but doesnt spread like I'm used to, thinking of ditching it when I have a few bucks.