Vals Not Growing

[kylealastairlove]

had a big bunch of vallisneria spirallis for near on a month and i swear it hasnt grown an inch since i had it. i planted the individual plants close to eachother to form a thick curtain look. am i doing anything wrong by doing this, should they be more widely spread out so light can get to the bottom easy ?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Have you got any ferts going on, my vallis benefitted alot from root tabs, i would say they should be no closer than 1.5inches as vallis sends out so many runners it will curtain in no time, mine took a month ortwo to get going but root tabs helped tremendously

 

[kylealastairlove]

im dose a couple of times a week with just a cheap fert i brought from a pets@home shop, hmm i planted mine between 1 and 2 cm apart, do you think i should spread them out a bit more then leave them to it ?

 

[richpowell1989]

mine grow like crazy i have eco complete and does flourish every 5 days. i have 2 x 39w ho t5s my vallis must grow about 4-6 inches every week to a week and a half

what lighting you got

 

[kylealastairlove]

lucky you i have 2 15w bulbs in a 64 litre, not sure how watts per gallon that is, not a lot though i dont think, which is why i decided to go with mostly easy plants that dont need an awful lot of light

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Is your water soft by any chance, vals like hard water too

 

[kylealastairlove]

my water is 'slightly hard' hmm maybe i just need to give them a bit more time

 

[snowflake311]

What's your substrate?

 

[kylealastairlove]

i just have a 1-1.5 inch layer of 'river sand'