Why can't I keep this alive.

Welsh

This is my second attempt at Straight Vallis. I had one for about a month and it was brittle and then turned yellow and died, I bought two more yesterday and love them because the strands are very long which trail the surface but I want to know how to keep these things green and alive, my tank is low-light with a 15watt bulb and I dose once a week with fertiliser.

redchigh

How deep is your tank? (If you tank is deeper, you may need more light.)

What kind of lighting do you have? (Should be 6500k ideally)

What kind of fertiliser do you use?(Flourish is the best from what I hear, along with Kent's brand of ferts)

What's your temperature in the tank? (76-79 F is ideal)

Welsh

My tank is 12" deep

I have no idea what the lighting is, all I know is its standard 15 watt which came with the tank.

The ferts I use is King British Aquatic Plant Fertiliser, this is the only thing I could get my hands on at the time.

Temp - 80F

JohnnyD44

can you look at the blub and see if you can get the 'k' reading? as redchigh pointed out, 6500K is ideal.

If this is a standard light which came with your tank, my initial guess is it's not enough lighting to keep your plants alive.

Also, you said it's 12" deep, how many gallons is your tank?

Welsh

It doesn't say anything on the bulb, its just blank lol.

It's a 12 gallon

I thought Vallis were supposed to be low-tech plants lol

redchigh

They are low tech plants, but they're still tropicals.

Still need quality light, (the lights are only $6 or so for a new bulb).

Welsh

Yeah I'll be getting a new bulb anyway, I've had enough of the yellow tinted look, it makes my eyes hurt haha

So a stronger light and thats it, after that they shouldn't die?

dfbiggs

yeah they need to start marking those bulbs..When I bought my tank it said it was a specific planted tank and you would assume they would have good light bulbs. They also had no marking. So I assumed they were generic stock bulbs and replaced them.

zof

Stronger is not what you need (although might be helpful) you need a bulb at the right color temperature, which is designated in the kelvin scale. Here is a link to wikipedia about Color Temperature if you want to do some more reading. But don't think its all that complicated basically what you need to know is plants like natural sunlight, sunlight occurs on the kelvin scale at 6500k, so if you want your plants to be at their best you should find a bulb close to this number if not right on it.

Hope that helps a little.

Byron

Agree on the light. If is is "yellow" it is warm (more red than blue) so while red is important the blue is probably missing. You have basic harder water if memory serves me from other threads, so that suits Vallisneria which does better in harder water.

This plant is one that frequently people have trouble keeping alive, if the accounts I've red in forums is any indication. It is a heavy feeder, so using Flourish Comprehensive twice a week (second dose about 3 days after the first each week) may help, with the new tube.

Byron.