I was doing some research on the size of corkscrew val and for a while alll I could find was that they stay small :-(. Then I came across a few sites that suggested the amount of light has an effect on the length of the val. In a high light tank, vals have no reason to get taller, but in a low light tank the vals grow up torwards the light to get more light. So the lower the light, the longer the val. How does everyone else feel about this? I am going to try and grow corkscrew val in a low light tank and hope they grow to around 15 inches.
Thats what it said on some of the sites. Vals grow and stay very healthy in low and high light tanks, but in high light tanks they have no reason to grow tall. Instead they use that energy to send out runners
That makes sense to me. If you put a land plant in shade, it will become more "leggy" - have longer and skinnier branches in an attempt to get to the sun. But if you put it in full sun, there's no reason for it to do that. And it can focus on thicker branches and healthier leafs... Not sure about the last part, though, but it seems logical. I have noticed my tomato plants in the shade grew rather leggy, while the ones in the sun grew more "normally."
So it makes sense they would grow longer to reach the sun. My tank has 30 watts over 50 gallons. My vals grow quite long even when they reach the top they fold over.
Yes, this is the case with many aquarium plants. Echinodorus and Helanthium are particularly noted for this. As is mentioned in the plant profile, the pygmy chain sword height will be in relation to the light intensity.
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