[Emerald Terror]

I currently am running a 60 gallon with java fern, amazon swords, and jungle val. Everything is growing amazing and I love the tank. However my main concern right now is the Val. I originally bought it because it was supposed to grow fast and tank over the tank. (thought it made an amazing background plant) I've had it for 2 months now and its growth up is great, some leaves are even spreading across the top of the water however I want to see more runners from this plant. I'm using flourish once a week and i do weekly 30% water changes.

Question:
How long should I expect it to take before it starts to grow runners?

Is it worth it to use root tabs for this plant?(I was told to do this for the swords but they're such fast growers it doesn't even matter)

 

[rexpepper651]

I currently am running a 60 gallon with java fern, amazon swords, and jungle val. Everything is growing amazing and I love the tank. However my main concern right now is the Val. I originally bought it because it was supposed to grow fast and tank over the tank. (thought it made an amazing background plant) I've had it for 2 months now and its growth up is great, some leaves are even spreading across the top of the water however I want to see more runners from this plant. I'm using flourish once a week and i do weekly 30% water changes.

Question:
How long should I expect it to take before it starts to grow runners?

Is it worth it to use root tabs for this plant?(I was told to do this for the swords but they're such fast growers it doesn't even matter)

mines growing really slow too but ive been doing huge water changes lately an they seem love it. ive had 5 new runners in the last 2 weeks. from some videos ive seen. vals tend to stay shorter in sand substrates compared to dirt but this could also be not true. ive seen it on a dustinsfish tanks video. he had a half dirt have sand or gravel tank. ive had my vals for about 4 months now and have just started getting lots of runners. im using flourish once a week as well along with root tabs. im sure it depends on light, co2 in the water colum and nutrients.

 

[Emerald Terror]

I've seen that video. I'm using just sand and it's huge now. Maybe it just needs more time to grow. I seemed to do that alot where I expect my plants to be huge when I really just need to give them more time.

 

[rexpepper651]

yeah mine are short. about 8 inches tall. im the same way i expected huge amounts of growth in a couple weeks. lol

 

[Emerald Terror]

yeah mine are short. about 8 inches tall. im the same way i expected huge amounts of growth in a couple weeks. lol

It makes it hard when you see people with big beautiful plants and you have like a little sword and java fern.

 

[rexpepper651]

oh i know! dont expect java fern to grow fast at all tho. such a slow growing plant to begin with. those tanks make me jelly!

 

[DKRST]

Could be your water parameters? I've had val for two years and it's hardly grown. Finally figured out my water is really too soft. If I add hardness booster, the plant grows great. Without, anemic...

 

[Emerald Terror]

Could be your water parameters? I've had val for two years and it's hardly grown. Finally figured out my water is really too soft. If I add hardness booster, the plant grows great. Without, anemic...

I live in southern califorina we have some of the hardest water in the country.

 

[Boredomb]

I have had this plant in the past. It did great for me. I used both flourish comprehensive and flourish root tabs as this plant (same as your sword) get a lot of nutrients from the roots and would appreciate the root tabs.

 

[Emerald Terror]

I have had this plant in the past. It did great for me. I used both flourish comprehensive and flourish root tabs as this plant (same as your sword) get a lot of nutrients from the roots and would appreciate the root tabs.

I've done a ton of research today, from what I understand I should let it grow and once all the leaves are getting big I should trim it. This should force the plant to start using nutrients for runners rather then growth up. I might invest the extra dollars in the tabs just to help future growth. Hopefully runners will show up soon.

 

[JDM]

Root tabs might make them grow faster but I don't think that they will help if you want runners. I tried tabs and ended up pulling them out and using them only for the swords. Since then I have runners and new plants that about double what I started with. I think that some of the leaves are over 3' so my tank starts to get that comb over look to it... Which is what I was aiming for. I trimmed them for the first time yesterday... for various reasons.

Jeff.