# Vallisneria lightings???



## cdarminio (Feb 5, 2016)

Hi,

I'm looking to add some vallisneria to my 60 gal tank. The tank has 2 18" T8 fixtures, so I'm hoping this would be enuf to grow some low light Vals. For substrate I have pool fiIter sand, which I've been told is fine for vals. If anyone could point me to a bulb that will definitely be able to substain vals (sp?) I would appreciate it. What species would do well with low lighting? Thanks


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## frog111 (Feb 13, 2006)

I have grown Vals for years under a variety of conditions. High light, low light and everything in between. CO2, no CO2, excel, no excel. A colleague at work took some of my Vals and has it in a 29 with the stock lid and light, and the Val's, while not propagating quickly, are still sending out new runners periodically. My water is rock hard, which seems to be a preferred water condition for Vallisneria.


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## koiboi (Sep 4, 2011)

My Vals grow bigger and faster in my pool sand/hard water tank than in my Flourish/soft water tank. Which is relative I guess because they both grow large fast, but the hard water/pool sand ones spread more via runners.


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## cdarminio (Feb 5, 2016)

Ok, so will Jungle Val (these r the ones I want) grow fine under almost any T8 bulb? I'm gonna go to Home Depot to get 6500k bulbs, shud these be ok?


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## serenityfate (Jan 29, 2014)

i grow val "tiger" in low light conditions and they do fine ! IME when i grew vals in sand substrate , it was harder for me to produce runner. But when i switched up to ada soil it was easier. Maybe the substrate was less compact so the runners were easily grown?


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

when I planted some vals in new Eco,they sent out runners and grew,then stopped.I added O+ tabs and they immediately began sending runners and growing again.Mine are spiralis.I don't think my water is hard enough for them.

currently growing in a 24" tall tank with a finnex planted+.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

cdarminio said:


> Ok, so will Jungle Val (these r the ones I want) grow fine under almost any T8 bulb? I'm gonna go to Home Depot to get 6500k bulbs, shud these be ok?


 Yes.:wink2:


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## cdarminio (Feb 5, 2016)

Thank yo so much everyone for your advice and input! I will let u all know how it turns out!


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

cdarminio said:


> Ok, so will Jungle Val (these r the ones I want) grow fine under almost any T8 bulb? I'm gonna go to Home Depot to get 6500k bulbs, shud these be ok?


Careful using comon names with Vals,they call V.americanus,V.spiralis and V.giganticus "jungle".big difference in them.I learned that the hard way,wanted tall ones for a 24" high tank and got spiralis.


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## cdarminio (Feb 5, 2016)

MtAnimals said:


> Careful using comon names with Vals,they call V.americanus,V.spiralis and V.giganticus "jungle".big difference in them.I learned that the hard way,wanted tall ones for a 24" high tank and got spiralis.


Wow, thank you for mentioning this. Which species do you recommend as the hardiest, most likely to thrive in low light, etc...?


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

the only one I have experience with is spiralis,it seems pretty tough.I understand most of it is pretty hard to kill.I have a couple of them in a spec V with the Stock spec LED and they are growing.It's not a very bright light.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Mine do fine, even with minimal light from an old low power spiral cfl. Even in inert gravel. I just feed plantamin once a month.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

This is the cultivar that I have in my tanks and in some of my tanks it grows under low light in gravel with very little fertilizing.
Vallisneria americana 'Gigantea' - Tropica Aquarium Plants
If I leave it, it will go up to the top as in this photo. In a tank where I want to have some cover for fry, I leave it twisting around the surface of the tank. If I don't want that to happen, I trim it off so that it is just above the water line and doesn't shade other plants. 
It gets very long and mine is about 3/4" wide.
It is an extremely undemanding plant.


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