# Vallisneria turning brown



## rhodesengr (Nov 23, 2008)

I have two types of Vallisneria in my tank, straight and spiral. The straight stuff is not doing well. The leaves are turning brown. I have been using some Excel ( a cap every few days) and have seen some posts that it can affect vallisneria. The spiral val is not turning brown but not really growing that much either. I also use some Kents and some regular Flourish. I tested the pH and it might have been a liitle high so I put it back to 7. I have good 96W lighting. I was at about 8 hours a day. I tried increasing the light time but maybe it is even worse. So what makes Vallisneria turn brown?
Here are three photos of the stuff tuening brown and one of the spiral stuff that is not turning brown.




























here is the spiral val that is not turning brown


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## SeaSerpant (Feb 20, 2008)

I am thinking that there are not enough nutrients in the substrate and they don't have enough to grow. It may be that there is too much light than there is nutrients so it can't catch up with one or the other (if that makes sense) and if that is the case what size is your tank? I have lots of vals and it only turns brown when it is disconected from the roots or has been broken in the place. So i'm thinking lack of nutrients to the roots.

I hope your vals make it

SeaSerpant


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## rhodesengr (Nov 23, 2008)

I set tank up with Seachem Florite. It is 36 gallons. The tank has been up for about a year but the straight val has only been in for about one month. How can I get more nutrients in the soil. I thought the Flourite was supposed to be good for nutrients.


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## SeaSerpant (Feb 20, 2008)

Sorry bot i forgot to say :welcome: to the PlantedTank!
Maybe i am wrong. Since you only put the vals in a bit ago it may be in a melting phase then should grow right back. But i may be totally wrong. Since those brown ones are probably dead i would remove them from the aquarium.

Lets hear someone elses opinion!

SeaSerpant


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

My guess is that the Excel is melting them. You might try dropping the dosage down a little to try and "acclimate" them to Excel slowly. I'd trim away all the brown leaves and see if the plants start putting up any new leaves. If they don't you may need to stop the Excel if you want to keep the Vals.


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## DarioDario (Nov 8, 2008)

I had a similar straight val as you, I found when I dosed excel near the val that it would melt back. I had a similar setup as you, red flourite, and dosing excel. It did do well so don't feel discouraged.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Flourite is an inert substrate. It doesn't provide nutrients in adequate amounts to grow plants. However, it does provide some of the trace elements in small quantities, probably enough to support slow growth. But the plants need nitrates, phosphates and potassium to grow well. If the light isn't too intense the fish poop will be adequate to support vals.

The amount of light you have suggests that you need either a lot of fish providing the nutrients or some fertilizer dosing. And, I agree with the previous comments that Excel is known to be very hard on vals. Vals don't need Excel anyway, since they can get carbon from carbonates in the water. If the KH is a few degrees of KH you should have enough carbonates for the vals.


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## rich815 (May 21, 2008)

Your excel is melting them!


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## rhodesengr (Nov 23, 2008)

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

I did a partial water change and will stop the Excel for a while. It didn't seem to help the other plants much anyway.

Is there a preferred method to add nutients directly into the substrate?

I just started with planted tanls about a year ago so I stumble along. Can someone explain the term "melting"?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

http://www.petmountain.com/product/plant-nutrients/503318/seachem-flourish-tablets-10-pack.html is one way to fertilize the substrate. A better way is to use mineralized topsoil as the underlayer in the substrate. Neither of these methods provides nitrates and phosphates needed for plant growth. With relatively low light fish poop will provide those.


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## rich815 (May 21, 2008)

Hoppy said:


> http://www.petmountain.com/product/plant-nutrients/503318/seachem-flourish-tablets-10-pack.html is one way to fertilize the substrate. A better way is to use mineralized topsoil as the underlayer in the substrate. Neither of these methods provides nitrates and phosphates needed for plant growth. With relatively low light fish poop will provide those.



"...Sea Chem Flourish Tabs contain no phosphate or nitrate that would promote algae proliferation..."

Argh! Why is it a feature when something does NOT contain phosphates and nitrates!? And as if THAT is the main reason of algae! :icon_roll

They fail to mention that phosphates or nitrates promote plant proliferation too!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

WonderGro fert tabs from www.GreenLeafAquariums.com contain a full range of micros AND macros, my swords love them. :thumbsup:


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