# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk >  Help on Vallisneria (tape grass)

## milnek

Need some help on the above. I have planted the said plant for almost a month and its showing no sign of growth whereas my other plants are growing and doing very well.

Can anyone advise or share their culture on the said plant...

My tank specs:
4x2x2 sump tank - 400L
Soil: JBL Aquabasis top with graval
Fert: weekly and weakly (Complete fert)
Lighting: T5 H0 4x39W

Thanks

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## Wabi-Sabi

Vallisneria species are fast growing plants. Strange that yours are not showing signs of growing after a month. 

I am curious, for a 4ft tank, why don't you use 4x54W T5 HO? 

By the way, do you add Co2 in your tank?

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## milnek

Yah thts why im surprised to.. they dont seems to be doing anything except melting away...

Yes its added with CO2 timing is the same as my lighting schedule, 11am to 11pm, daily.

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## Shadow

did you plant too deep into the substrate?

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## milnek

It is likely that i had planted them too deeply.. thanks Robert.

Just took this picture hopefully its clear enough.

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## ranchu

My advice is to cut the leaves 3/4 and let them grow new ones

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## edmund77

hi ranchu normally how long it take to grow?

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## milnek

Thanks for the advise, will give it a last try and if still not doing well im going to pull them up and plant with new plants...




> My advice is to cut the leaves 3/4 and let them grow new ones

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## pustefix8965

Is your water soft? I read somewhere that Vallisneria prefer hard water.

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## milnek

No, the water is hard in fact.

My good friend pass me this book "A Fishkeeper's Guide to Aquarium Plants" by Barry James. It mentioned the following:

Substrate: Plain washed gravel
Lighting: Bright
PH Value: Not critical
Hardness: Not critical
Temperature: 15 - 30C




> Is your water soft? I read somewhere that Vallisneria prefer hard water.

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## juggler

You may want to give it more time? It is a new tank after all and it needs to adjust to the new tank conditions. Leave them as they are. The leaves still look green so it is surviving.

I once kept this Corkscrew Val before and it also did not propagate fast. But friends I know have them growing quickly in their established tanks.

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## ranchu

I normally let them grow for 3 to 4 weeks after cutting the leaves. Sometimes you just have to accept that certain plants will grow and some will not. If you need any Val. to try, you can let me know. I currently have Val. cockscrew, Val. Giant cockscrew, Val. Giant Torta, Val. Torta, Val. Red Torta, Val. Nana, Val. Caulescens, Val. Leopard

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## agitato

i just planted vals in my 5ft tank... all melted in the first 3 days... been about a week now, I'm seeing shoots growing so i guess its something that you've been going through.

The only difference is that I didn't plant them as close as you did

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## waldo

hi. i was wondering if you could give me a lil of the tape grass and another grass that is nice so i can try it in my tank. the pet store near us bearly has plants and i have to drive an hour and a half just to go to a good pet store but its snowing here so could you?

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## AquaObsession

Just planted a bunch of them 2 weeks ago. Surprising it is not growing tall (in my 2 feet tank), they are staying at 20-30 cm, not growing in height, but starting to spread runners. I think just give them time, and the growth will explode. Co2, Mh Lights, Chiller.

Last time I used to have the giant vallisneria plants in a 2*1*1, hahah, covered my whole tank on the top  :Smile: 

I always had this question. How to trim that plant?

Cheers, Christophe

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## ranchu

Bro, just cut the leaves to trim.

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## AquaObsession

no, it does not grow back. The half cut leave will be left to rot in the tank.
so wonder if u cuts cut at the very start of the leaf?

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## Tony

> no, it does not grow back. The half cut leave will be left to rot in the tank.
> so wonder if u cuts cut at the very start of the leaf?


I noticed the same problem in my plant as well. Those leaves that grow too long, if trim mid-way will rot away. Initially thought it is only me. Glad to have a confirmation here.

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## Desewer

hi waldo

the majority of the forummers here are singaporean (you probably know that by now) and our LFS people are quite well versed in such terms. i've called up a few LFS'es making enquiries about the availability of certain products (not the pricing though, they're sensitive about disclosing that over the phone) and for the most part they are able to respond well when i use such aquarium terms. e.g. fluorite substrate, t5 lamps, bio media, etc.

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## Blue Whale

It can grow till 25cm. Just not enough light to super charge that grow. I did a calcualtion with AQ's calculator. Seem like insufficent light. Beng a type 1 plant or easiest to grow plant, you should not need extra dosage things like that.

Suggestions (do either or, not all):
1. Get more light.
2. Move the plant near to your light.
3. Move the light near to your plant.
4. Check the timer, how long do you expose your plant to the light at the moment and +1 or +2 hrs of extra lighting.

The characteristic with this Vallisneria is it yearns to have more light.
2-15dh
ph 6-7.5 (watch that tap water also)
22-30C

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## Blue Whale

> yea. but um here is my prob. i got a whisper power filter 30 and that sponge black part thats inside of it is gone. and i cant return. so is there like a replacement part to it.


This kinda filter problem is the sponge replacement. I once have a different brand one, same like you, hard to find replacements. What I did is I bought this big white and black sponge filter meant for the overhead filters like Dolphin 800, then cut to size and put it in my filter. You could try that if you have exhausted all means. Thereafter it's like once the sponge cannot make it, I just throw and cut a new piece. Piece of cake, no more headaches.

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## xXXXx13

> no, it does not grow back. The half cut leave will be left to rot in the tank.
> so wonder if u cuts cut at the very start of the leaf?





> I noticed the same problem in my plant as well. Those leaves that grow too long, if trim mid-way will rot away. Initially thought it is only me. Glad to have a confirmation here.


Hi, can anyone confirm if the leaves are cut, the remaining leaves will rot? I'm thinking of giving my leaves a trim as it blocked out the lights but do not want to have rotting leaves in the end.

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## |squee|

Yes they will rot. The solution to minimize this issue is to cut as close to the bulb as possible.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

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## xXXXx13

Thanks squee, I'll take note of that.

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