does this need gravel at all?? can i just weigh these down with plants
weights, because i am going to have a very fine scattering of dark coarse
sand on the tank bottom.
Will this work?

"Tony Volk" wrote in message
...
I believe Val needs to be in the substrate, and a nutrient-rich substrate
at
that. Certainly my Vals have not done too well when they weren't placed
in
a nutrient-rich substrate (in my case, coarse and fine gravel with
fertilizer tabs). Cheers,

Tony
I have Vals growing very well in Fluorite, no substrate ferts, just the Tom
Barr method. They do best with high K.
bob

"Tony Volk" wrote in message
...
I believe Val needs to be in the substrate, and a nutrient-rich substrate
at
that. Certainly my Vals have not done too well when they weren't placed
in
a nutrient-rich substrate (in my case, coarse and fine gravel with
fertilizer tabs). Cheers,

I'm finding this out with my spiralis actually. I'm getting substrate
fertilizer balls next week and the Val. patch is getting one (hopefully I
can insert it without disturbing their roots too much).

I believe it thrives if potassium is prevalent. If it works then I'll get
some more because it looks great in the tank in the corner where it is and
the fish love swimming through it. It's also funny to watch the SAE's follow
the spiral around as they graze up the leaves.

The Val. in my tank has picked up quite significantly since I started daily
liquid fertilization about a week ago, but my male Honey Gourami has a
really stupid habit of swimming straight into the fertilizer when I add it
to the tank (he's too friendly) and I'm getting really worried that sooner
or later he's going to suffer micro-nutrient poisoning.

We'll see after I've added the substrate fertilizer and some more plants
whether I need to keep this daily liquid thing going or not. Hopefully I
won't and a weekly dose with water changes will be all that's required.

The liquid stuff I'm using states on the label that there is no phosphate or
nitrate in the mixture but I'm now getting green algae on the rocks, and
it's funny that it's only appeared since the diatoms went and the liquid
fertilizer started. Time to look at getting some Seachem Flourish me thinks
I'll leave it for now though, because it actually looks okay and the
SAE's like to have a chomp on it.

On the Tape Grass thread; I am going to try some Australian native Eel Grass
from a local garden centre. It's an Oz form of Val. apparently, but this lot
is going to be planted in washed river sand with high potassium tabs in it,
so I'll let y'all know how that goes because Val. hasn't been one of my most
startling successes to date and I'm sure it something I'm doing wrong - like
omitting substrate fertilizer from the start of the tank ;(

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith

In article ,
Ozdude wrote:
I'm finding this out with my spiralis actually. I'm getting substrate
fertilizer balls next week and the Val. patch is getting one (hopefully I
can insert it without disturbing their roots too much).

I believe it thrives if potassium is prevalent.

No, it thrives is potassium is not the limiting factor. But it
also needs nitrates, phosphates, Iron, and trace elements.

The Val. in my tank has picked up quite significantly since I started daily
liquid fertilization about a week ago, but my male Honey Gourami has a
really stupid habit of swimming straight into the fertilizer when I add it
to the tank (he's too friendly) and I'm getting really worried that sooner
or later he's going to suffer micro-nutrient poisoning.

No, he'll be ok.

The liquid stuff I'm using states on the label that there is no phosphate or
nitrate in the mixture but I'm now getting green algae on the rocks, and
it's funny that it's only appeared since the diatoms went and the liquid
fertilizer started. Time to look at getting some Seachem Flourish me thinks
I'll leave it for now though, because it actually looks okay and the
SAE's like to have a chomp on it.

The green algae is forming because you don't have enough nitrates.

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"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
I believe it thrives if potassium is prevalent.

No, it thrives is potassium is not the limiting factor. But it
also needs nitrates, phosphates, Iron, and trace elements.

So fertilizer tabs in the substrate that are balanced would do the trick?

The Val. in my tank has picked up quite significantly since I started
daily
liquid fertilization about a week ago, but my male Honey Gourami has a
really stupid habit of swimming straight into the fertilizer when I add it
to the tank (he's too friendly) and I'm getting really worried that sooner
or later he's going to suffer micro-nutrient poisoning.

No, he'll be ok.

He seems to be but I still worry. I think I may switch from daily fertilizer
to once per week with the change water because I'm getting green algae all
over the place now and I'm sure it's from too much fertilizer, too often. It
may get worse if I keep up dailies with substrate fertilizer as well.
Perhaps when the fertilizer balls go in I should stop daily and weeklies
altogether? I guess it's a do-and-run thing and I'll just have to see what
works for the tank.


The green algae is forming because you don't have enough nitrates.

Really? How do you up the nitrates? Stop changing the water so much?

I thought too much phosphate caused it? What-ever, I guess something is out
of balance in the tank and it needs to be addressed quick smart. Any ideas?

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith