Aquarium Plants

[handy-andy]

A couple of months ago I arrived home to discover the glass support straddling the top of my tank had collapsed. The sides of the tank were bowed out in alarming fashion and I had a frantic weekend sourcing a new tank, and swapping it all over.

A few months later and all my valisneria (sp?) has died off. Previously it grew so wildly I had to prune it regularly. All my other plants, (swords and anubias mainly) are doing great. Does valis dislike being moved? Have I just failed to get the root system adequately into the gravel when I replanted them? I'm still fertilising/water changing/filter cleaning exactly as per pre tank failure.

Another thing I've noticed with the Valisneria is that it seems to hate being in front of the filter outlet spray bar. As a result I had one side of my tank chock full of valis, and the other side (in front of the spray bar) completely devoid of it. This is a bummer, because I really want the plant to grow in that area to hide the filter and heater! The spray bar is completely submerged. Would directing the spray bar more towards the surface help I wonder?

All I want are beautiful, hardy, tall plants, that require minimal maintenance - that's not asking much, surely .

Any advice appreciated.

[Alan]

Bit late now, but if you had of dropped your water level to 25% full, then your tank could have been fixed insitu.

Sometimes it pays to have a top brace running long ways, or the centre brace wider(more glue surface), or put an extra piece of glass under the narrower brace, also increases the glue area.

Yes the val does sulk at times, I think it prefers an alkaline situation, but I wouldn't bet my house on it.

Alan 104

[Luke*]

If your weather is anywhere near as good as it is up here, you might consider putting a shoot in a tank outside in the sun, flag heating it over summer at least. The amount of sun it gets will boost a shoot you can reintroduce to your tank later.