Why Only Jungle Val Hurting In Planted Tank?

Flora: Monte Carlo, Alternanthera ReineckiI Rosanervig, Anubias Petite, Hygrophila Difformis, Amazon Swords, Red Flame Sword, Ludwigia Broadleaf, Pothos, Golden Nesaea, a dwarf water lily and Jungle Val.

I have a 75 gallon tank and the left half is heavily planted with all these plants while the right side is open and deep. On the planted side I have 2 Finnex Planted+ 24/7 Aquarium LED KLC-24A lights that run for 6 hours a day. I dose Easy Green every 3 days and feed fish every other day. I do a 50 - 60% water change once a week. I have a SunSun 302 and PenPlex Cascade 1000 canister filters. I diffuse co2 slightly before lights turn on at about 2-3 bps and turn off slightly before lights turn off. The substrate is Carib Sea Eco Complete with root tabs spread throughout. I have a small colony (6-10) of cherry shrimp, 2 amano shrimp, and a number of nerite snails. My nitrates are usually in the range of 5-15 depending on water change. I'm not sure on phosphate (test kit on its way) or potassium. Nitrites and ammonia are 0. Temp is kept between 78 and 82.

This combination has kept algae at bay so far with little to none growing on my plants and glass. It has also reaped great growth rate, color, and apparent health from my plants, with the exception of the jungle val. I had most of these plants in a 30 gallon planted all growing healthily. When I moved to the 75, the jungle val have been the only ones having a difficult time. The taller ones are slowing yellowing, the young developing runners died off, and many of the leaves are susceptible to algae. Whenever leaves (of any plant) show signs of moderate algae growth, I trim it. So the once dense, lush forest of jungle val I had is thinning.

What's wrong with my jungle val?

 

Are you dosing Excel / Glute at all?

 

Are you dosing Excel / Glute at all?

I have Excel, but not currently using it.

 

I have Excel, but not currently using it.

Excel will kil val's so... don't use it.

Apart from that I'm not sure, do you know your gH / kH?

If I remember correctly vals like higher gH....

 

Excel will kil val's so... don't use it.

Apart from that I'm not sure, do you know your gH / kH?

If I remember correctly vals like higher gH....

Last I checked, which was a couple weeks ago admittedly, dGH: 7-9; dKH: 5-7

 

Any pictures??

 

pictures would help

how long have they been in the new tank?

 

how long have they been in the new tank?

Picture coming later when I take lunch. It's been a little over 1 month in the 75 gallon.

 

Picture coming later when I take lunch. It's been a little over 1 month in the 75 gallon.

any chance your user name is from breaking bad?

 

any chance your user name is from breaking bad?

Haha no, I just googled that and a crazy coincidence lol. It's just a pun of my real name. I actually never got into Breaking Bad.

pictures would help

I only have this one decent pic of the problem. I might have to let them go a few days or a week and post again because like I said, if I see any yellowing or algae beginning to develop I trim right away so the decaying/sick leaf won't cause issues elsewhere so there wasn't much to photograph at this time.

I should add also that I haven't seen much new growth either. I don't see any new runners peeking out or anything- but plenty of new healthy growth with my other plants

 

they look actuslly a lot better then a lot of peoples actually. That’s the substrate there in? how long have they been in there? a lot of times, my val’s can die back for weeks and weeks before deciding to explode one day.

 

they look actuslly a lot better then a lot of peoples actually. That’s the substrate there in? how long have they been in there? a lot of times, my val’s can die back for weeks and weeks before deciding to explode one day.

Yes, that's Carib Sea Eco Complete. Root tabs spread throughout, they've been in that the entire time they were in the 30 gal and the 75 gallon. The parts of the plants I keep look the best, so currently yes, the group looks pretty healthy. But if I were to give it a week or so, more start to look like that one in the pic.

Maybe they are still dying back from the move (hopefully that's the issue). I would love to see this get really dense and explode with growth.

 

Agree, they look pretty good I think. I would just pinch off the older damaged leaves. Could be mechanical damage or just the older leaves melting away.

Give it a chance to establish. I have one val plant in my 33g, it sat there in the back not growing for months, then one day after I blocked some light with floating plants, it started to grow taller. I have it thriving in other tanks, just sometimes it takes a bit to get going. Once they acclimate and start propagating, they really burst out with growth.

Val is typically an easy plant to grow. Much easier than Monte Carlo and reneikii. Makes no sense why it wouldn't grow for you.

 

Got the phosphate test kit in today. Today is 2 days after dosing Easy Green- Nitrates: 5-7 and Phosphates: 4-5.

From the research I've done, this is likely the cause of the small amount of algae I do have. I have read the nitrate to phosphate level in planted tanks should be anywhere between 5:1 to 10:1, depending on what works for me. Not sure the high phosphates are negatively contributing specifically to the jungle val. Though, if algae is having an impact on the jungle val then maybe getting rid of the rest of the algae will help- certainly won't hurt. Still need to test my tap water for phosphates, but will be working on lowering them nonetheless.

Let me know of any great ideas for lowering phosphates, otherwise I'm going to use the seachem PhosGuard I have laying around.

 

Let me know of any great ideas for lowering phosphates, otherwise I'm going to use the seachem PhosGuard I have laying around.

Don't lower them, raise your NO3 to yield a more desirable NO3 : PO4 ratio.

 

Don't lower them, raise your NO3 to yield a more desirable NO3 : PO4 ratio.

Interesting, I thought too high of either nitrate or phosphate causes algae. Is there something about the ratio of NO3 : PO4 itself that causes algae?

Just read this thread after reading your comment, Chanyi. The comments by Nutter support that and explain a little about what might be happening here. Though my phosphates are higher than average, excess nutrients don't necessarily contribute to algae growth. If my nitrates aren't enough for the amount of plants I have for them to grow to their potential, then the algae and the slow growth of the Val's could be due to this deficiency. Does that sound possible?

 

Interesting, I thought too high of either nitrate or phosphate causes algae. Is there something about the ratio of NO3 : PO4 itself that causes algae?

Just read this thread after reading your comment, Chanyi. The comments by Nutter support that and explain a little about what might be happening here. Though my phosphates are higher than average, excess nutrients don't necessarily contribute to algae growth. If my nitrates aren't enough for the amount of plants I have for them to grow to their potential, then the algae and the slow growth of the Val's could be due to this deficiency. Does that sound possible?

That thread is from 2011... a lot has changed.

In a tank full of rapid growing plants, 50% or greater weekly water changes, a typical amount of NO3 dosed is 10-20 ppm weekly, and PO4 of 3-7ppm.

I personally was dosing 20ppm NO3 and 7.5ppm PO4 for a long time when I had my tank set up with fast growing plants and 50% weekly water changes.

Yes, your theory sounds plausible to me.