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vallisneria spiralis Not growing tall and sword leaves curling

Kerryn

Member
Joined
22 Oct 2017
Messages
51
Location
Cambridge
Hi all,

My vallisneria spiralis doesn’t grow to the water surface on just one side of my tank, and the other side isn’t growing as tall as I would like. Also my Amazon sword whilst growing really well has curling leaves. The tank is low tech and I am ei dosing 20ml of macro and micro per week. The substrate is aquatic soil capped with sand and with lots of root tabs in there.

Both are growing really fast and spreading well but not quite how I want!

Thanks in advance.
 

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Could be flow distribution.. :) I have the same in my low tech the corner bellow the filter outlet has the slowest growing plants. I suspect it's a dead spot with a minimum of flow.. But yet haven't tried to change any.. So it's a wild guess.. :)
 
what sort of flow do you think it would grow better with?
I have no idea other than give the silly answer which is obviously "Enough".. Could be a change in deirection is enough.. You would have to try things and wait and see what the results are. This wont happen over night. What you could try is place an extra pump (wavemaker etc.) inside the tank to create more circulation. And wait if you see results, if so, you know it was flow. Or try a stronger filterpump with more turnover. I always used to use a duckbill, resently i changed to a spraybar, but still in the process of waiting.. Maybe in a few months i can tell, my plants are a crypt spp and an aponogeton spp. that gives me the run around... Also depends on the growspeed of the plant ofcourse, low tech is slow tech. I personaly have no experience with Valis.. :)
 
I guess really it was a silly question! Ok well I think the side that is growing better has more air being pulled in so I will try that, then I will see what happens. It’s strange because it doesn’t melt more it just doesn’t grow as high. Thanks for you input!

Any suggestions for the curling leaves on the amazon sword?
 
Hello,
Curling leaves or ANY structural deformation in aquatic plants is a result of poor CO2 uptake. It has nothing to do with Calcium.
Calcium is not used by plants to build structure. This idea is another myth because in animals and humans Calcium is used to build skeletons or exoskeletons.
Plants use Calcium for the purpose of signal transmission. That is why only very small amounts are needed.

Structure in plants is built using Carbon. Therefore a Carbon deficiency results in an inability to build structure properly.

If this is a CO2 injected tank then the CO2 diffusion mechanism or flow distribution is a problem.
If this is a liquid carbon tank then the amount being applied is insufficient.
If this is a non-carbon enriched tank then the only solution is to reduce the lighting.

Cheers,
 
"Thus, in nature, calcium deficiency is not common.But when it occurs it leads to stunted growth and structural changes in leaves." in Intracellular Calcium by Andrew K. Campbell. chapter 9.3, page 448.
Not saying it's calcium related in this case. but there is evidence Ca deficiency can lead to problems
 
Well, any deficiency of any required component can lead to problems. This is not in question.
What is in question is cause and effect of specific syndromes, as well as the fundamental technique of troubleshooting.

The probability that the cause is due to Ca shortfall is summed up by the author in his first sentence:
Thus, in nature, calcium deficiency is not common.

So if Ca deficiency is not common, it is more logical to consider the most common causes first.
Ca shortfall is so uncommon in our tanks that the probability of it's occurrence is virtually non-existent.

Besides, the OP claims to be living in Cambridge, England, where the typical Calcium content in tap is approximately 120ppm.
So if the tank is actually in that area, and if tap is being used without any softening, then absolutely, possibility of Calcium shortfall can be eliminated straight away.

The most common cause of structural deformation in aquatic plants is a Carbon shortfall. That is because the dry matter of plants is approximately 40% by mass of Carbon.
This is logically therefore, always the first syndrome to consider.
All other possible causal factors are a distant second.

Cheers,
 
Hi all,

Thanks for all the very technical input! Yes the tank is in Cambridgeshire. I will try reducing the light a bit, at the moment it’s on 7 hours a day I will change to 6. I also removed about a third of the leaves and since the growth has slowed quite a bit. Although the crypt has also stared curling.

Really appreciate the help.
 
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