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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Vallis pruning ???

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04 Jan 2011 20:15 #1 by paddyc1 (Paddy Corrigan)
My vallis is growing at such a rate (hail co2) that its now about twice the depth of the tank itself, which is 24" deep. I like the idea of it trailing across the surface but will this be ok ? I presume if I chopped the stems down I'd kill of the plant. Any comments welcome.
Cheers, Paddy

Tallaght, Dublin 24

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04 Jan 2011 20:26 #2 by cardinal (Lar Savage)
Hi paddy
Thin out the leaves by cutting them back at the root,dont just cut the leaves at the half way point.

Lar

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04 Jan 2011 22:02 #3 by Ma (mm mm)
Replied by Ma (mm mm) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
Trimming it is fine, take a couple of inchees off when it starts to get messy or all tangled, otherwise it is fantastic running along the surface. I used easy carbo and it grew really quickly, once you have good established roots off it goes.




Mark

Location D.11

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04 Jan 2011 22:14 #4 by joey (joe watson)
and then the stuff starts sending runners across the tank....

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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04 Jan 2011 22:47 #5 by Ma (mm mm)
Replied by Ma (mm mm) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
joey wrote:

and then the stuff starts sending runners across the tank....


Runners grow anyway, how else would the plant reproduce:) Cutting it long doesn't put runner growth into overdrive, runners being the main pain in vallis maint. 25% or less of the lenght cut off will still leave it along te surface of the water by 10" or so if it is deemed too long that is:)


If it is growing 40+ inches the roots are doing really wel in your tank. How deep is your substrate and fert?

Mark

Location D.11

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04 Jan 2011 23:54 #6 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Paddy it will be fine letting it grow to the surface and trailing across it.
If you feel like trimming you must use a sharp scissors. Don't just tear them.
If you want to thin them out you can cut/tear the leaves at the base.
You can also cut the runners between the plants to remove individual plants.

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05 Jan 2011 11:57 #7 by Ma (mm mm)
Replied by Ma (mm mm) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
platty252 wrote:

Paddy it will be fine letting it grow to the surface and trailing across it.
If you feel like trimming you must use a sharp scissors. Don't just tear them.
If you want to thin them out you can cut/tear the leaves at the base.
You can also cut the runners between the plants to remove individual plants.



Goood advice Darren, direct and to the point and no rambling,

Duely noted:)



Mark

Location D.11

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05 Jan 2011 19:24 #8 by paddyc1 (Paddy Corrigan)
Cheers for the replies lads.

Mark, I have about 1.5" of a sand substrate. The only substrate fert I have is those 7 balls or whatever ye call them. I add ferropol 24 daily. I planted the tank about 6 weeks ago and set up a co2 system 2 weeks ago.
The vallis is at the back of the tank close to the filter outflow. Would this help with the growth ?

Joey, I have left plenty of space around the vallis for runners to root. Will keep an eye though as I don't want them taking over.

Paddy

Tallaght, Dublin 24

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06 Jan 2011 21:14 #9 by Ma (mm mm)
Replied by Ma (mm mm) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
Which Vallis species is it? I guess you just want to make sure it doesn't block out light from other plants as it grows along the surface.

CO2 and good light benefit Vallis of course, but established roots in nutrient rich substrate are really the main ingredient in making this stuff grow fast as it can be prolific in a tank with no CO2 system and bog standard T5 plant gro lights aswell, but maybe not as lush and green as with CO2.


Pop up a few pictures and give us a look at the good work:)




Mark

Location D.11

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06 Jan 2011 21:27 #10 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
The process of producing extra shoots is also called tillering and is the natural asexual method of reproduction.
This property is exploited by growers by trimming back the whole plant to a few centimeters, it causes the basal area to erupt with new plants, it can happen as runners as in Vallis or in side shoots as in Echinodorus or Cryptocorynes.

There are so many varieties of Vallis available that you can select one to suit your particular needs.


Kev.

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06 Jan 2011 21:33 #11 by paddyc1 (Paddy Corrigan)
Its a broad stemmed vallis. Kev, do you mean to actually cut it right down or to thin out from the bottom ?
Mark, I'll pop up a couple of pics at the weekend.

Tallaght, Dublin 24

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06 Jan 2011 21:49 - 06 Jan 2011 21:59 #12 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
I think you might have is Vallisneria gigantea and if so, my advice would be to only pinch out the longest leaf/leaves to an inch or so, above the area above the root, if you remove too many leaves at once, the Plant has no method of Producing sugars/food which enables the production of new leaves so only take the main tallest leaf but no more than one or two at a time because they will slow in growth and die. The metabolism of Giant varieties is amazingly high and they need a greater surface area to capture light enabling the high speed photosynthesis to enable quick growth.

The other smaller species can be trimmed more harshly as they normally produce more leaves and recover more quickly but under normal conditions, pruning the stockier vars isn't necessary or required.

These plants are also found growing in Florida etc and are constantly grazed by herbivorous animals without any problem so I'd say little and often.

Kev.
Last edit: 06 Jan 2011 21:59 by stretnik (stretnik).

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07 Jan 2011 19:43 - 07 Jan 2011 19:45 #13 by paddyc1 (Paddy Corrigan)
Pics as promised



















Pics not great, don't have a great camera. The mobile takes better pics than the digital camera.

Regards,
Paddy

Tallaght, Dublin 24
Last edit: 07 Jan 2011 19:45 by paddyc1 (Paddy Corrigan).

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07 Jan 2011 20:56 #14 by des (des)
Replied by des (des) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
lovely set up Paddy
fairplay

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07 Jan 2011 21:01 #15 by Ma (mm mm)
Replied by Ma (mm mm) on topic Re:Vallis pruning ???
Thats some good lighting Paddy, setup looking great, really great for the short time you have it running.



mark

Location D.11

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07 Jan 2011 21:31 #16 by paddyc1 (Paddy Corrigan)
Its just standard T5s with reflectors. Didn't realise how much difference the reflectors would make

Tallaght, Dublin 24

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