Question about my vals

[Lady Hobbs]

My vals are doing great, very thick and over the top of the water surface but the ends of them are turning brown and dying off. I just pinch the dead part back. But, is this normal? This happened when I had them before, too.
I just wonder if this happens from the surface movement.

[Dave66]

Hobbsy,
They are probably getting a bit dry as part of the leaf breaks the water surface. Are they in your 55? The common Val reaches a couple feet tall, and in an 18-inch deep 55 not counting the depth of the substrate . . . not too surprising the tips of the leaves are browning. You'd probably have better luck keeping the leaves submerged with V. biwaensis, which tops out at about a foot, or V. americana, which is even smaller at 10 inches.

Dave

[Lady Hobbs]

Sounds very logical to me. I also added a couple lights a couple weeks ago and wonder if maybe it's getting too much light now. 186 watt over the 55 gallon. They're also getting rather crowded and could use a thinning perhaps.