new vals

Last week when I re-homed my young white clouds with a ton of subwassertang, also did a small plant swap. Fellow fishkeeper brought me his val trimmings a few days later. Loads of leopard vals also what looks like two small corkscrew vals in the bucket, and one small crypt. I sorted them by size, even though know will grow. Tallest went into the angelfish tank- and it looks so much more balanced now!

I planted the shortest vals in the tenner- 

Not so striking with the camera as in-person, but I do like how the narrow val leaves intermingle with the crypt undulata at rear- 

vals behind anubias and java fern windelov

ambient light pic from during the work-

one corkscrew val in the center.

Most happy with how they look in the window tank- tall in the lefthand filter corner

I did something different with acclimating these plants. They were dropped off late in the evening so I floated them ten minutes to equalize the temperature, then poured a cup or two of water into each bag so it was about half original water/half my tank water. Left them floating like that all night. The next day when I had time, went about planting. For each set of vals, poured the bag into small bucket, added more tank water to rinse them off, then lifted out to plant. I wonder if the long adjustment time will result in less melting. It would be nice. Have to wait and see a bit.