Vallisneria Spiralis, also known as straight vallisneria, tape grass, or eel
grass, is a common plant that prefers good light and a nutrient rich . They do
well in just about all water types (from soft to hard). lighting (low light to
high light). I have grown them in sand, organic potting soil, gravel
eco-complete (volcanic basalt), Fluval Plant and Shrimp Stratum. You can cut
the leaves to any size without damaging the plant which makes them great for
shorter tanks as well. As with many aquatic plants, the color of leaves will
vary depending on the light intensity. They are mostly green and can turn red,
copper, to purple under stronger lights.
I do have snails in my tank. I tried to remove any visible snails but I could
miss smaller ones. I considered snail are beneficial to aquarium house keeping
they eat algae and any uneaten foods. You can use Alum to kill snails by
soaking the plants in alum solution (1 oz of alum in 1 gallon of water) for
four hours to remove any snail from the plants. Do this in a separate contains,
not your aquarium. Alum is very acidic.