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Floating plants in high tech tank ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
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784
Location
France
Hello, i love the effect of floating plant, i use spray bar to diffuse co2 and get good O2, is there a problem adding suface plant like pistia,/duckweed, i must say that i think i have never seen floating plant in a high-tech tank ?

I was thinking to rotate the spray bar hole a bit to down to avoid disturbing the surface and the pistia/duckweed ? can i still grow difficult plant with that ?
 
I had trouble with spraybar + high flow and surface agitation, killed off several batches of floaters because they were getting thrown around too much.
But "your mileage may vary".
 
Floating plants are good indicators of macronutrient deficiencies, especially nitrogen. Having some lemna or azolla covering 1/3rd of your surface area is never a bad idea.

Also, I don't ascribe to the notion that duckweed is a 'bad' plant. I think its great as a floating plant as it doesnt block ALL the light like some bigger plants.

Plus its easy to get rid of. Increase surface agitation and its gone in a week if you don't like it. I love it tbh.
 
This only works if you actually want to keep it, if you are trying to get rid of it then it gains the ability to survive breaking waves on the surface. It is a devils plant.
Lol.
In my experience, it does goes away with high surface agitation.

Are you talking about Lemna or Spirodela?
 
I manged to rid myself of Duckweed, water lettuce and red floaters with surface agitation. They thrived in tanks without surface agitation, but I've never been able to keep them if there was any surface movement.

EDIT: I have low tech tanks.
 
I manged to rid myself of Duckweed, water lettuce and red floaters with surface agitation. They thrived in tanks without surface agitation, but I've never been able to keep them if there was any surface movement.

EDIT: I have low tech tanks.
I just cannot grow phyllanthus Fluitans for the life of me. Never got to a situation where I had enough to get rid of. Keeps withering away and dying.

They seem to be too susceptible to getting wet and rotting away.
 
I keep floating plants in my hightech, the way I'm able to is by having my hardscape wood big enough that it comes out of the surface in 2 places, it makes a great place for plants to attach to so they don't get blown away by the surface agitation. Once these plants attach to the wood and grow out, areas of low surface agitation appear and I can keep smaller floaters there without problems. These plants do reduce light into the tank, but I don't mind that.
 
I just cannot grow phyllanthus Fluitans for the life of me. Never got to a situation where I had enough to get rid of. Keeps withering away and dying.

They seem to be too susceptible to getting wet and rotting away.
This is my experience as well. It would always get stuck under the trays for my riparium plants whenever I did a water change. I could get it out again, but it did not like this process.
 
[/QUOTE]
I keep floating plants in my hightech, the way I'm able to is by having my hardscape wood big enough that it comes out of the surface in 2 places, it makes a great place for plants to attach to so they don't get blown away by the surface agitation. Once these plants attach to the wood and grow out, areas of low surface agitation appear and I can keep smaller floaters there without problems. These plants do reduce light into the tank, but I don't mind that.
MOE found that if your plants are growing ok and get reduced light with floating plants as long as nutrient levels are right they carry on thriving. Easy plants not talking about carpets
 
MOE found that if your plants are growing ok and get reduced light with floating plants as long as nutrient levels are right they carry on thriving. Easy plants not talking about carpets
[/QUOTE]

Ironically in my low tech tank i only get good growth, algae free and at a decent speed when i have 50% plus of the surface covered with floating plants and i'am growing anything but easy plants, things like cryptocoryne ferrugia, and numerous other crypts, limnophilia aromatica, rotala macranda, aridarum narrow leaf, lagenandra keralensis etc.
 
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