My plants will probably be here tomorrow, and I think I'm going to get a light too. Posted a thread about that but nobody has answered yet haha. Once I get the plants in I'll post a pic.
Basement Pond Part 2 - Seascape
- Thread starter Steveo McNello
- Start date
I had duckweed for awhile with my common snapping turtle. It seemed to be doing good but I had problems with it getting stuck in the filter and I'm pretty sure in the feeder goldfish ate it all. I'd like to try water lettuce and frogbit sometime soon in the setup.
An fyi on cattails. I remember in an environmental studies class that we learned cattails will release toxins in the soil to out compete with other aquatic plants. I dont know the details but just a heads up on that subject.
I've had a common snapping turtle for about a year, and I've been keeping both Duckweed & "Moss Balls" (sorry, don't know true name) with him for some time now. I recently re-tanked him, and have added frogbait(/frogbit?) to the setup - I love all three plants & would recommend any/all of them for your setup. They're easy to grow, low-light (I have a 30" T5 36-W strip light on a 40g Breeder tank and they're growing just fine) and I don't have to fertilize because of waste from the turtle (not sure if you'd have to supplement fertilizer or not - I'd doubt it, but my setup has a massive bioload so I just don't know about a "normal" tank).
In my case, the plants also provide a lot of function for the tank:
-"natural" look that some find very appealing
-additional filtration
-duckweed/frogbait provide surface cover
-moss balls end up losing their shape and provide free-floating bottom cover
-all of the plants provide a constant source of food for herbivores/omnivores
The only two downfalls in my eyes are both maintenance issues:
-constantly (several times daily for me) clearing the filter intakes of plant debris
-constantly removing excess duckweed from the tank & I find it EVERYWHERE (bottom of my shoes, bathroom sink, shower, stuck in my arm hair & clothes... EVERYWHERE)
Basically, to boil it all down to a sentence: I'd highly recommend any of these plants assuming you've done the research and know what you're signing up for.
Hope this info helps you & best of luck with the setup!
Matt
In my case, the plants also provide a lot of function for the tank:
-"natural" look that some find very appealing
-additional filtration
-duckweed/frogbait provide surface cover
-moss balls end up losing their shape and provide free-floating bottom cover
-all of the plants provide a constant source of food for herbivores/omnivores
The only two downfalls in my eyes are both maintenance issues:
-constantly (several times daily for me) clearing the filter intakes of plant debris
-constantly removing excess duckweed from the tank & I find it EVERYWHERE (bottom of my shoes, bathroom sink, shower, stuck in my arm hair & clothes... EVERYWHERE)
Basically, to boil it all down to a sentence: I'd highly recommend any of these plants assuming you've done the research and know what you're signing up for.
Hope this info helps you & best of luck with the setup!
Matt
