Duckweed

[FJB]

Duckweed and frogbit and similar can be had in the tank without affecting filters (much), so long as it corralled (photo) and harvested at least every week if not more. Grows great, picks up excess nutrients, offers refuge for small fish and food for larger ones.

 

[eon aquatics]

i managed to kill my duckweed

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

Keep in mind to check the legality of those floaters in your state as its now illegal to keep some kind of floaters in certain areas that was mentioned in this thread. Just a friendly reminder

 

[Deadeye]

i managed to kill my duckweed

I killed most of mine too. If you are running a hob the agitation kills it.
I have both giant duckweed (salvinia) and regular duckweed - the hornwort outgrows both! Luckily it also protects the duckweed from the filter so win win.
If I ever have too much, and this goes for really any plant, the severum gets a nice snack!

 

[NoahPayne95]

I need to try this !

 

[jjohnwm]

I killed most of mine too. If you are running a hob the agitation kills it.
I have both giant duckweed (salvinia) and regular duckweed - the hornwort outgrows both! Luckily it also protects the duckweed from the filter so win win.
If I ever have too much, and this goes for really any plant, the severum gets a nice snack!

Salvinia is not duckweed, in fact it's actually a fern. Duckweed is a true flowering plant and belongs to the genus Lemna; Giant Duckweed is Lemna major. Its leaves are smaller than Salvinia, but bigger than Common Duckweed (and it looks much better IMHO...more like a plant and less like scum).

 

[Deadeye]

Salvinia is not duckweed, in fact it's actually a fern. Duckweed is a true flowering plant and belongs to the genus Lemna; Giant Duckweed is Lemna major. Its leaves are smaller than Salvinia, but bigger than Common Duckweed (and it looks much better IMHO...more like a plant and less like scum).

Gotcha
Looking at pictures my mind must have said they looked similar and called them the same thing lol.
Mine looks more like giant duckweed so that’s probably what it is (it is what it was sold as at least).
I definitely can agree it looks much nicer than regular duckweed - until I learned the stuff was a plant I thought that the small duckweed was an algae.

 

[Disturbed.)]

The tanks that I want duckweed, and in my case water lettuce as well, have to have an anti agitation device in place. With small tanks or non showcase tanks a piece of ridged pink or white Styrofoam blocking off a section works well. But in a show tank home-made feeder rings works fantastic for keeping your floaters both alive and corralled in the ares you want shaded provided your fish don't eat it all. Just hoop a piece of soft hose and join the ends with a double barb or a very tightly fitting hose inside or outside so it is air tight. Tie that in place where ever you want it in your tank and toss in duckweed and it will quickly fill your ring.

 

[FJB]

Here are two photos of a tank showing, 1) a floating corral, and 2) an Aquaclear 110 (placed exactly above the same corral) tamed with the DIY cut-soda-bottle-tamer. As shown, having strong filters and having a corral are not mutually exclusive. In fact, this tank (a 75g) has two aqua clear 110's, one at each end, both tamed. And yes, there is still some surface agitation.
Good luck!

 

[fishguy1978]

Hate this stuff?. You think you have eradicated it from a tank only to find out you missed a tiny little piece and now there's a million.