I am looking for some suggestions on some hardy, low care floating plants. I just want something that is going to float around and look nice. Also if there were certain spots I wanted the plant to stay on the surface could I tie a line to it and then to the top of my tank? The nitrates in my tank are very very low because I have a drip system, so I dont know if that will cause problems keeping them alive.
Floating Plant help
- Thread starter boisblancboy
- Start date
theres lots of choices at the pond supply place but since i'm no expert i'll tell what i used...
buck store fake hanging plants they come seperate in strands have many types some float some semi float and hang in the water they look very real.
buck store fake hanging plants they come seperate in strands have many types some float some semi float and hang in the water they look very real.
If you do the floating plants you may have to dose some ferts to help keep them alive. I'd use water lettuce myself.
Or you could try frogbits, sometimes called hydrocharis (limnobium sp.) they look like miniture water lilies and have longish slender roots to hold them where you want them but the foliage is mainly on the surface. In deep water they become free floating and in very shallow water they become emergent, they are pretty easy to grow. Here is a tank shot from Petfrd.com and another pic from Aquahobby as well as a link to their profile.
http://images.ask.com/fr?q=limnobiu...om%2Fpictures%3Fq%3Dlimnobium%26page%3D1&qt=0
http://images.ask.com/fr?q=limnobiu...om%2Fpictures%3Fq%3Dlimnobium%26page%3D1&qt=0
Wow that first picture is awesome looking! Thanks a ton for the info and pictures! Any other ideas still welcome.
Howdy,
I love my Hydrocotyle leucocephala. You can culture them rooted as well, but I have mine floating. They are not overly demanding. Water lettuce needs quite a bit of light and might be sensitive to condensation if you have a tighly locking canopy. It mostly turns into a dwarf form if kept in an aquarium. Might be different if you have HQI lights. This pic shows both, H. leucocephala is the big, round leaf.
With regard to restricting floating plants to one side of the tank: I simply add some cork bark, attach it to the back of the tank with a suction cup, and the floating plants get stuck there
HarleyK
I love my Hydrocotyle leucocephala. You can culture them rooted as well, but I have mine floating. They are not overly demanding. Water lettuce needs quite a bit of light and might be sensitive to condensation if you have a tighly locking canopy. It mostly turns into a dwarf form if kept in an aquarium. Might be different if you have HQI lights. This pic shows both, H. leucocephala is the big, round leaf.
With regard to restricting floating plants to one side of the tank: I simply add some cork bark, attach it to the back of the tank with a suction cup, and the floating plants get stuck there
HarleyK
Very cool. Yeah i would love live plants, but if they dont happen to work out I wouldnt have any problems with fake. I like the lilly pad look, with lots floatings with some of the plant sinking or hanging.
I managed to get some grass type floating plant from my lfs for free. It keeps growing like crazy and I have to take about half of it out every month so the plants below get enough light. I have no idea what it is but it came with some friends. I thought I had one snail that lived in it but now I have over 25 snails of different sizes crawling around my tank.