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No duckweed . I've contemplated it, yet something tells me that once I take that road, there's no turning back.

Are there any floating plants that are not as invasive as the duckweed that would provide some good shade for my java fern and java moss. I find that since they are such slow growers, they don't need as much light and do better in a dim area of the tank. I've floated hornwort over them, but want something a little more interesting.

What is that plant that shoots roots down in a lacey appearance?

Sarah - if you read this, I'm contemplating another trip to Pruess for a plant run. Still can't part with any Vals. They are touch and go. Too weak to break apart.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Nov-2004 23:18

I can get you some water lettuce or Salvinia. Let me know when you're planning the trip and I'll make sure I'm there.

I'm a little suprised your Java fern actually does better with less light. I know a person who has that stuff about 2" under PC bulbs and it grows like crazy, actually pearling without added CO2 of any sort. Hmm... I guess that's just another one of those things I can ponder while counting ceiling tiles in class.

Cory_Di

I am not an expert on plant names but I think what you are refering to is "Water Sprite" Here is a photo of it or a similar plant "Ceratopteris thalictroides"

Sorry for the poor quality, out of a book I think the colour is a bit out as well, more of a solid pale green

Keith

keithgh attached this image:


Last edited by keithgh at 05-Nov-2004 03:20[/font]

Last edited by keithgh at 05-Nov-2004 03:20

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Water Sprite would be a great plant. You can plant it or float it. I float mine and throw away or give away half of the plant each week. Planting water sprite will give it slower growth as it is further from the light and the leaves will change. The plant sucks up nitrates and phosphates!

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researched from Steven Wright

Thanks for the tips people. I was considering Water Sprite.

Sarah - I will definitely give you a heads up when I'm planning to make a run out there. I have no immediate plants at the moment. I could be working weekends with a special build that is going on at work, which will hinder that plan.

What can you tell me about water lettuce and salvinia? Give me scientific names and I'll go to tropica.com to look them up.

The java fern might do better in the light, I suppose (growthwise), but it gets coated with that velvet green algae that coats my wood (the otos like it, but can't keep up). I'm considering adding 2-3 more otos and would likely get them from Pruess, if they go through the quarantine process there.

I'm going to be doing weekly nitrate tests to see how fast my nirates are climbing now that I've slightly overstocked it with the habrosus. If weekly 20% changes allow me to keep the nitrates between 5-15, then I will add 2-3 otos. I don't want to go to twice weekly water changes.

Hopefully, the water sprite and water lettuce or salvinia will allow me to accomplish that.

I fell back on my water changes which spread to about 10-12 days. My nitrates crept up to about 20-25 slowly on me as I made only 10-15% water changes. I'm sure this has everything to do with the algae. I'm doing daily water changes of about 15% until I get down to 5%. Then I'm going to check it again 7 days later to see what it is. I'm thinking that once I get it to 5% and have a fair amount of plants in there, the nitrates won't rise as fast. I dumped a bunch of hornwort that was loaded with that tough hair/beard algae.

I've got a clump of cabomba in there. We'll see how long it lasts .

Last edited by Cory_Di at 05-Nov-2004 11:10

Last edited by Cory_Di at 05-Nov-2004 11:11

i LIKED my salvinia, but then my mystery snail ate it all it must taste good, he actually went fishing for it *sigh*

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

- I won't have to worry about that. 7 plant species in my 20 long, 2 years and counting: No snails ..... yet



Last edited by Cory_Di at 08-Nov-2004 09:50

I'd get some Anacharis (Elodea). It's looks nice, and drops long stringy roots

It's thriving in most of my tanks

Water wisteria is also a good choice--although some might consider it invasive.

I second the water lettace, it's larger than frogbit and has root masses which hang down in the water. Reproduces very easily and often. I added 5 and now they're covering my tank surface. Click in my wwww to see what the water lettuce looks like.. Haven't taken pics of the roots though, but great hiding spots for fry Asian Ambulia is also nice floated but planted gets all out of control and in a low light tank it's better floating.

The Amazon Nut...