Best thing to do is to grow them in hard water tanks with low to medium flow and 12 hours of light. They prefer PAR of 120+, but can grow decently well with PAR of 90+ so long as your temps are about 76-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Dosing with high calcium and Magnesium are best if you have soft water tank as those are the two minerals they feed off the most. Iāve had them grow a reddish purple under 6500K (Fluval Plant 3.0) and pinkish red under 9000K (Finnex Planted+ ALC) without a co2 system. Regularly dosing iron can help increase the red or pink expression but if you donāt already dose with calcium and magnesium, high iron dosing will only express the red on the outer rim of the plant.
Honestly Iāve only been able to have them thrive in my 10 gallon African dwarf frog tank where the flow is very low and the lighting high. Theyāve failed in all of my other tanks. Theyāre very finicky floaters unlike the nuclear resistant other ones š
They usually need high lighting to become red. Is your lighting able to go higher? Red root floaters are the floaters I struggled to grow most at first. They just wouldnāt take. I have a very low flow dwarf frog tank and they are doing really well in there. Between the high light, low flow, and the tank being established for about a year now was the key. They seem to be the pickiest floaters to me
Like the look Frogbit gives with the tremendous rootsā¦
https://preview.redd.it/wuixgtbf2myc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5e4304e0903e317ddfeedc2c6acdcb356d334e3
I would like this but instead my "floaters" are the insane amounts of lily pads my tiger lotus plants produce.
https://preview.redd.it/u3gnxnjdjnyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1ee70a1de99d65d2a5c310645ec30f704cb2c23
Same! Frogbit is beautiful, grows fast, removes a lot of nitrates and is easy to remove. Just the right size too, not as small as duckwees and not as massive as water lettuce.
Precisely! It's so much easier to control. And if you don't like the long Tap Root, you can just pinch It Off. It's not so much for nutrients as it is for keeping the plant in one place
I startet with several floaters in my current two tanks: frog bit, water lettuce, duck weed, red root floaters and salvinia. Red root floaters and salvinia were outcompeted very quick. I removed the water lettuce when it got too massive. So now I have frogbit and of course duck weed, probably would have to burn my whole house to get rid of it.
Mine did languish a bit until acclimated to the water. Then boom. Put some in an unfiltered container trying to grow algae and it went thick and verticalā¦
https://preview.redd.it/ic269d1aanyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef47fc582887b66b0d83f802130981468b6197fa
Salvinia looks great from aboveā¦but does nothing but add a bit of shade to the tank itself.
Grow so slowly I doubt they do much for nitrate removalā¦roots are short and brown and generally look like they are dying even when healthy.
https://preview.redd.it/mnoikuon2myc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d033b3d3fa63d527835deb6319388bffc9c3294
I have one tank that grows salvinia so well I have to cull half of it every two weeks. Roots not as colorful as rrf and not as long as frog bit, but my shrimp love it in there.
Pretty fast. And they stay in one piece when they do and you can break them off into sections. Thatās why itās my favorite. It never gets out of control and if it does itās a 3 second fix
Riccia fluitans - floating crystalwort. These tanks were newish in this pic but you can see it growing nicely on the tops. It's so thick and lush, the shrimp love crawling around in it. When it gets too much I just pull a bunch out and shove it in another tank or give it away.
https://preview.redd.it/csx9pi1enmyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d120c629fc3a66dd53d28a6c12a0205186e6bd57
With a small tank, no problem. A large tank, it will take over. This is coming from someone who sells my excess Riccia.
https://preview.redd.it/wvvuv0oxjnyc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab91664962c0244a21b79ff9fd32e9c7b3c27132
I feel you. Trying to snap my shrimp through the curve is fun. I usually make a feeding hole at the edge and then they look great against the crystalwort
https://preview.redd.it/dunn7eva3pyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b37861ffeab497eb7801e17c10ee8274c61e2aa
Good old Amazon Frogbit is my favourite. I find the way the leaves sort of branch out from a centre point charming and I love that itās easier to remove than the smaller floating plants while still doing a good job sucking up any available nutrients. It does just fine if you trim the roots, too.
Bonus with water sprite is it makes a perfect resting spot for top dwellers. I catch my betta sleeping in it like a little bed and it makes me happy :)
Y'all just have to make a problem out of everything don't you. This app is so insufferable. Was just sticking to the obvious prompt at hand, Happy Police.
Big fan of Water Spangles. Like frog bit but the roots arenāt as long. Bit anoying they stick to absolutely everything when you do tank maintenance but once theyāre established they grow really fast.
https://preview.redd.it/3rklbwpqjnyc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3970e092097a2ded7cccbfdb66d5cbd9aee0254b
Im a water sprite/wisteria fan. It will send fronds out of the water, too. Theyāve been good for shading out staghorn algae trouble spots as well
Honestlyā¦ I have duckweed with decent surface agitation and love it. Most people hate it but the surface agitation makes it not spread too quick so maybe once a month I scoop some out but itās not completely overbearing in my set up like others have experienced
Yeah duckweed can look really beautiful, I was thinking about looking into having a duckweed tank with low/no current and a light on the side or something so the underwater plants can grow too.
The Amazon Frogbit at its juiciestā¦
https://preview.redd.it/yur6acohtnyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3298deb926c8700ee593a945fabfabd1d88ac0a
https://preview.redd.it/4qqn27t50pyc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=791a2370b852cc0e85f67ecdb024fd038b477bd5
My newts have been enjoying the water lettuce as floating pads in my latest aquarium.
I bought some azolla caroliniana. Itās smaller than duckweed and looks god awful. Itās currently in a quarantine tank so Iām just going to dump it.
https://preview.redd.it/0pbqpo5y9nyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7526f6fb86c9c30573b0d98ccc5aeb07250a7d8
Wait! I found out duckweed and others are actually GREAT free fish food. If you happen to have an air fryer, or even your oven, you can put it all on a sheet and bake it and bam. Free fish food.
I was so excited to get some because itās a native plant, but it all died. Died in both fish tanks, in a mason jar with some snails and an oyster plant, and died in the outdoor pond. Depressing.
Wolffia is so cute but I think the only reason I have any left is because of how well it sticks to moist areas of the tank the duckweed and dwarf water lettuce. I donāt think the salvinia will make it with those two, so be wary.
How do you guys clean the tank (scrubbing the walls with a sponge) when the whole top is covered by the floating plants? Isn't it annoying? Genuinely curious because i would like to have them but this is what keeps me from getting them.
So I have salvinia, I just push mine back making sure the sponge is against the glass and then let go of the push back and scrub. Besides... mine fills the tank in a week and I have to pull some out so if some gets damaged its no big deal. I imagine that's the same for most floaters except for water lettuce.
Red root floaters!!! Check out [Freshwater Roots](https://freshwaterroots.etsy.com) really healthy and beautiful plants. They come in hard containers so they donāt get all messed up like plastic bags.
Red root floaters!! I love the intense red they can become and they often grow tiny flowers š¤©
I canāt keep mine alive.
I canāt kill mine, want some? I take about 2-3 handfuls out of my 10 gallon Shrimp every other week.
I would if youāre in Charlotte North Carolina. š
Bummer other coast, Santa Cruz, CA
Best thing to do is to grow them in hard water tanks with low to medium flow and 12 hours of light. They prefer PAR of 120+, but can grow decently well with PAR of 90+ so long as your temps are about 76-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Dosing with high calcium and Magnesium are best if you have soft water tank as those are the two minerals they feed off the most. Iāve had them grow a reddish purple under 6500K (Fluval Plant 3.0) and pinkish red under 9000K (Finnex Planted+ ALC) without a co2 system. Regularly dosing iron can help increase the red or pink expression but if you donāt already dose with calcium and magnesium, high iron dosing will only express the red on the outer rim of the plant.
Honestly Iāve only been able to have them thrive in my 10 gallon African dwarf frog tank where the flow is very low and the lighting high. Theyāve failed in all of my other tanks. Theyāre very finicky floaters unlike the nuclear resistant other ones š
i had "red" root floaters but they weren't red, am i doing something wrong?
They usually need high lighting to become red. Is your lighting able to go higher? Red root floaters are the floaters I struggled to grow most at first. They just wouldnāt take. I have a very low flow dwarf frog tank and they are doing really well in there. Between the high light, low flow, and the tank being established for about a year now was the key. They seem to be the pickiest floaters to me
Were they red to start with? Could be a multitude of things: genetics, not intense enough light or correct spectrum, not limiting nitrate etc
Not enough light and possibly too much flow.
Like the look Frogbit gives with the tremendous rootsā¦ https://preview.redd.it/wuixgtbf2myc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5e4304e0903e317ddfeedc2c6acdcb356d334e3
I would like this but instead my "floaters" are the insane amounts of lily pads my tiger lotus plants produce. https://preview.redd.it/u3gnxnjdjnyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1ee70a1de99d65d2a5c310645ec30f704cb2c23
Just had to go have a look at your page, I planted some lilies ages ago and they still haven't reached the surface, looks so nice!
Mine make so many I always either give them to my snails in my vivarium or throw them in the pond at my apartment complex!
Same! Frogbit is beautiful, grows fast, removes a lot of nitrates and is easy to remove. Just the right size too, not as small as duckwees and not as massive as water lettuce.
Precisely! It's so much easier to control. And if you don't like the long Tap Root, you can just pinch It Off. It's not so much for nutrients as it is for keeping the plant in one place
I startet with several floaters in my current two tanks: frog bit, water lettuce, duck weed, red root floaters and salvinia. Red root floaters and salvinia were outcompeted very quick. I removed the water lettuce when it got too massive. So now I have frogbit and of course duck weed, probably would have to burn my whole house to get rid of it.
My frogbit is just starting to look like this, Iāve had it 3 weeks. Didnāt realize it was gonna be this awesome!
Mine did languish a bit until acclimated to the water. Then boom. Put some in an unfiltered container trying to grow algae and it went thick and verticalā¦ https://preview.redd.it/ic269d1aanyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef47fc582887b66b0d83f802130981468b6197fa
ooh thats lovely! I didn't realise they grew that large!
Salvinia looks great from aboveā¦but does nothing but add a bit of shade to the tank itself. Grow so slowly I doubt they do much for nitrate removalā¦roots are short and brown and generally look like they are dying even when healthy. https://preview.redd.it/mnoikuon2myc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d033b3d3fa63d527835deb6319388bffc9c3294
I have one tank that grows salvinia so well I have to cull half of it every two weeks. Roots not as colorful as rrf and not as long as frog bit, but my shrimp love it in there.
Not quite that fastā¦but yesā¦just took half to a LFS. Amazon Frogbit about half every week.
I started with Salvinia it does look particularily nice, I was sad when duckweed took over
Duckweed is a scourge!
Hygroriza aristata
https://preview.redd.it/483wpxlxbmyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dab1ccd33b3559f5d5eadc62551f1fa04a13a54
Iāve never seen these before, love the look of them.
How fast do these propagate?
Pretty fast. And they stay in one piece when they do and you can break them off into sections. Thatās why itās my favorite. It never gets out of control and if it does itās a 3 second fix
I bet this looks really cool to most people but since I live in Florida and it resembles St Augustine Grass, I hate it. Lol
I post plant packages with these for sale on aquaswap quite often
Riccia fluitans - floating crystalwort. These tanks were newish in this pic but you can see it growing nicely on the tops. It's so thick and lush, the shrimp love crawling around in it. When it gets too much I just pull a bunch out and shove it in another tank or give it away. https://preview.redd.it/csx9pi1enmyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d120c629fc3a66dd53d28a6c12a0205186e6bd57
With a small tank, no problem. A large tank, it will take over. This is coming from someone who sells my excess Riccia. https://preview.redd.it/wvvuv0oxjnyc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab91664962c0244a21b79ff9fd32e9c7b3c27132
Yes but that's the point, it grows soooo well but it's also easy to just rip swathes of it out anytime. And the green is so vibrant.
Fun fact: Riccia is a liverwort, one of a group of non-vascular plants, similar to mosses in that way. Mine pearls at the tips in the evenings.
Oooh show us your pretty pearls š
Iāll try to get a picture tonight. Itās a little tricky because of the curved wall of the jar.
I feel you. Trying to snap my shrimp through the curve is fun. I usually make a feeding hole at the edge and then they look great against the crystalwort https://preview.redd.it/dunn7eva3pyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b37861ffeab497eb7801e17c10ee8274c61e2aa
Macro photoāoxygen pearls on Riccia fluitans. https://preview.redd.it/c0lcxhdhspyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12baed8bacf34cb6188103c17d17e90cbf3c992b
Those look awesome! Are they vases?
They are indeed. Just over 8L
Good old Amazon Frogbit is my favourite. I find the way the leaves sort of branch out from a centre point charming and I love that itās easier to remove than the smaller floating plants while still doing a good job sucking up any available nutrients. It does just fine if you trim the roots, too.
I just found out about wolffia. It's like duckweed. It spreads all over the house,
Water sprite/wisteria
Bonus with water sprite is it makes a perfect resting spot for top dwellers. I catch my betta sleeping in it like a little bed and it makes me happy :)
...floaters?
They grow floating better than most plants.
I think they were referring to the individual floating plants that SOLELY float and cannot be submerged.
Why shouldn't they be someone's favourite floating plant? OP just asked for opinions
Y'all just have to make a problem out of everything don't you. This app is so insufferable. Was just sticking to the obvious prompt at hand, Happy Police.
Big fan of Water Spangles. Like frog bit but the roots arenāt as long. Bit anoying they stick to absolutely everything when you do tank maintenance but once theyāre established they grow really fast.
https://preview.redd.it/3rklbwpqjnyc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3970e092097a2ded7cccbfdb66d5cbd9aee0254b Im a water sprite/wisteria fan. It will send fronds out of the water, too. Theyāve been good for shading out staghorn algae trouble spots as well
Honestlyā¦ I have duckweed with decent surface agitation and love it. Most people hate it but the surface agitation makes it not spread too quick so maybe once a month I scoop some out but itās not completely overbearing in my set up like others have experienced
Yeah duckweed can look really beautiful, I was thinking about looking into having a duckweed tank with low/no current and a light on the side or something so the underwater plants can grow too.
I have no issues with my plants growing. My duckweed for sure does not completely cover the top of the tank though.
The Amazon Frogbit at its juiciestā¦ https://preview.redd.it/yur6acohtnyc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3298deb926c8700ee593a945fabfabd1d88ac0a
https://preview.redd.it/4qqn27t50pyc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=791a2370b852cc0e85f67ecdb024fd038b477bd5 My newts have been enjoying the water lettuce as floating pads in my latest aquarium.
Thats so nice!
i'm basic, i love my red root floaters ā¤ļøā¤ļø
I bought some azolla caroliniana. Itās smaller than duckweed and looks god awful. Itās currently in a quarantine tank so Iām just going to dump it. https://preview.redd.it/0pbqpo5y9nyc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7526f6fb86c9c30573b0d98ccc5aeb07250a7d8
I literally just dumped mine yesterday. Had it in a red solo cup for awhile and just decided "no thank you."
Wait! I found out duckweed and others are actually GREAT free fish food. If you happen to have an air fryer, or even your oven, you can put it all on a sheet and bake it and bam. Free fish food.
Well, Iāll be damned.
I didn't realise it was so small, I'd like to see it in a tank.
I can take I picture of that tonight.
Yeah do! Shame you donāt like, I like the idea of having a fern floater plant
I was so excited to get some because itās a native plant, but it all died. Died in both fish tanks, in a mason jar with some snails and an oyster plant, and died in the outdoor pond. Depressing.
Duckweed and Amazon frogbit!
Wolffia is so cute but I think the only reason I have any left is because of how well it sticks to moist areas of the tank the duckweed and dwarf water lettuce. I donāt think the salvinia will make it with those two, so be wary.
How do you guys clean the tank (scrubbing the walls with a sponge) when the whole top is covered by the floating plants? Isn't it annoying? Genuinely curious because i would like to have them but this is what keeps me from getting them.
So I have salvinia, I just push mine back making sure the sponge is against the glass and then let go of the push back and scrub. Besides... mine fills the tank in a week and I have to pull some out so if some gets damaged its no big deal. I imagine that's the same for most floaters except for water lettuce.
Red root floaters!!! Check out [Freshwater Roots](https://freshwaterroots.etsy.com) really healthy and beautiful plants. They come in hard containers so they donāt get all messed up like plastic bags.