Floating plants

[musho3210]

What are some good floating plants that i could have under around 130-160 watts of PC light on a standard 75 gallon tank? One that wont take up too much space since there will be ground plants and one that can have condensation on it since the tank will be covered. This is for a gourami that i may have bubbles nest as well as aesthetic reasons. I also want to sort of dim the tank lights for the flame tetras im getting but still have enough light for the ground plants. I dont care if its fully floating or partially floating or rooted and floating, just something that does its job. Substrate is sand with root tabs.

 

[phanmc]

Duckweed, preferably the large kind
Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes)
Riccia
Hornwort
Brazilian pennywort (Hydrocotyle leucocephala), this may grow big and will need to be trimmed but forms an attractive small lily pad

 

[musho3210]

im interested in the hornwort and the water lettuce, i heard that water lettuce doesnt like condensation, is that true?

 

[NeonJulie]

I did have someone else tell me that Water Lettuce burns out under aquarium lamps. I am also searching for something that will make my dwarf g. happier, dim the lights (why don't they just make dim light bulbs an option??!) and make my neons feel like they can come out once in a while.

I have plastic ones right now, but they are a pain during feeding, and my piggy won't stop at hurting himself if I don't make sure it's not stuck in there.

 

[phanmc]

Never heard of water lettuce having a problem with condensation before, and it shouldn't be burned by CF lighting unless the lighting is very intense.

 

[180gz71]

I grow my water lettuce under a 6x96w cf setup right now, and have for quite a few months. My only complaint is how fast it grows. Im growing it in low and high light tanks right now. I havent found a way to kill it, short of pulling it out and throwing it on the ground(lol).

 

[NeonJulie]

Does it have a lot of long roots? Does it do a good job of darkening the tank? Man, after these posts, I'm going to have to sign my paycheck over SOMEwhere to get me some of this stuff. Where to get it...

 

[geofied]

There are a number of choices, guess it depends on your preferences for root lengths, individual plant sizes, nutrient uptake...

Duckweed is my main floating plant, but in order to control where it is you have to use a barrier of some type and thin it out once it takes off. Duckweed will provide good filter/shade when established. I just picked up some water lettuce and so far I like it, but the roots tend to be longer than duckweed. I use airline tubing with suction cups to cordon off areas I don't want floating plants to get into.

Looking in one of my books I see Floating fern (Salvinia natans), Frogbit, and Fairy Moss (Azolla Caroliniana) as other potentials if you can find them. Speaking of which, I need to find some frogbit.

Now that it is pond season you might find these plants more readily than during the winter.

 

[180gz71]

Does it have a lot of long roots? Does it do a good job of darkening the tank? Man, after these posts, I'm going to have to sign my paycheck over SOMEwhere to get me some of this stuff. Where to get it...

Hold on ill post a pic of the water lettuce i have.

 

[musho3210]

ok i guess ill go with the water lettuce, i'll put them at the two back corners of my tank where hopefully no plants are at the bottom, the airline and suction cup sounds interesting so i will probably do that to section them off.