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Your opinion on duck weed portal trend


Keeg
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Ive been seeing this trend a lot more lately and I sort of got the hype but not entirely. So I tried it myself to get a first person perspective and honestly its a lot more fun in-person. Usually my tank's surface is all wavy from surface agitation for oxygen or is covered by duck weed. With the portal, I can stick in my fingers and have guppies nibble on them while seeing it crystal clear. 10/10 would recommend those of you who like seeing your fish from the surface and have a duckweed overload. 

What do y'all think of it? 

 

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All of my tanks except for my main display has duckweed in them.  I do not let it get so full that it covers the entire surface.  Once a week or maybe 2 I go on duckweed patrol and scoop some out of every tank.  I put it in my flower beds and even dry some and grind it up to go into the repashy I make to make the repashy go furthur. Its high in nutrients for the shrimp and plecos ...The portal method makes feeding a problem and when you have 20 plus tanks to feed....Sometimes I would not have the time to look for a portal. 

I have seen it done like that and it is cool if you like that look.  I like having some duck weed because it helps with keeping the water good.  

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I keep duckweed in a livebearer tank. Once or twice a week I feed it to my goldfish. I give them an amount that covers about half of the surface of a 40 breeder and it is gone in a few days. A feeding ring like that would be good if you regularly looked at your tanks top down. If you get dumbo eared guppies it would almost be like top view fancy goldfish.

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I couldn’t get mine to lay flat so duckweed and other floaters inevitably made it under. I’ve only kept floaters in one tank but  eventually fished it all out due to being tired of getting my arm covered anytime I had to do maintenance on the aquarium

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On 9/13/2021 at 8:22 AM, gardenman said:

I use a modified Odyssea Clean 100 Surface Skimmer to inhale the duckweed when it gets too prevalent. I just enlarged a few of the openings on the skimmer cup and the duckweed flows in. It's the best way I've found to remove the excess duckweed.

How well do you like this Odyssea surface skimmer?  I’m still struggling with Wolffia in one of my 10 G tanks and I don’t want to have to break it down completely to scrub it.  It’s got a nicely settled sand capped dirt substrate.

I am going to move the shrimp to a different tank at some point, and I thought I’d use this for a cory grow out since it’s FULL of scuds.  But I’d like to clear the Wolffia.  Maybe I’ll just toss some guppies in there after cory fry are big enough, guppies should clear Wolffia, I think.

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I'm like @Tanked, I used airline tubing to create a large corral for my floating plants. If you use a hair dryer to warm up the tubing first, and allow it to select the size of the corral, it lays flat better.

Plus, I can move the corral out of my way for maintenance. The corral is big enough that I can dip a plastic 1 oz scoop in to gather up / scoop out duckweed and water lettuce to feed the turtle 2x a week. 

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On 9/13/2021 at 10:56 AM, Odd Duck said:

How well do you like this Odyssea surface skimmer?  I’m still struggling with Wolffia in one of my 10 G tanks and I don’t want to have to break it down completely to scrub it.  It’s got a nicely settled sand capped dirt substrate.

I am going to move the shrimp to a different tank at some point, and I thought I’d use this for a cory grow out since it’s FULL of scuds.  But I’d like to clear the Wolffia.  Maybe I’ll just toss some guppies in there after cory fry are big enough, guppies should clear Wolffia, I think.

I like the Odyssea a lot. It's got a few quirks, the bracket isn't as adjustable as I'd like, and it'll occassionally spit out the cup when the flow rate slows. But for under $20 it does the job.

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On 9/13/2021 at 6:20 AM, Tanked said:

Does the portal stay in one place or drift?  I've tried this to keep plants in, but found I had to put a tether on it to keep it in one spot.  

The lighting underneath must be pretty interesting.

The way the water flows and how much duck weed there is, it stays in place.

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On 9/13/2021 at 1:50 PM, gardenman said:

I like the Odyssea a lot. It's got a few quirks, the bracket isn't as adjustable as I'd like, and it'll occassionally spit out the cup when the flow rate slows. But for under $20 it does the job.

Thanks!  I think I might have to try it on my Wolffia tank.

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On 9/13/2021 at 7:34 AM, ARMYVET said:

dry some and grind it up to go into the repashy I make to make the repashy go furthur. Its high in nutrients for the shrimp and plecos

Please tell me more about that!  I have just started using Repashy community AND have just had duckweed take off in one of my tanks.  I'm thinking of moving some to the other tank, as well, and seeing how it does.  I never bought any duckweed, but apparently some hitched a ride on another plant I bought and has flourished.

When/how do you add the duckweed to the Repashy?  How do you dry it?

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On 9/14/2021 at 9:58 AM, Scrum Fish said:

Please tell me more about that!  I have just started using Repashy community AND have just had duckweed take off in one of my tanks.  I'm thinking of moving some to the other tank, as well, and seeing how it does.  I never bought any duckweed, but apparently some hitched a ride on another plant I bought and has flourished.

When/how do you add the duckweed to the Repashy?  How do you dry it?

Simple....take a poop ton of duckweed out of tank....I have tons of the stuff....put it on a baking sheet. Set it outside to bake in the sun or in a toaster oven at its lowest setting.  when its dry it is crumbly.   I put it in a coffee grinder and turn it into a powder and add it to the repashy when Im making it.  I will tell you that what you think is alot of duckweed makes very little powder because duckweed is tons of water...LOL

Once a week I harvest the excess duckweed and make the powder. I will tell you I try to remove all of the snails from the duckweed but there is no way to ensure I get all of them.  The ones I miss become added protein to the mix.  I have a coffee container I keep the powder in.  When I don't need any powder I put the excess into my wifes plant pots for compost.  Im thinking of getting some ornamental goldfish just to feed some to.  

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