Floating plant that is easy to care for

[Joe V]

I have a 55 gallon tank and would like to float some plants in it to help me control nitrite/nitrate.  I have 3 crayfish in the tank so I can't have any live plants at the bottom for now.  Any recommendations?

[Irene]

Amazon frogbit did well for me - pretty hardy, not too big or small, fast growing, easy to remove when needed.

[Marnol D]

how much surface agitation do you have?  (surface agitation can cause the plants not to do good sometimes)  I would try dwarf water lettuce or frogbit. I have duckweed ( i clean it out everytime i do a water change) in my 20 long that does fine but when I add it to my 55 it doesn't spread and eventually disappears ( i think some of the fish in the tank like to eat it). 

[TheDukeAnumber1]

I've had success using giant duckweed and water hyacinth for nitrate removal.

[Joe V]

awesome thank you. I will look these up

[Jeremy B]

I've had great luck with frogbit, duckweed, salvinia, water lettuce and so far so well with Asian water grass but I've only had it a week or two. Does seem to be growing well. No problems with surface agitation here but I just use sponge filters with fine bubbles.

 

[JimmyGimbal]

Water lettuce would be my favorite next to Salvinia cucullata

[Seized]

Watersprite is pretty good but i like my hornwort. Its easy to grow and virtually mess free.

[Ben_RF]

Water lettuce and frogbits I have found to be easy. 

[RyanR]

I like water sprite.  It's very hardy and easy to control.  Also, the fish love swimming through it.  I have a Betta that will sleep in in it and a Glass Cat that swims through it all day long.

Edited October 1, 2020 by RyanR

[Joe V]

12 hours ago, Seized said:

Watersprite is pretty good but i like my hornwort. Its easy to grow and virtually mess free.

So do you have both of these floating?

[Mridul Singh]

My personal favorites are salvinia (any type really) and water lettuce. If those are hard to find, duckweed also looks good (although it grows quite fast)

[Joe V]

I went ahead and order some frogbit and duckweed.  Tho the duckweed scares me a little from what I have see and read about it.

 

[KBOzzie59]

I love floating water sprite and pogostemon stellatus octopus.

[Maria]

my absolute favorite is water wisteria and I like elodia a lot as well, if you float them they just grow and grow. I also stick pothos roots in all my tanks... bonus with water quality, I like the way the roots look and you get a nice houseplant living on top of your tank!

[Ben Ellison]

Red root floaters would be another idea 

[Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics]

I’ve kept water sprite floating in my tank ever since I couldn’t grow it in my substrate. I love it and so do my shrimp and livebearers. 

[ange]

Water sprite and water wisteria are probably the easiest. I believe hornwort can also grow floating? If you're looking for plants that are purely floating, I believe Amazon frogbit is the easiest one that isn't duckweed.

[Joe V]

I ended up buying some frogbit and duckweed.  I didn't like the duckweed too much but I have growing in a container.  The frogbit I had to move into my 10g tank for now.  My 55g tank has some small Koi and seems they eat plants.  

[Frogmouth Catfish]

I'm a big fan of ricciacarpos natans, a small, floating liverwort. Easy to grow, looks interesting, and its easy to pick out of the tank if it gets overgrown, which can be a challenge with duckweed. 

Edited October 12, 2020 by Frogmouth Catfish