Herefishie Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I bought two or three different types of floating plants but ended up throwing them in the trash because they were just simply messy. Hornwort comes to mind. Can anyone recommend a floating plant that doesn't grow too much and become a nuisance but provide a little bit of surface coverage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 That's a good question! . I haven't found one yet! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricksonAquatics Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 (edited) Water Lettuce, Salvinia, Red Root Floaters and Amazon Frogbit all have much larger leaves than something like duckweed and are much easier to remove when needed. If you're looking for something more similar to Hornwort, I'd recommend Guppy Grass or Water Sprite. I've also seen people throw in a few stems of pearlweed and it becomes a giant mat! Personally I think it looks epic. And it'd be easy to maintain if you don't want a crazy amount. Hope this helps a bit. 🙂 Edited May 6 by EricksonAquatics 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T. Payne Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Water sprite and water wisteria can both be grown floated. Both are excellent at feeding of excess nutrients in the water as well and provide excellent cover for fry. If you do not have much surface movement in the aquarium, then frogbit is a good choice for a true floating plant. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 They all seem to need removal/trimming here. Brazilian pennywort is an excellent floater for me. I run it with my dwarf pipefish project and the 270 tank for the crossriver puffers The pipefish hide in the roots it throws down Brazilian pennywort like any plant grows and does need trimming no matter what light it has available... but its pretty easy removal In the 270 it tries to grow out of the tank with probably 4" diameter leaves once its emmersed 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktor zhivago Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I've had good luck floating pearlweed it sends roots out all over its stem. Not sure what you mean by messy tho? I've never had any issues with hornwort other than having to take out a couple handfuls every water change 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herefishie Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 On 5/6/2024 at 3:56 PM, doktor zhivago said: I've had good luck floating pearlweed it sends roots out all over its stem. Not sure what you mean by messy tho? I've never had any issues with hornwort other than having to take out a couple handfuls every water change I ordered some from Amazon once. It must've just been a horrible batch. I had the biggest mess in my tank for weeks trying to retrieve all of the little stems that would fall off. I finally gave up and just threw it all away. My first mistake was probably ordering from Amazon! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sacah Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 My hortwort took a few weeks to settle, and it dropped tons of needles during that time, but once it settled it grew well, apart from the greedy goldfish snacking on it. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLFishChik Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I’m actually experimenting with Dollar weed from my garden. Saw someone else on Reddit tried this with success, so last week as I was weeding my vegetable bed to get it ready for planting, I saved a piece of dollar weed with a couple root nodes and washed it off really well and threw it in my 29g tank. It’s already throwing out leaves and roots are growing. We’ll see how well it does over time just floating around in the tank 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 On 5/6/2024 at 7:08 PM, Herefishie said: I had the biggest mess in my tank for weeks trying to retrieve all of the little stems that would fall off. hornwort likes a decent amount of nitrates. it actually can starve and deteriorate without it. when it does, it sheds those little needles like an old christmas tree. and makes a good mess. other than that, relatively bullet proof 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Another vote for frogbit; it works well for me in my tanks and pond. Hard water, 2x week ferts. I also noticed I can keep plants alive and growing now that I could not when my tanks were new or when I had different plant combos, even though I fertilized the same then-- so if you've tried a plant you liked before and it didn't thrive, try again later and it may do better. I used to not be able to keep java moss alive, then I started supplementing with potassium and java moss was happy. After a year or so I ran out of potassium and expected the moss to melt. Nope, it's fine. I think when my tank was new the young amazon swords were sucking up a lot of nutrients and they grew too large so I pulled them out and voila the moss could get what it needs from the regular ferts once the giant swords were gone. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ _isme Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 (edited) If you change your mind and decide you like making a big mess for some reason then get duck weed Edited May 7 by TJ _isme 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 (edited) I really like the look of dwarf aquarium lily as a floating plant. It will send up a lot of pads in not that much time, and they are so pretty. gives a nice natural look. Edited May 8 by Sora 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Messy is relative; this is my frogbit: This is my hornworth: This is my perl weed: 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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