Tell me about Brazilian Pennywort, Dwarf Sag, Pearlweed, Guppy Grass and Dwarf Lilys!

[EricksonAquatics]

Long topic -whew!

Long story short - I'm dealing with some hair algae issues in my 10g as well as some annoying cyanobacteria. There's an imbalance of nutrients (I suspect light and fertilizer are not matching up). We're working on it and trying new things, but taking it a week at a time to see changes. Anyways, I ordered a bunch of new plants because this tank isn't as heavily planted as I'd necessarily like.

On the order list are:

Brazilian Pennywort

Dwarf Sag

Pearlweed (a pot and a portion)

Guppy Grass

Dwarf Aquarium Lily

I know the basics about these plants, but I'd like to hear some personal experiences with them. Do y'all like to float your Pennywort? How about your Pearlweed? (I'll likely float some and pop a root tab in the pot and leave it be for a minute). Dwarf Sag - likes a lot of root tabs? Can it handle lower light? I'm hoping Guppy Grass is as fast growing as Hornwort, just minus the pine needle shedding. We'll see if I'm right.

 

While I manually remove as much algae as possible and await the arrival of plants, tell me your thoughts on any and all of these plants. Thanks!

 

[HelplessNewbie]

Guppy grass stays suspended in midwater for me, not like hornwort which stays afloat. It certainly doesn't shed but, in my tanks, algae attacks it more than hornwort.

Dwarf sag took 6 months in my low-tech, low light tank . It died back but eventually returned. I do feed with root tabs.

My pennywort likes to eventually uproot itself, floating to surface. I might give in soon.

Pearlweed didn't survive the low lights of my tanks. I knew the requirements beforehand but wanted to see if it could make it anyway.

I understand that red tiger lotus may be similar to dwarf aquarium lily. My lotus did well with root tabs, in spite of low lights.

[JE47]

I have grown dwarf sag in low light with dirt substrate it has grown fairly well that's all I can comment on

[JoeQ]

Penny Wort does much better floating, mine does great wrapped around the heater. Dwarf aquarium lilly, the name lies! Feed them good (water colum ferts or root tabs) and they grow big.

[Whitecloud09]

I love my pearlweed. It grows as tall as a skyscraper, allfishnobrakes told me that if you trim it low it starts grow horizontally to the left and right. That’s pretty cool. It needs root tabs and obviously like every other plants need, ferts. It’s very hardy actually too, high light is best for it.

[doktor zhivago]

I've found my rooted pearl weed took a while to get established. I think it does better floating than planted. I never use root tabs on the pearlweed and it's plenty healthy.It's still not exactly a super fast grower, especially compared to hornwort.

 

I think hornwort has been the most useful plant for me as far as limiting algae and taking up nitrates. It's grows inches a day and really removes nutrients from the water on a large noticeable scale. It's not the prettiest so I understand why people don't like it but it gets the job done

[MattyM]

I've never actually planted pearl weed. In a different tank I just took some and weighed it down with a plant weight and it eventually grew into the substrate. 

In this tank, I just attached/wedged a hunk into some driftwood and now it looks like this:

And that is drawf sag all along the bottom, which shoot runners like crazy. Note this tank has a little CO2 injected into it. Without it, I can't grow pearl weed very well b/c my water is kinda hard and has a ph around 8. I have drawf sag in a low tech tank as well and it doesn't grow nearly as fast. 

[Whitecloud09]

Yeah its like micro sword, root tabs help, but they are not required but can maybe help. I need to try it as a floater, i am getting more soon so why not? Pearl weed is very hardy, nothing has hurt it yet. Dwarf sag is awesome too! All these plants are great choices @EricksonAquatics!

[Tony s]

On 5/14/2024 at 1:30 AM, HelplessNewbie said:

Guppy grass stays suspended in midwater for me, not like hornwort which stays afloat. It certainly doesn't shed but, in my tanks, algae attacks it more than hornwort

And if algae ever gets on the hornwort. rip off a clean bit and throw out the rest. I have hair algae that gets in my hornwort. Hornwort is very tough to kill, unless it runs out of ferts. haven't tried the guppy grass (or water wisteria) to know if it's a chuck and go kind of plant.

 

dwarf sag in gravel grows just fine as well.

both types of lilies grow really well in any substrate but need root tabs for optimal growth. both will send lily pads to the surface and may act as shade. tiger lotus can be kept trimmed with less stress on the plant. and the red color is outstanding. dwarf lily has a mostly rust red and sort of dull leaf

[Beach Cruiser]

Dwarf sag does fine in my low tech tank. Does like a root tab now & again. 

Pearlweed did not like being shipped & is very fragile. Planted portion got mowed down by Corys doing there normal rooting about. Should probably float it a bit to develop roots.  

Dwarf Lily is a beast & should be trimmed unless you want big pads on the surface & flowers. Kinda nice, but takes up a LOT of room.

[EricksonAquatics]

On 5/14/2024 at 9:02 AM, MattyM said:

Without it, I can't grow pearl weed very well b/c my water is kinda hard and has a ph around 8.

Hopefully mine will do ok. I have decently soft water but high pH (around 8.2)

 

On 5/14/2024 at 12:56 PM, Tony s said:

And if algae ever gets on the hornwort. rip off a clean bit and throw out the rest.

Hopefully this applies to guppy grass too. I’ll likely get a little hair algae at the beginning and need to discard a few stems.

On 5/14/2024 at 1:14 PM, Beach Cruiser said:

Dwarf Lily is a beast

I’m pretty okay with this. I’m in need of some shade for some crypts and Anubias getting more than their fair share of light (and algae). But we’ll see just how big this thing actually gets.😂

Thank you everyone for putting in your two cents! Really helpful to know a little more about the plants before you throw them in a tank. 

[Beach Cruiser]

For reference, that's a 100ga tank with "dwarf" lily in the center. At the time i didn't know it should be trimmed to stay small...

Edited May 14 by Beach Cruiser
Typo

[Tony s]

On 5/14/2024 at 5:21 PM, Beach Cruiser said:

that's a 100ga tank with "dwarf" lily in the center

I like the look of it in the big tank. tried it in a much smaller tank (hadn't tried it before) it mostly took over. I just need another big tank for it 😁

[EricksonAquatics]

I’ll for sure have to keep it trimmed up in a 10g. But I would love for it to take over because this hair algae is making me want to pull out my own hair. And I’m tired of scraping algae off my Anubias leaves!😂

[Beach Cruiser]

On 5/14/2024 at 7:10 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

I’ll for sure have to keep it trimmed up in a 10g. But I would love for it to take over because this hair algae is making me want to pull out my own hair. And I’m tired of scraping algae off my Anubias leaves!😂

@EricksonAquatics Toss it a root tab every 6 weeks & it'll be taking your lunch money in no time.

[EricksonAquatics]

Good to know😂Catch me stuffing my whole supply of root tabs under this thing and singing to it and praying it’ll grow wild😌

Edited May 14 by EricksonAquatics

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/14/2024 at 7:10 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

I’ll for sure have to keep it trimmed up in a 10g. But I would love for it to take over because this hair algae is making me want to pull out my own hair. And I’m tired of scraping algae off my Anubias leaves!😂

Tell me about it. Goodness, my anubias nana’s leafs are just covered with algae, like 3 different types 🤣🤣, but to be serious, this is some great info that everyone said, very helpful to even me too.