• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Floater issues

nduli

Member
Joined
26 Oct 2011
Messages
500
Location
Bury
guys

Some help needed, can't get my floaters to grow on.
I'm running low tech (low tech ish - weekly dose of easycarbo 2ml in 100l tank)
Tropica specialised at quarter dose per week
Lights are (imho) medium, I have an Arcadia stretch 60cm light over a 60cm tank. They are raised 15 cm off the surface of the water.
I have been running strong flow in the tank but no splashing as Lilly pipe is set very low in the water.
I struggle with surface scum every day and an eheim skimmer clears it each day.
Any ideas what is causing the poor growth? See pic below

16287647938_899a69d5e8_z_d.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hi
Any chance of a bigger pic?
As someone who's previously struggled with Frogbit, i've had more success this time by attempting to stop them floating around in the current.
There's a couple of posts where people have contained it within a floating barrier.
 
I've more chance of finding a penny black than seeing that picture or is it my phone? I'm having the same problem one minute I'm having to put them in the garden pond for fish to eat as they love the root but now I've only one plant that's dying so be interesting to find out rich. I'm talking about my sons lowtech tank.
 
You could try a different species, red root floaters & salvina nanas are growing crazily in my low tech (even under the 1" drop from the spray return) but the frog-bit is slow and sometimes happier than others - hanging on rather than thriving.
 
If a floater is not growing it can be two things mainly:
1- Not enough nutrients in the water
2-Too much flow (this doesnt seem to be the case)
 
Hi all,
Looks like either potassium or nitrogen deficiency. I'd try adding some KNO3.
Could well be snail damage as well. If you turn a leaf over, and it is snails, you will see hollowed out bits in the aerenchyma "float" cells.

I always know if any baby pond snails (Lymnaea stagnalis) have crept into the tanks (I added them to the water butts and Daphnia buckets to graze the biofilm), because they eat the floats on the Frogbit.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
Looks like either potassium or nitrogen deficiency. I'd try adding some KNO3. Could well be snail damage as well. If you turn a leaf over, and it is snails, you will see hollowed out bits in the aerenchyma "float" cells.

I always know if any baby pond snails (Lymnaea stagnalis) have crept into the tanks (I added them to the water butts and Daphnia buckets to graze the biofilm), because they eat the floats on the Frogbit.

cheers Darrel

Cheers darrell I don't do powders (not enough experience or time yet) :) , I have tropica specialised at the moment, have been keeping dosing right down as recovering from bad algae outbreak, now that's recovering I'll up the tropica closer to the recommended dosage. Thanks for the guidance.
 
I started with a good portion from hoggie, here's my 260 low tech now, i have to get rid of about 1 ltre each week as the growth is so fast.
I had issues initially but lowered my spray bars to relieve some surface flow.
Picture is taken from underneath with my lying on the floor as the light from sitting on the sofa blinded the shot

1f35fd13731473bf8739b905815320af.jpg
 
I started with a good portion from hoggie, here's my 260 low tech now, i have to get rid of about 1 ltre each week as the growth is so fast.
I had issues initially but lowered my spray bars to relieve some surface flow.
Picture is taken from underneath with my lying on the floor as the light from sitting on the sofa blinded the shot

1f35fd13731473bf8739b905815320af.jpg


nice pic, i bought 3 massive floaters at the weekend from the abyss in stockport, not sure what type it is but its been shooting out new leaves in the last week I have transferred the sick plants to a tub on a window sill to see if they can recover/ recent changes include upping the ferts, moving to a lilly pipe and in the last week lowering the lilly pipe , not sure the original plants will recover but we'll see......
 
Back
Top