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Regulate Floaters

jameson_uk

Member
Joined
10 Jun 2016
Messages
879
Location
Birmingham
I rejigged my surface flow and added some salvinia natans to my tank. The frogbit seems better and the salvinia has exploded.

I am presuming the salvinia will not regulate itself and will continue to spread until it covers the whole surface and then will continue pushing some underwater?

Other than light reaching the plants is there any reason not to let the plants cover the surface?

Is floating air tubing on the surface the best way to keep floaters in specific areas?
 
Anyone?

Other than just thinning out every week any suggestions to keep the floaters in check? I ideally just want then over half the tank and not forming a solid carpet.

If I managed to section off an area, what would happen when it was full? Would the plants stop spreading or would they just starting pushing others under and rotting?

It is the salvinia that is doing particularly well.
 
Going off the duck weed I have it will keep going and pushing itself down. The lower ones were a bit tatty, at one point I had duck weed soup about 3/4" thick! I just thin mine out weekly. Where they want to live largely depended on the water level and the out let of the filter. They just seemed to find their own place to live like that place in the ocean where all the debris ends up.
 
No easy way of keeping floaters in check other than removing them, they have an amazing ability to multiply fast. Floating plants certainly will not regulate their own growth, this fact has created the current environment we live in, and you will have heard that many floating plant species are known destroy/degrade natural ecosystems where they are introduced by human activity.

As long as you don't let too much of the stuff on the bottom die and start to rot (consuming oxygen and producing ammonia), there is no issue. Too thick a mat on the surface will reduce gas exchange though, which could be an issue for fish at night time or if the submerged plants aren't growing fast enough to produce sufficient oxygen..

I'm really enjoying growing Hygroryza aristata in my tanks right now as it multiples slower than other floating plants and also has a more open growth pattern, allowing more light and gas through the surface of the water.

I very glad to be duckweed-free for the past few years...and I will never put Azolla in a garden pond again after making that mistake before :lol:. The image below should really say "duckweed" instead of "algae".

4122799954_da2e5b941a_o.jpg
 
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