Duckweed, frogbit, or water sprite?

[travie]

I want to get a floating plant for my 55g. I'm not sure which of those three I should go with. I want a low maintenance plant i.e. no ferts or Co2 injection. I have 2 65w PC lighting over the tank. Is frogbit the only one of the three with the roots that will go down towards the bottom? Thanks for helping me decide which one.


travie

[troy]

Duckweed can grow without ferts but can become a pest plant.

[Pterophyllum]

Duckweed can grow without ferts but can become a pest plant.

Yeah your right Troy.

I had duckweed in a lake on family cottage my other side of the family owns in Canada.

And, I had seen some duckweed growing a lot too.

Although I could NEVER figure out how they could reproduce themselves so fast?

Even the reproduction snails I brought didn't reproduce that fast.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Personally I would go with the Frogbit Travie. As the other 2 pointed out, certain species of duckweed can quickly become a pest. The typical species of duckweed if very tiny and nearly impossible to remove. I've managed to clear a couple of systems of it but it is not easy and you have to stay right on top of it. Frogbit is larger and much easier to control.

[toddnbecka]

What fish do you have in the tank/s? Frogbit needs some air circulation IME, whereas duckweed will grow wherever there's light. It does need to be thinnned out (I just sccop out a few netfuls when it covers the surface) about once monthly. Hornwort will grow quite nicely as a floating plant too. It doesn't have dangling roots like frogbit, but it will grow "down" into the tank as it becomes thicker. Najas is another fast-growing floating plant, though it will root opportunistically if it does touch the substrate.

[Pterophyllum]

Oh i see.

Although I am going to move silver dollars that I am going to move into my huge tank... so I'm thinking of putting a whole bunch duckweeds, and frogbits into the tank and then put in my SD's into my big tank, and then after that I'm hoping they will eat it, but as long as they can regenerate faster than the SD's could eat it :)

I just have to find some xD

[toddnbecka]

Duckweed will grow faster than anything else, but not likely fast enough to stay ahead of hungry fish.

[DrNic]

I've had nothing but problems with duckweed. Once it's in a tank it can be really hard to get out. And isn't watersprite a rooted plant? I guess it will float if it's not in substrate but the roots will get long and ugly.

I prefer to use things like apons or lillypads if I need surface cover. Large leaves, not hugely invasive and easy to prune/maintain.

[Sarkazmo]

OMG... I made the mistake of getting dwarf duck weed for my tank, when I turned the filter back on it looked like a green snow globe... horrible.

Sark