Duckweed..?

[Demi ^_^]

I think I would like to buy some duckweed for my 22g.

Their are no plants in it BTW ;-)

Is duckweed REALLY as bad as everyone says it is ?

I mean, I think it'll be beneficial and help with my water quality (Even though its great as it is LOL)
Also give my fish a bit more shade.

BUT everyone seems to hate it.
Is it really so bad in such a small tank?

[KingFisher]

Duckweed is the spawn of Satan.


one piece turns into 1,000,000 in no time flat.

[Demi ^_^]

Is that the only problem though?

:-)

[Scrup]

its small, so any sort of filtration it can get caught in, it will. It will cover the top and dim your lighting severly, give the whole tank a yellow tint.

Unless you have fish that love to eat it. I know for a fact cories and goldfish make quick work of any duckweed I get..(one of the LFS has it in every tank so you ALWAYS get some when you get anything that is in the tanks-fish,snails,etc)

[Demi ^_^]

Yes. I have Cory's.

I'll have to think about it.

Here in Aus. I am very limited to plants. Basically nothing in LFS's but Cambomas {sp?} and they need heaps of light.

It'd be nice to have a bit of plantation - even if it was unviewable unless from the top. :-)

[Northernguy]

If you keep it trimmed down its not so bad.
My hornswort grows crazy fast but by trimming half of out of the tank every week its not so bad.I do have a sponge over my intakes to stop the needles from clogging my filter.

[Red]

if you have it in one tank, by the end of month you will have it in every tank.

[Northernguy]

if you have it in one tank, by the end of month you will have it in every tank.
How?
I have heard that before!lol
I don't get how it would go from one tank to another without physically being placed in the tank.
I am hoping that she has different nets for each tank or that she sterilizes everything between uses.

[Red]

I highly doubt she does, because I don't either. "gasp" When you have 10+ tanks, its almost impossible to do so. And its just not nets, but sihpons,hands or whatever. Just one little piece gets in and it multiples to 1000x. I have it in all of my killie tanks and its a pain.

[DrNic]

Duckweed can be a real pain. Like the others said, even a small amount can cover a tank in a week or two cutting off light to any other plants in the tank. Not one of my favorite plants. IMO stay away unless you have some way to keep it under control (i.e. fish that you know will eat the stuff).

[Ryuu]

I have duckweed in my 10g planted. To be honest I didn't even buy any, then I went away for a weekend, and when I came back it was almost over a quarter of the tank. I liked it so I kept it. I still like it :) It does block out quite a bit of the light though.

[Sarkazmo]

It's prolific and will COVER a tank in no time. It does feed from the water column so it does help your tank. Once you have it, you'll never be rid of it. You'll think you are, then a week later it's back. It's a great plant and it does help a tank out but it grows like MAD. You're probably thinking we're just kidding... we're not. It goes exponential!!!!

Sark

[KingFisher]

Demi, You might like dwarf water lettuce better than duckweed, The plants are larger and don't multiply as quickly. Also, the roots hanging down look good.

[Jacko]

I don't think duckweed is too bad, mine doesn't even stick to me anymore, I keep it thinned out enough, I just throw it into the pond for the goldies to munch on.

KF is right though, dwarf water lettuce would be a better choice, amazon frogbit also works well. I've got both on most of my tanks and they do a pretty good job at out competing the duckweed for space.

[Crispy]

I agree on the lettuce idea. Much easier IME.

[Sarkazmo]

I have Frogbit, Dwarf Water Lettuce, and Duckweed. Frogbit and DWL will both out-grow Duckweed. The thing is, Duckweed is so small that it'll grow in every tiny little gap in the plant cover. DWL and Frogbit have long, long roots. The roots will come off if the current's too high. Both grow roots from the surface in to the substrate on my 10G tanks. I through out tons of all the above, weekly at a minimum.

Sark

EDIT: Another choice would be RRF! Red Root Floaters are really neat but I've yet to acquire any. :( Oh, and don't get Dwarf Duckweed unless you'd like your tank to look like a Green Snow Globe....