Ricca Fluitans

[lilaliend]

I was looking thru one of the plant stores suggested on the forum and came across this carpeting plant. It looks very nice, but I was particularly interested in one of the benefits...
"Additionally, riccia is a great nutrient/waste sump that can help remove harmful amonia, nitrates and nitrites from your fish tank."
That would obvisouly be a very good thing, especially for my tank as these seem to get a bit high. Has anyone had experience with this stuff??? or know of any other plants they could suggest taht help with waste?

 

[rain-]

All plants use nitrates, phosphate and other nutrients. Fast growing plants naturally use more and when you prune them, you remove the nutrients they have absorbed from the water and substrate. But it doesn't mean that you don't need to do regular partial water changes, the plants aren't _that_ effective in removing nitrates and phosphates from the water, but they do help. And they also produce oxygen during daytime.

Riccia is easy to grow as a free floating plant. It forms thick carpets in good light and thinner and fragile carpets in low light. You need lots of light and regular pruning and maintenance if you want to grow it submerged and you want it to look nice.

But it's worth a try. It is a really beautiful plant. If it doens't thrive underwater, it will most likely do fine as a floating plant. Just remember that it will block the light from the plants growing under it, so prune it regularly

 

[Bangin]

Floating plants are nutrient-sponges, which is why riccia does such a great job of removing nitrates. Under the right conditions riccia will spread rapidly; it grows like a weed.