Plant suggestions

[AJ356]

Any suggestions for plants that will grow/do well if floating but are not traditional floating plants.

Especially ones suited to about 74 or 75 F, pH of about 7.8 and a general hardness of about 16 degrees which is about 285 ppm.

The fish load would either be quite high or low, as I have multiple tanks

I have about 15-20 ppm Nitrate from the tap, so the only plant fertiliser I want to use is something like TNC lite that doesn't add nitrogen.

I don't have any flash lighting. Cheap (ish) LED Amazon job. Not a big brand or anything.

My tanks have a fairly high flow rate near the filter, but I have plastic condensation trays I can cut and act as a partial divider in the tank to reduce water surface movement in part of the tank if needed.

 

[MattW]

I use certain stems as floating plants. I've found Limnophila sessiliflora, Hornwort, Elodea, Guppy grass, Rotala, and Pogostemon octopus do well in my tanks. Avg temp is around 22-24C. If fish load is high, I would go for Limnophila sessiliflora. It's the fastest-growing stem I've used so far. It will require cutting every now and then, as it can easily take over a tank if left alone.

This was my old tank. I had a wall of it along the back of the tank, and after a few weeks of not trimming, it crept towards the front with some stems even touching the front glass.

 

[AJ356]

I use certain stems as floating plants. I've found Limnophila sessiliflora, Hornwort, Elodea, Guppy grass, Rotala, and Pogostemon octopus do well in my tanks. Avg temp is around 22-24C. If fish load is high, I would go for Limnophila sessiliflora. It's the fastest-growing stem I've used so far. It will require cutting every now and then, as it can easily take over a tank if left alone.

View attachment 373190
This was my old tank. I had a wall of it along the back of the tank, and after a few weeks of not trimming, it crept towards the front with some stems even touching the front glass.

Perfect, thank you! I am especially interested in the Limnophila sessiliflora, and will probably order some asap

 

[Abaddon]

Are you looking specifically for plants that will spread out across the surface, or anything that can survive in the water column without being planted (like marimo balls, Java fern, mosses etc.)? Personally, I recommend water sprite & water wisteria (they will do especially well if you allow the leaves to grow above the surface - unless you have CO2), as well as ludwigia and pearl weed. Water sprite in particular will put down dense, long roots reminiscent of water lettuce or frogbit (only brown).

 

[Colin_T]

Ambulia (Limnophila sessiliflora), Hygrophila polysperma, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta). The water sprite is normally a floating plant but can also be grown in the substrate. The Ambulia and Hygrophila will both grow tall (several feet in length) and can grow across the surface while still growing in the substrate, or it will grow on the surface when it isn't growing in the substrate. Ludwigia species are similar to the Hygrophilas in growth pattern.