Water too dark?

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Is there such a thing as too much tannins, or too dark of water? It gets better after I do a water change, but it gets pretty dark each week. I’m fine with it if the fish are ok. I did boil the wood ahead of time too.

 

[MacZ]

The fish can do with this, no problem. Do I remember correctly? You only got Anubias and floaters, right? Plants should be fine then, too.

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

The fish can do with this, no problem. Do I remember correctly? You only got Anubias and floaters, right? Plants should be fine then, too.

Thank you. Just anubias, can’t find floaters I like anywhere. Although I did find some nice looking pennywort in the grocery store aquarium section, but I don’t feel good about buying plants from there

 

[MacZ]

Pennywort would be awesome. My tank is mostly stuffed with it.

 

[Jon Webb]

Can you quarantine the pennywort, and treat it with hydrogen peroxide?

 

[MacZ]

Why would you? Parasites and pathogens are almost impossible to contract via plants and with a careful choice of sources the plants should be snail-free. I never use chemicals on my tanks (or plants for that matter.)

 

[anewbie]

Why would you? Parasites and pathogens are almost impossible to contract via plants and with a careful choice of sources the plants should be snail-free. I never use chemicals on my tanks (or plants for that matter.)

Isn't H2O a chemical ? I'm not suggesting he should treat his plant but i do know a lot of plants from most (all?) sources in the US will frequently carry eggs or small snails. That seems to be the big market for tissue which is guaranteed to be 'pest' free. I personally just live with the snails as they seem to provide more benefit than 'harm'. I have used hydrogen preoxide on plants to treat bba. One of my low tech tank had a serious problem with bba but i think i figured out why and so hopefully that problem is resolved.

 

[MacZ]

Isn't H2O a chemical ?

Come on, you know what I mean.

You also get snails all the time in Europe. But practices like dipping plants against whatever have not taken a foothold here.

I have limpets in my tank, they are there on purpose. Bigger snails would reproduce uncontrollably with all the leaf litter. But on the other hand... bigger snails wouldn't survive my water.

 

[Tom C]

... can’t find floaters I like anywhere.

Micranthemum umbrosum do well as floater in my blackwater tanks:

 

[anewbie]

Thank you. Just anubias, can’t find floaters I like anywhere. Although I did find some nice looking pennywort in the grocery store aquarium section, but I don’t feel good about buying plants from there

If you are in USA I could send you some frogbit and red root floaters - maybe a few water lettuce. You'd have to wait a couple of weeks as I just did a massive prune so need a bit of time to regrow - also there might be some bits of duckweed in it that you might or might not want. Anyway just pm me an address and I'll let you know when it is in the mail. Conversely if you are not in the us I will be unwilling to ship. Hum. I also have some hornworh if you want to float that. My tanks have some snails - mostly trumpet so i can't promise no snail eggs.

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Micranthemum umbrosum do well as floater in my blackwater tanks:

Thank you for the advice.

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

I appreciate the offer. Maybe I’ll take you up on it, but leaning towards giving that pennywort a shot.

 

[Samala]

Although I did find some nice looking pennywort in the grocery store aquarium section, but I don’t feel good about buying plants from there

Little red flag going up for me. "Pennywort" on a grocery store plant label is not likely to be the same "Pennywort" we'd use in aquariums.

There is a "pennywort", Centella asiatica, that is available sometimes as a house plant and has wide applications as a medicinal herb. Also called "gotu kola". It's a wetland plant so I'm sure it'd do well as a floater or semi-submerged, however, I'm not sure whether I'd try it. The plant has medicinal applications because of high loads of saponins / triterpenoids. In a large volume of water that probably isn't so bad, but I'd probably run a test / trial first. Unless you can find other hobbyists who've used it without problems, of course.

The grocery store source also seems risky to me. In the US commercial growers regularly treat plants to reduce pests in greenhouse and growing conditions. If I were going this route I'd grow the plant out for a month or two and only use / transfer new growth.

It's totally possible that the pennywort you found is a Hydrocotyle sp. member, like Brazillian pennywort that is used widely in the hobby (usually H. leucocephala), but there are several Hydrocotyle species in the US, especially in the southeastern US, that are considered pests in lawns (we call them "dollar weed" in Florida). They wouldn't have much of a market as a houseplant and I don't think I've ever seen them available.

Maybe take a photo next time you see it and we can try to identify?

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Maybe take a photo next time you see it and we can try to identify?

I will do that!

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Maybe take a photo next time you see it and we can try to identify?

Ok, here they are!

 

[MacZ]

Exactly the plant that I have in my tank. Go for it.

 

[Samala]

Agreed, looks to definitely be Hydrocotyle. That's certainly not what I was expecting for a grocery store setup! Nice find.

 

[yukondog]

It grows nice in my soft water.

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Great, I’ll pick one or 2 up on my next grocery visit! Thanks all.

 

[MacZ]

Little trick: Don't plant them in the substrate, just anchor them to the driftwood and let them grow. The closer they can start to the surface the more light they get and the faster they reach atmospheric CO2, at which point they usually explode in their growth.