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Plants in High Flow


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#1 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 04:16 PM

I'd like to put some plants in my 33 gallon high flow aquarium, but I'm not sure what plants would be able to handle the kind of flow I will be providing. I was think that maybe an eleocharis of some kind, but I really have no clue. I'd eventually like to be running a Fluval FX5 on the tank, primarily for flow, as I will already have quite a bit of filtration. What do you guys think?

#2 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 05:38 PM

val

#3 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 06:16 PM

I agree that vallisneria americana does well in high flow. Ceratophyllum demersum (coontail/hornwort) can also work. Don't bury it; just wrap it around a branch or something. It's rootless, so it needs nitrate to never drop to 0 ppm or it will run out of food and die. There is a branchy almost liverwort-like plant in the rivers near me that would also do well in your high flow tank. I have taken it home before but it died in my low flow water. I don't think I ever learned its name.

Edited by EricaWieser, 28 April 2013 - 06:17 PM.


#4 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 07:13 PM

Willow Moss, Fontinalis antipyretica is the quintessential high flow plant, if you can keep it cool enough.

#5 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 10:06 AM

I think that's Riverweed (Podostemum ceratophyllum) - looks like a dark green to reddish seaweed right? If Fontinalis is quintessential high-flow, then Podostemum must be hexessential. Grows mainly on cascades and fast riffles, even on old stone dam spillways.

There is a branchy almost liverwort-like plant in the rivers near me that would also do well in your high flow tank. I have taken it home before but it died in my low flow water. I don't think I ever learned its name.



#6 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 10:40 AM

I have never seen riverweed survive in an aquarium.
Odd to me.
Quite beautiful, it is incredibly lush in the Conasauga, carpeting stones 2" thick in places. Darters love picking at it looking for micro bugs which it is full of.
Bring home some and watch.
All attempts to transplant it, really just carrying home a stone covered in it. have failed. I have even added it to the 6' cascading water fall in the cement pond to no success.
Others have tried to.
High flow, intense light... what else... chemistry?
A mystery.
On the other hand java moss and or perhaps the NA native ( fonit... ) thrive in flow tanks and the cement pond. As Sub noted.

Val needs a nice rich sandy substrate, capped with gravel, to grow... and good light.
You will have to trim regularily if those needs are met.

#7 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 03:18 PM

Thanks a ton, guys. I think I'm going to use the willow moss in the highest flow area, maybe try some of the eleocharis and saggitaria throughout, and then use the vals in the slower flow area.

#8 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 08:19 PM

I think that's Riverweed (Podostemum ceratophyllum) - looks like a dark green to reddish seaweed right? If Fontinalis is quintessential high-flow, then Podostemum must be hexessential. Grows mainly on cascades and fast riffles, even on old stone dam spillways.

Yes! That's it. Thank you for the ID :)

#9 Guest_Auban_*

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Posted 30 April 2013 - 01:27 AM

im casting my vote micranthemum umbrosum.

i usually found it growing best in a pretty decent amount of flow. its the green stuff in the net and in front of the crazy guy in the pic:

Posted Image

#10 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 01 May 2013 - 11:02 AM

Callitriche heterophylla also grows in big clumps in strong flow like Auban's pic above, in fact that's what I woulda guessed he was holding if he hadn't told us it was Micranthemum umbrosum. I see Micranthemum more often in slower water near the stream-banks.




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