Having a tough time keeping floaters alive
 

Hey guys I feel I have the worst luck with floaters as I can't seem to keep them alive. First I tried frogbit and they melted pretty quick. Now I have water lettuce and hornwort and they are slowly melting away as well. When I first got them they were both big and lush with long roots for the water lettuce. Now my water lettuce keeps turning yellow and melting and the leaves never grow as big as when I first got them. Also the Cabomba I just got grows tall but the leaves are thin. I don't know what I am doing wrong so if anyone could help me finally figure out what I am doing wrong that would be awesome. I have a dirted substrate, a t5 dual HO light with I believe 35 watts and I'm using a sponge filter in a 10 gallon. I do not dose any ferts but was reading that maybe I might need more iron. Any Ideas guys?

What's the distance between the light fixture and your frogbit?

Get rid of the sponge filter floaters don't like alot of movement.

If you'd like to try some more floaters let me know. I have way too many!

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Most floating plants are Nitrogen cleaning plants. If they don't grow too well might be a case of Nitrate limiting.

+1... This is the biggest issue that I've had with floating plants. They really prefer near-stagnant or stagnant water.


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Edit: Double post... Sorry.


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It's a bit of a misconception that floaters can't handle movement. They just can't handle aggressive water movement. As long as you corral them with some airline tubing or fishing line, they typically can adjust quite well. They won't do well if constantly disturbed without anything to hang on to, though.

I keep delicate floaters like Frogbit in my 12gal long tank (see signature) and it does quite well. Mother plants are placed behind the spray bar and they send out baby plants that remain attached. Those younger plants grow really well in the current created by the spray bar and as long as they stay attached/anchored to the mother plant, they're fine.

P.S. Here's a photo:

http://www.hundred20.com/pt/Jan2013/12galfloaters.jpg

I am wondering if the T5 lighting is not too much ,too warm.
I grow floating pennywort in 55 gal livebearer tank under dual T8 bulbs and Aquaclear110 along with two HYDRO V sponge filter's that run 24/7, so I do not believe the sponge filter makes a difference.
Might consider Seachem's flourish comprehensive as a source of nutrient's albeit more of a trace mineral compared to the macronutrient content.
Is better than no nutrient's at all, especially if fishes or invert's are not contributing,and even more so, if CO2 is being used. with CO2 you will likely need full range of nutrient's
Phosphates,nitrogen,pottasium.
Maybe try first raising light fixture,shielding light with window screen.limiting lighting to eight hours if this is low tech. This would create less demand for nutrient's and the flourish comprehensive could help.

+1.
I have a 20 gal with two sponge filters filled with frogbit.
Also have a 11.4 Gallon with two sponge filters over filled with red root floaters

Back then it was about 5 inches from the water surface. I had it raised to about 10 inches thinking it was melting them. I didn't have a cover just an open top tank and I thought that, that might be the problem because of the temp might be fluctuating but I have seen other people without tops and they seem to do fine. I recently grabbed a cover for the top but my water lettuce and hornwort still is not thriving. With the cover on top the light sits right on top of it. Don't know if that would be a problem. I forgot to mention that the temp of the tank was about 83 degrees. I keep SA dwarf cichlids so they like the tank a little warmer but recently dropped the temp to about 78 degrees. As for the sponge filters I don't think they are the problem as I have the air line knotted so the surface movement is restricted a little. Apistos don't like a lot of water movement. Would it be worth it to add more iron or trace?