Raising aquatic plants in a separate tank

[Grumpla]

Has anyone done this? I'm thinking it might be the best way to keep up with Dave's propensity to snack on / demolish his plants.

I have a large empty tank in the greenhouse so hoping natural light would do it. Shall I just chuck in a handful of elodea & java moss and hope for the best? Shall I add additional fertiliser? Was planning on using old tank water but would be easier to just go for Baby Bio or similar rather than sloshing buckets around.

The plant tank won't be filtered - is this likely to cause massive problems?

[EauRouge]

Yes, I've had a few plants only tanks, mainly because I couldn't resist setting up the spares I had even though they were too small for fish

If you're going for cheap, cheerful and prolific to provide your fish with a salad bar then elodea (gets messy though), hygrophilia and vallis will fit the bill. They won't need fertiliser, just some plant substrate underneath the gravel but liquid carbon is pretty good stuff if you did want to add something. Pea gravel is best for plants. Greenhouse will prob be too cold this time of year though, have you got a spare windowsill?

Don't forget you can also feed salad to fish, just give it a rinse and a blanch.

Not having a filter isn't a problem but some flow might help if you get algae problems. I'd wait and see though.

[Grumpla]

Does elodea definitely require a substrate then? Had hoped to get away with a bare bottomed tank! All the bunches I have bought are rootless.

Previously I have only ever grown java moss, riccia and a few crypts (in a tropical tank with no big heifer goldies in to chew on them!) so bit of a plant newbie really.

What about plants from my pond? Can
I hoick some out, give them a quick spritz of Milton and transfer them into the plant tank?

[EauRouge]

Elodea will grow without substrate, I always hated it though because it gets so messy. Hygrophila has bigger leaves so you don't end up with loads of bits everywhere but you'd need substrate.

Riccia would be a great option, it used to take over in my tropical tanks so I'd dump it into my goldfish tank and they'd polish it right off.

What plants have you got in your pond?

[Grumpla]

Duckweed.

Whatever else is lurking under the duckweed.

MIL has a lot of water lilies.

[EauRouge]

Ah yeah, the duckweed will go down well and you can grow that in a jam jar (same with the riccia) if you're pushed for space.

Water lilies need very deep water so you'd need a public aquarium-sized tank to grow those indoors.

[Grumpla]

Excellent, I'll just whack some sealant round the sides of the greenhouse and fill it up with the hose then