Temperature shock?

Ok, so a while back I took out my hornwort to rescape. I put it in a 5 gallon bucket on our back porch and I kind of forgot about it. Well, we've had many below freezing nights recently and I was just out back and noticed through the thin layer of ice that the hornwort is not only alive, but looks to be thriving! What the?!

So, I'm due for another rescape and I'm thinking of putting some of this seemingly indestructible hornwort into one of my tanks (probably the bullhead tank). My tanks are kept at your typical 78ish degrees, but the bucket water that the hornwort is in is 39 degrees. I brought the bucket inside to start warming up, but I'm wondering if I'm going to have to worry about temperature shock because that is close to a 40° difference. What would be my best course of action be to get these plants ready for the tank?

Probably time. It clearly survived the move in the other direction, so no reason it won't survive the transition back. Now that you've brought it inside, give it a week or so in the bucket inside, and then the temperature difference probably will result in less die-off/shock when you move it to the main tank. If you want, you can go even more gradual by tossing a heater set somewhere between room temp and aquarium temp in the bucket.

But, at the end of the day, this is hornwort we are talking about. Odds are if you toss it from the frozen bucket straight into the tank you will get some die-off but the plant overall will probably survive lol. I think your idea of doing it gradually is probably wise though, since you don't want the dead plant matter (depending on how much there will be) fouling up your tank.

Other option is your hornwort won't even care about a 40 degree temp swing and will just keep on chugging along. I have no experience with the plant itself, but these are probably the three different ways to approach it. The cautious way is to leave it in the bucket to acclimate to the house temp for a while, but I doubt you are going to screw anything up drastically either way.

That's also crazy that it's thriving in a frozen bucket!!!

Ok, so I had the right idea. I feel better. Thank you.

I can't believe it survived. The evil duckweed didn't die, either... Darn it... That stuff was actually frozen in the surface ice and defrosted multiple times and didn't die! How do you kill this stuff?!

Most aquatic plants tolerate going into cold water better than being dumped in warm water. Hornwort, Elodia and Vallis will all do well in cold water or warm water but they will all fail and rot if there is a sudden change in temperature or water chemistry.

I would leave the hornwort outside until the weather warms up and gets closer to the tank temperature, then move it into the aquarium.

Colin_T said:

Most aquatic plants tolerate going into cold water better than being dumped in warm water. Hornwort, Elodia and Vallis will all do well in cold water or warm water but they will all fail and rot if there is a sudden change in temperature or water chemistry.

I would leave the hornwort outside until the weather warms up and gets closer to the tank temperature, then move it into the aquarium.

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Leaving outside is not really an option here in Ohio. Here before long that bucket would be a solid block of ice. I know it wouldn't survive that. So far, it's doing just fine inside. I haven't seen a single needle drop.

I figured I'd update. As I said, I let it warm up for a few and then put it in one of the tanks. It's not perfect or beautifully 'scaped because I'm not an artist, work 13 days a pay period and this is probably the most neglected plants on this site, but it's growing like a weed. I actually love that it's not perfect. Kind of like adopting a dog named Lucky with three legs, one ear and one eye with a severe case of halitosis. It kind of sat there not doing a whole lot for a couple weeks, but this past week it took off like crazy. It was roughly 1/2-2/3 as tall as the tank. It reached the top about 6" ago, all within the past week. It deserves to live. I plan to set up a ghetto DIY wine bottle CO2 setup on my day off to see if it benefits it or what.

Anyways, here it is this morning. Excuse the mulm from this neglected tank. It's under stocked and hasn't had any attention in over a week due to life. Everything checks out as far as my levels, it's just unsightly. I'll trim everything on my day off.

Ooohhhh!!!! I love it!!! I bet the fish love it too! Best part of a plant like this is you can just get rid of bits without feeling badly! Any chance you'd want to mail me some haha jk I'm sure I can find some locally just as easily

mcordelia said:

Ooohhhh!!!! I love it!!! I bet the fish love it too! Best part of a plant like this is you can just get rid of bits without feeling badly! Any chance you'd want to mail me some haha jk I'm sure I can find some locally just as easily

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Once the shipping weather doesn't suck here in Ohio, I will send you as much as you'd like. I'm a firm believer in paying it forward. I've had folks help me out and if you want some ugly, indestructible hornwort, it would be my pleasure.

Or if you're good, once the weather cooperates, any n00b reading this in need of an impossible to kill plant, hit me up. It's ugly and neglected, but with some love, I'm sure it would serve you well. Haha.

It became a jungle. I took half of it out yesterday. I should have gotten a before picture, but I didn't think about it until after the fact.

This was November 29.


December 19 post trimming the tops and removing half of the stems.

Still looks good!!!

mcordelia said:

Still looks good!!!

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You can almost watch this stuff grow. It grows several inches a day! I just have a cheap LED under cabinet/shop light for lighting. I don't think I'd want to try a legitimate grow light. I'd probably have to cut it every other day.

Oh I legitimately need some of this stuff.

Kyle E. said:

Oh I legitimately need some of this stuff.

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Once the weather warms up, I'll gladly hook ya up.