Tropical plants

[Guppy10]

Hi, I have just made a tank just for trop plant life ( maybe in future a quarantine or for breeding ) , my question is , does the elodea, floating plants actually need heat or will room temp be ok ?

 

[AbbeysDad]

Growers indicate that tropical aquatic plants do best at 70-75F, so room temperature is fine. I have duckweed in the turtle pond that seems to do fine at 60F - 75F.

 

[Colin_T]

Elodea will live in cold or warm water. However, avoid big sudden temperature changes because that can kill the plants.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

No, they need heat. IMO, tropical plants grow best in warm waters. (As the name suggests) I have done an actual experiment with duck weed in 2 different buckets, one heated and one unheated. The heated one spread more quickly than the unheated bucket.

Elodea = Anacharis, am I right? Anacharis definitely grows better in warm water. I have a lot of experience with Anacharis.

 

[Guppy10]

Thanks for the replies, it has a heater in it running at 23c- 24c but if it's not needed as essential I will turn it of. Btw, the tank has a small strip light and is close to a window so will get morning sunlight then only indirect later. Also a small bubble lift foams filter with a course sponge over the outlet so so real movement ( from previous advise on here ), also no lid, ( advise to stop humidity, from here ), also water for now contains ammonia, good for plants you tell me. Iv tried to use a common sense approach but tell me if I'm wrong. If it succeeds I should have an endless supply. Thanks everyone who's replied.

 

[Byron]

I agree that normal room temperature should be OK. I also agree that significant temperature fluctuations can be detrimental, even to the point of killing the plant, depending upon the species and the temperature differences.

On the light, be careful of direct sunlight. This can cause problem algae. Controlling natural sunlight which can vary from day to day, season to season, in terms of the intensity and the duration, is more difficult than contolling artificial tank lighting. I found this out when I ran anexperiment with a planted 10g in front of a window as the only light source. The plants grew well, but algae and even cyanobacteria appeared.

Re the actual plant...Anacharis is a "common" name for the species Egeria densa. [However, there are sources where this is confused and Anacharis is there considered synonymous with Elodea nuttallii. It might help if we never used the incorrect name Anacharis whatever it may refer to.] This plant prefers cooler temperatures than what is found in the normal community tropical aquarium, and frequently will fall apart within a few weeks if kept at warmer temperatures. A closely-related species, Egeria najas, does very well in normal temperatures (optimum 15-26C/60-79F) but is rarely available (Kasselmann, 2003).

 

[Munroco]

My outdoor pond is full of elodea, I throw bunches of it away every summer.
My pond freezes over in the winter so it is a pretty hardy plant and can easily survive and thrive without a heater.

There are more than one species of elodea.

 

[Guppy10]

Iv looked on eBay and its described as elodea densa if that's any help.

 

[Munroco]

Densa and crispa are probably the 2 commonest. Densa is what is in my pond.

 

[Byron]

Iv looked on eBay and its described as elodea densa if that's any help.

That/those sites have the wrong name, which doesn't help. There is no species densa in the genus Elodea. There is Egeria densa. The two genera Egeria and Elodea are distinct.

 

[Byron]

There are six valid species accepted in the genus Elodea:
Elodea bifoliata
Elodea callitrichoides
Elodea canadensis
Elodea granatensis
Elodea nuttallii
Elodea potamogeton

There are three valid species accepted in the genus Egeria:
Egeria densa
Egeria heterostemon
Egeria najas

There are no valid species in the genus Anarcharis as this genus/species are synonyms for the valid species in Elodea or Egeria.

 

[Munroco]

After looking closely I believe that it is crispa (which I believe is called Lagarosiphon major for the moment), that I have in my pond.
Either way both are banned from being sold in the EU now.