Hornwort growing/planting

fish999

Whats the best way to plant Hornwort, and how to get it to stay healthy... I recently added Hornwort as a fry cover. It seems very prone to dying off. I've only had it a couple of days so I'm still holding my fingers crossed it won't all die on me.

Very beautiful plant when healthy though.

Angel079

Hornwort to me is known as tank weed, that's how it grows, just like weed, doesn't matter if you leave it floating up top to provde shelter or plant it into your gravel it will grow like weed
Its a very fragile plant that can easily (by accident) be bent or broken off, maybe that's why it appears dieing to you? As ofr its requirements to the water, you can keep it in almost any tank as it will tolerate Temps anywhere from 60-78, however it is known to not thrive in hard water (up to 15 degrees hardness).
Do you use any fertilizer at all or have a special plant substrate in the tank? It has medium light needs, so I assume you have that in your tank?

fish999

I'll have to check the light rating, but it's 2 15a 18" tubes that are on at least 10 hrs daily. As far as fertilizer I use a weekly liquid thats sposed to be good for plants. My water is very hard though.

Angel079

What tubes are you using, full spectrum?
What is your water, when you say "its hard" that can be anything really So give me a number pls?

Any other plants thriving well or show issues too?

fish999

The other plants are doing well, if a little slow. Probably because I have low wattage per gallon. The Hornwort has been taken out. Way to much maintenance.

Angel079

That's odd...you say you have hard water - How hard?
Cause really this stuff grew horribly quick for me, that's why I call it weed lol

fish999

I only have strip test kit, so a number is guesswork there. It's off the scale of the strip though. However all plants and fish and shrimp are doing ok, perhaps a little slow to 'take off' but still rooting and making new leaves... except the Hornwort, which clogged up the tank with broken/dead leaves.

Hawkian

Hey fish999... don't feel bad I did the same thing you did. I loved the look of Hornwort but found it to be more a pain than it was worth. There are other plants that are very close to Hornwort in appearance and may be less of a pain to keep: Egeria densa, elodea canadensis, limnophila aquatica, and Myriophyllum aquaticum... are a few plants that all share the same kind of needle-like leaves as Hornwort and may be less maintenance?

fish999

Thanks hawkian. I like the parrotfeather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) the most of all those you mentioned. Probably have it growing wild in a lake or pond around here, but I'm leery of bringing in wild hitchhikers/diseases.

Another one I found since posting this is rotala indica... i have some of this in my 55 now.

Angel079

Rotala's real rice and offer frequent clippings too, nice coloration! It reminds me of the Ludweigia's coloration- Arg there's so many beautiful tank plants....I need more tanks