Water Sprite
 

I added water sprite about 2 weeks ago. Purchased on line. It looks pretty shabby, and I'm wondering if I should let it float instead of rooting it in small gravel, like I have. I also just tested my water and have 0 ammonia and 10ppm nitrate reading (maybe more like 15) using an AIP liquid test kit. Since I have so many plants, should I even have nitrates? Could my nitrate level be because the water sprite has dead looking leaves?

I don't even really care for the look of the stuff (looks like parsley) but if it will eventually start looking better I won't throw away.

Any advise is welcome!

Thanks

Gwen

welcome to the forum!
sorry no one has replied yet but maybe i can help a bit :D

ive never had water sprite but buying a plant anywhere or even online could be stressful for the plant. some plants "die off" for a bit until they adjust to your tank. Water sprite for what i hear about it tends to do best when floating. Hope that helps :D

IME most stem plants do extremely well floating.

Ceratopteris is watersprite, and there are two ceratopteris species... One that only grows floating, and one that grows either way. Let it get healthy floating, then you can try it again.

Water sprite
 

My plan tomorrow, when I do a WC, is to let it float - good suggestion to try later if it takes off. I've often wondered what "floating" means - like it floats on the top or I'm hoping to just let it suspend over the ground, and it will stay "upright" :)

Thanks for help.

Gwen

yeah buddy. just let it float on top.

Ceratopteris cornuta or Water Sprite is one of the absolute best floating plants. It does not like being moved to tanks with different water parameters, so give it time to acclimate. It is very beneficial; being a surface plant it is close to the light source and it assimilates CO2 directly from the air. It will easily lower those nitrates (10-15 is not bad anyway, but it will be less) since it consumes a lot of nutrients from the water. And fish absolutely love it above them. Have a read of our profile, click on the shaded name to go there, for more info.

Byron.

water sprite
 

Thanks to you both - It's floating now! My bamboo shrimp is bummed, he sat in that plant to be next to the water flow of the filter. Now he's sitting on a small plant closer to the bottom. He'll get over it! LOL!

Gwen