Top 5 Floating Plants to Get Rid of Algae in Your Aquarium

One of my main secrets for getting rid of algae is floating plants. They suck up excess nutrients, block out excess light, and the fish love the extra cover! But they also easily grow out of control and can lower the oxygen levels in the water. So, here’s my honest review on 5 floating plants I’ve kept and which one is my favorite.

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#girltalksfish #plantedtank #plantedaquarium

0:00 The magic of floating plants
0:37 Floating plant 1
1:40 Floating plant 2
3:08 Floating plant 3
4:17 Floating plant 4
5:34 Floating plant 5

[GirlTalksFish]

*Any tips on growing dwarf water lettuce so that it grows to a 3-inch (7.5 cm) diameter? Mine always stay small.*

[cringe]

Instructions unclear. There is algae growing on my floating plants

[IMaqua]

Floating plants are must for begginers. In all my aquariums that have floating plants I noticed less algae. Cheers Irene.

[cathlinejohnson]

My fancy goldfish devour the roots of frogbit and decimate duckweed lol they basically think I’ve brought them a little tasty treat for being such good water-puppies. 🥰 Thanks for your vids-I love them!

[cameron_f]

with the dwarf water lettuce I have a bunch and when I first started they all seemed to stay smaller but when I lowered my flow in my tank and added more fertilizer (I use easy green) they started growing like crazy and now I'm starting to see more and more big flower looking blooms.

[JasonYuSprints]

Based on my experience, water lettuce needs lots of nutrients, lights and oxygen to grow BIG. They grow small in indoor aquariums, yet huge in outdoor ponds. When kept outdoor, water lettuce can overwinter outside in temperature lowest 5-8 Celcius. They make great spawning 'mop' for goldfish too.

[cadenlikespigs]

A layer of floating plants and lowlight plants are a great way to make an aquascape.

[noelbrucker]

The only floating plant that I’ve been able to try has been the salvinia minima, which I love… in the right tank. In my tanks with hang on back filters, they stay little and don’t do well (even with a floating ring), but they are out of control in my 6g nano tanks with sponge filters - lush and gorgeous with 2-3 inch roots (which my betta and my chili rasboras absolutely love for hide and seek), and they grow so fast I have to clear the tank every 3-4 days. I’m interested in trying some of your larger options for my larger HOB tanks. Great video, as always, Irene! ❤

[somdov]

The duckweed jumpscares were too much for my little heart 😨

[gregnezz]

Thank you so much @GirlTalksFish! Irene your videos have helped me setup a 20 gallon planted little community of shrimp, pygmy cory's, neon tetra and an Otto.

[sophiafailing]

Love your vids so much thanks so much😀

[NovusMens]

One floater that I've come to love is ricciocarpos natans. It is a floating liverwort that is closer in size to red-roots but divide instead of growing along root systems. Surprisingly hardy and easy to remove without making to much of a mess.

[Bucephalandra]

I recommend Giant Duckweeds. Their reddish under surface are excellent.

[Cora-extic-critterkeeping]

I was just thinking last night about how I needed this exact video for the exact same algae problem last night! Perfect timing! 😂

[bobmorgan]

I have a couple of hang-on-back filters that cause strong currents that pushed my floating plants around too much. Killed water sprite, frogbit, salvinia, and even duckweed. Then I bought fake plastic plants to give my surface dwellers some cover, and a few weeks ago I added more salvinia and frogbit and duckweed. The floating plastic plants helped corral my live floaters and they’re really doing well. Some folks may frown on fake plants, but they look pretty natural and most people can’t tell the difference. Also, the fish like them just fine.

[valiaudet]

I'm experimenting with dwarf water lettuce. In outdoor pond grows and propagates quickly. In a tub, in shade, growing just ok. In the inside heated tanks they die quickly if receiving too much water on leaves. Noted that where tops remain drier a single floating leaf will propagate, easy. My latest is placing a pond grown, 2inch diameter plant leaving the long roots to dangle through the hole in a half inch slither of pool noodle to keep leaves out of water. There has been lots of die off. Having tanks with lids keeps too much humidity. So, my conclusion water lettuce is great for outdoors in small pond, partial sun. Indoors in tanks without lids.

[Tulips_]

Consistent reliable information…thank you!

[mwoodward]

I loooove water sprite. I bought a clump of water sprite about 5 years ago... and I haven't had to since because they've done so well and have given me countless of other plants.

[alaskacosplay]

I used to have floating plants but I had so much that it killed all my fish at one point. It was like a phase I had and I enjoyed it for the time. The second floating plant is probably a dwarf water lettuce and to get them to grow, you really gotta pump up the nutrients and the fish population in the tank since they thrive off of all the nutrients in the water and of you get a big enough clump that's already growing spreading, you would eventually get the big flower like appearance

[janejingyuzhang]

Same here! I also have trouble growing dwarf water lettuce big. I'm interested in trying water sprites!!