How much flow is too much for floating plants?

[devsi]

I have a few Juwel tanks, for example the Jewel Rio 180, which has an internal filter with a pump power of 600 l/h (ref).

I've tried a few different floating plants (Red Root Floaters, Amazon Frogbit, Salvinia Minima, and Duckweed) but, with the exception of Duckweed, they have all died! While Duckweed is nice to look at, it's a pain when putting your arm in the tank as you come out covered in the stuff; so I had to get rid of it.

I'm currently trying out Water Lettuce and Hornwort. I really like the roots on the Water Lettuce and don't want it to die, so I'm wondering if the reason all my floaters keep dying is because of the aforementioned flow?

The Water Lettuce is currently split up; half of it is stuck to my filter, not moving, and the other half, on the other side of the tank, is floating around a bit but not excessively.

Is that too much for floating plants to survive in? Am I doomed to never have floating plants?

 

[JustAFishServant]

It's probably the flow, yes. Floating plants don't like water droplets on their leaves. Some use suction cups and airline tubing to enclose the plants, or the filter flow, inside. You can also buy them (I think they're called feeder rings).

 

[devsi]

It's probably the flow, yes. Floating plants don't like water droplets on their leaves. Some use suction cups and airline tubing to enclose the plants, or the filter flow, inside. You can also buy them (I think they're called feeder rings).

I have actually tried airline tubing/feeder rings before, but they just end up getting pushed around the same, just in a ring

 

[Chris1212]

You have to start off with a small ring, small enough that the plants are really packed tight and don't move much at all. As they get established and multiply you can expand the ring. That's what worked with mine.

 

[devsi]

You have to start off with a small ring, small enough that the plants are really packed tight and don't move much at all. As they get established and multiply you can expand the ring. That's what worked with mine.

But how do you stop the ring from moving around? Wouldn’t that have the same problem?

 

[Chris1212]

Ahh yeah you have to secure it with a suction cup

 

[devsi]

Ahh yeah you have to secure it with a suction cup

Ah! Ok! That makes sense and is helpful.

Thank you!