# Mint?



## squidsquiggle (Sep 27, 2011)

Hello! For my first post here, I thought I'd ask around about mint in the aquarium. I really love the look of emersed plants, and thought I'd try growing something out of the backs of my HOB filters.

Has anyone ever planted mint this way? Not aquatic mint, just regular, plain mint. I've found references to people planting mint around fish ponds, so I think it's safe for fish, but I can't really find anything about planting it out of an aquarium (I searched the forums here, too, and only found one brief mention, which makes me wonder if it's a bad idea for some reason). 

If it is safe, is wild mint alright? If I have mint in my yard, and never used fertilizers, would that be safe (maybe with a sanitizing dip for possible parasites)?

Thanks for any thoughts!


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## junko (Sep 9, 2011)

I grow mint in the veggie filter of my koi pond and it does great- bare root or potted! I've never planted it in an aquarium before, but I'm a planted aquarium noob.


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## squidsquiggle (Sep 27, 2011)

junko said:


> I grow mint in the veggie filter of my koi pond and it does great- bare root or potted! I've never planted it in an aquarium before, but I'm a planted aquarium noob.


I'll have to give it a try, then. Thanks for sharing!


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

should work out of the back of the HOB filters, what will you use to hold them in place?

I have pothos and something else I can't think of the name right now growing out of my tanks.


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## squidsquiggle (Sep 27, 2011)

kamikazi said:


> should work out of the back of the HOB filters, what will you use to hold them in place?
> 
> I have pothos and something else I can't think of the name right now growing out of my tanks.


Pothos looks like a great plant! I was thinking of using a piece of plastic latch hook grid, unless I can find a mesh pot small enough to fit in the filter. What do you use?


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

squidsquiggle said:


> Pothos looks like a great plant! I was thinking of using a piece of plastic latch hook grid, unless I can find a mesh pot small enough to fit in the filter. What do you use?


maybe you could use a piece of eggcrate(drop ceiling light diffuser) and cut it to tightly fit. Then the leftover you can cut to go over the top of the tank and add lots more plants over the top. 

you can use the black plastic grid pots that aquarium plants come in and cut out a hole big enough for it to slide into.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Cork Mats*

I was considering doing the same thing with a spearmint plant, wandering jew, spath and arrowhead. I saw cork mats at Walmart that I could cut to shape and fit into HOB that'll maintain roots submerged.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Another recommedation*

You can also use biosponge material, make sure roots (one or two nodes) are submerged immediately into water after clipping. Also make sure leaves are not submerged. 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754144&lmdn=Fish


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Thought I'd post an update*

Spearmint is sprouting at every node. Added some peppermint also.

Any reason some tips of spearmint are browning?


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

low nutrient content. its a terrestral plant. it gets enough c02 to uptake more nutrients than normally available in ur water. the bigger it gets.the more it will try and uptake. keep light away from it


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

*Growth update!*

This is what a 26W Spiral CFL Daylight and weekly Excel/Iron/potash dosing has done. Plants are peace lily, spearmint(front), peppermint(rear)


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## tetranewbie (Oct 6, 2010)

I love this idea... the smell of mint with tanks! Any ideas on rosemary? (Big hang on back, frequent trimming)


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## Cannonbolt (Sep 13, 2007)

This is a really cool idea - does it make filter maintenance a pain? I'd like to see what these plants are growing in and how it sits in the filter.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

Rosemary is another I'd like to attempt, possibly prune it into a Christmas tree:thumbsup:. 

It's important to start with a <6in clipping. 

I have not replaced mesh/carbon filter for over 5months and use a biosponge to fix plants. There is also zeolite (<12 cylinders from pack) at bottom of canister.

All I have to do is lightly brush plants and a beautiful scent permeates across tank.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Rosemary probably won't make it, try Limnophila aromatica and lemon balm.


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## squidsquiggle (Sep 27, 2011)

I still wasn't subscribed to this thread! For pete's sake...

Anyway. Those are really great looking! I had mentioned this to AirstoND already, but I never could find any mint that looked healthy, so I tried a pothos plant and a couple of spider plants. I used small mesh pots with a bit of gravel to hold the clippings, but I don't think it was a very good idea. They all seemed to be doing very well for a few weeks, but then started to die off rather rapidly, and having one filter break down and have to be completely taken apart and fixed just led me to scrapping the whole project (the spiders didn't make it, but the pothos is now happily planted in my living room). 

Is that the peppermint that is growing such nice vines, or the spearmint? I'll definitely have to give this another shot with better plants, because your photos are exactly how I had imagined/hoped things would look.


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## AirstoND (Jun 17, 2011)

If anyone has or knows who has success with spider plants in the HOB I would like to know. 

I think the smaller the better for water borne transition growth of roots.

I noticed the spearmint and peppermint stems that died or dried out quickly had red stems (too much nitrates?) others with greener/whiter stems did not.


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