# Floating Plants and an HOB Filter?



## Poemist0902 (Jul 2, 2015)

Hello, everyone! I have a 20 gallon high tank with an AquaClear 50. I really love the look of Duckweed and other floating plants like Dwarf Water Lettuce and Amazon Frogbit, but I'm not sure if they would work with my tank. I have the water level about two inches from the top of the tank because I have mystery snails that lay their eggs above the water level, which of course means that my water level is about 1-2 inches from the output of my filter. 

I have only kept Duckweed in the past but I used to have a much more powerful filter before replacing it, and the Duckweed was constantly pushed underwater and then it would clog the input. I'm not sure if this would happen to other floating plants, or only floating plants as small as Duckweed, but it is something I would want to avoid.

With this setup, is there anyway to keep floating plants without them being pushed underwater? I can control the flow of the filter, but I'm not sure if that would reduce the efficiency of the filter or not. 

I'm sorry for the long post, but I absolutely love the look of floating plants and would love to try this, and understand how difficult it is to remove them (especially Duckweed), if this doesn't work, hence the long post. Thanks!


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## Poemist0902 (Jul 2, 2015)

I have found some DIY methods in my research to corral floating plants or to separate them from the output of the filter, but I'm not interested in most of these projects because they look pretty unsightly.


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## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

Well reducing the flow of the filter will reduce it's efficiency as it will reduce how much water it can 'turn over' per hour. However the AquaClear 50's maximum flow rate is 200gph and the minimum is 67gph. Since you've have a 20 gallon, ideal you want to 'turn over' the water 5-10 times an hour, so you're shooting for so shoot for 50gph to 200gph, which means you can turn that 50 all the way down and still be 'turning over' the water 5x per hour.

However, I myself have an AC30 on a 10 gallon with Frogbit and even on the lowest flow it still will flip frogbit and submerge it. I know you said you didn't want to do one of the DIY options, but I used some suction cups and air line tubing to create a 'quarantine zone' around the filter output. Another option would be to pick up a suction cup breeder box with the mesh and remove the plastic square with the suction cups and stick it under the output of the filter.

More problems you might run into? You'll probably want a pre-filter on the uptake as I imagine the duckweed if submerged can easily get pulled into the uptake and clog your filter.


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## AdamTill (Jan 22, 2015)

I made up a little fence which is barely noticeable. 5 mins work with a dremel tool and hairdryer.


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## Poemist0902 (Jul 2, 2015)

I will definitely look into the suction cup breeder box that you suggested and thanks for the information regarding the AquaClear 50! 

That DIY looks amazing Adam! I was thinking of something similar when I was looking around before making this thread and couldn't figure out how I would do it without tools.


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## Poemist0902 (Jul 2, 2015)

I looked at some of the suction cup breeder boxes and it seems like a pretty simple idea. Just suction cup the breeder box without the lid under the output of the filter and it will keep from agitating the surface and pushing the floating plants, correct? I ordered one and it should be here in a few days so I can test it out. Thanks for the help!


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## AdamTill (Jan 22, 2015)

Thanks, works very well to this day. I viciously combat duckweed in my own tanks and won't use water lettuce again (the roots...oh the roots...), but this little diffuser still keeps the betta happy even in tanks without floating plants anymore because it breaks up the flow. 

You could do this with just a little razor saw set too:
Amazon.com: X-ACTO Extra Fine Razor Saw Blade 5.5x1-1/4 54Tooth: Home Improvement

Get a thin sheet of acrylic from Home Depot or the like, and bend it with a heat gun or hair dryer (depends on the plastic). If you're careful with the slot width, it presses on without needing suction cups (which never seem to stick for long). A little fine sandpaper to clean up the edges helps too.


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## Poemist0902 (Jul 2, 2015)

Wow, that's really crafty. That's definitely something I will consider if the breeder box doesn't work as planned.


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## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

AdamTill said:


> I made up a little fence which is barely noticeable. 5 mins work with a dremel tool and hairdryer.


That's brilliant!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

my cheaper version

water bottle


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## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

Italionstallion888 said:


> my cheaper version
> 
> water bottle


Can you take an above water shot so I can figure out what's going on here? haha


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I can when I get home. I basically took a plastic water bottle, cut both ends off. Cut a slight down the middle to open it up. On the bottom side I cut slits into the bottle following the ridges (about an inch long). From there I tucked one side under the hob, and wedged the other between the ac30 filter holder and the housing. Act's as a surface skimmer, keeps my plants from getting bent over and collects my co2 bubbles.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I think next time I will avoid the cut that split it, and just cut a notch and fit it around the spout of the ac30.


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