# bamboo in aquarium?



## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

Has anyone used bamboo in their setups? Is this a good way to naturally clean tank also?

Thinking of putting some in with the tops sticking out of the water. Not sure if it would look right...


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## Acro (Jul 7, 2012)

If you use it, soak it for a LONG time, several months. I recently put 2 tubes in my 30 gallon tank and lost my big male bristlenose pleco and one big fancy goldfish because of all the stuff it kept releasing in the water.


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## tekkguy (Jan 3, 2013)

Are you talking about lucky bamboo that is actually alive, or dead bamboo shoots? Lucky bamboo is fine ... it's not even really bamboo. Dead bamboo shoots just rot.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Bamboo will start to rot and make a mess pretty quick if you put it in the water.


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## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

tekkguy said:


> Are you talking about lucky bamboo that is actually alive, or dead bamboo shoots? Lucky bamboo is fine ... it's not even really bamboo. Dead bamboo shoots just rot.


yeah lucky bamboo, I heard it can clean water soaking up through its roots. It wont rot if top part is sticking out of water with leaves?


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## tekkguy (Jan 3, 2013)

Soup12 said:


> yeah lucky bamboo, I heard it can clean water soaking up through its roots. It wont rot if top part is sticking out of water with leaves?


No, if the leaves are sticking out of the water, it will be fine. 

As someone on another forum said "it won't win you any aquascaping contests" ... but I like it in the right amount, set up in the right way.


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## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

tekkguy said:


> No, if the leaves are sticking out of the water, it will be fine.
> 
> As someone on another forum said "it won't win you any aquascaping contests" ... but I like it in the right amount, set up in the right way.


"it won't win you any aquascaping contests" lol


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Lucky bamboo is easy enough to grow, but if you want to grow plants above water in your fish tank that are other choices that are much more attractive.


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## tipsy mcstager (Feb 3, 2013)

_Dracaena braunii_, *Ribbon Dracaena*, *Lucky Bamboo*, *Belgian Evergreen* or sometimes *Ribbon Plant*

"it won't win you any aquascaping contests"

lmao, may be right their!
in some settings it's looks alright.
shame i can't find any pics before i cut the tops off this one about two weeks ago. it was jambed up to the cover.
now the stalk is leafing<(lol, is that even a real word?) and the tops are pushing up nice!


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## Acro (Jul 7, 2012)

Sorry, I was referring to some cut bamboo tubes I had.
Anyway . . .
Freshwater Acclimated Red Mangrove looks real nice, instead of, or with lucky bamboo. I still have some available for sale or trade, PM me if you would like a few.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Lucky Bamboo isn't. It isn't a bamboo at all. (and when the plant dies it's not lucky either) Bamboo is a grass. A very large grass in most cases. I've got some that's 50' or better. And 3-4" in diameter. (Old Hamii) I'm waiting for it to get a little larger so I can get me some indoor plumbing.

Lucky Bamboo is actually Dracaena sanderiana and while it can grow in water, it does much, much better in soil. Just like any other Dracaena.

So what to do with Dracaena sanderiana? Plant it in a pot and put it in indirect lighting. Putting it in water is like torturing your pet dog.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Here's a true bamboo that I have been growing in my Mr. Aqua riparium setup, _Pleioblastus fortunei_. Most bamboos do not liek to have their roots permanently wet, but _P. fortunei_ can grow well in swampy conditions and sometimes it's planted along the edges of ponds.










It looks nice, but grows awful slow.



















I have heard that Buddha belly bamboo (_Bambusa ventricosa_) can also grow in the water.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

i haven't found that to be the case with BB. When my house flooded the BB died off.


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## tipsy mcstager (Feb 3, 2013)

GraphicGr8s said:


> Lucky Bamboo isn't. It isn't a bamboo at all. (and when the plant dies it's not lucky either) Bamboo is a grass. A very large grass in most cases. I've got some that's 50' or better. And 3-4" in diameter. (Old Hamii) I'm waiting for it to get a little larger so I can get me some indoor plumbing.
> 
> Lucky Bamboo is actually Dracaena sanderiana and while it can grow in water, it does much, much better in soil. Just like any other Dracaena.
> 
> So what to do with Dracaena sanderiana? Plant it in a pot and put it in indirect lighting. Putting it in water is like torturing your pet dog.


 
"Lucky Bamboo isn't. It isn't a bamboo at all"

i guess that means a cat fish isn't a cat at all?..........lol:icon_idea



funny if you look up _Dracaena braunii and or _Dracaena sanderiana you get 
*Ribbon Dracaena*, *Lucky Bamboo*, *Belgian Evergreen* or sometimes *Ribbon Plant*

"torturing your pet dog"?.........:help:...........really? 
mine seem to like it's living conditions quite well thank you i've yet to hear it complain once :tongue:


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Lucky bamboo isn't even a real plant.

It's a marketing gimmick.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Many house plants can be grown with aquarium water. You can support the plants over the tank so the roots are in the water and the stems and leaves are above the water. 
You can fashion some form of container, riparium or more complex idea, or you can just let the roots dangle in the water. 
I have the best luck with Golden Pothos, and Nephthytis, but have also grown Dracaena marginata, 2 species of Prayer Plant (Maranta and Calathea), and Philodendron scandens. I have tried plants like Spider Plant, Wandering Jew and some others. 
Overall, I have the best luck with hanging plants. Upright plants need support, for example clipping the pot to the side of the tank. 

ANY plant that is growing with the roots in the water, leaves in the air will be better than totally under water plants at removing nitrogen (all 3 forms we commonly see in the aquarium) and other nutrients. 
This is because they are not lacking for CO2, which they get from the air. 
They are going to need good light well above the tank, if your light fixture is not already high enough. My plants grow near a window.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

GraphicGr8s said:


> i haven't found that to be the case with BB. When my house flooded the BB died off.


I only saw one reference to this. Maybe it would work if the plant had time to acclimate. 

While clicking around I was reminded about another true bamboo that is a true swamp/wetland plant. River cane (_Arundindaria gigantea_) is a native Southeast US plant that formerly covered huge areas of river bottomland. Most of the "cane brakes" dominated by this plant have been converted by modern flood controls or agriculture to other uses, but it's still around.









(Wikimedia Commons image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arundinaria_gigantea.jpg)

You can find lots of plants cheap this time of year on eehbay. I just ordered a 2-gallon pot of _A. gigantea_ and I'm going to try it as a riparium plant. I might just kill it, but I think it's worth a shot. If it grows it could be a good choice for this other project that I am working on...

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=278754


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

I love bamboo. Years ago I was in Selby Gardens in Sarasota and saw Old Hammi. I had to have it. Took a while to get it and actually wound up with two others before I found it cheap enough. I only buy clumpers though. I don't want any runners. 
I'd love to try the Arundindaria gigantea in a fish tank. Well I really just want a tank large enough to hold that.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

GraphicGr8s said:


> I love bamboo. Years ago I was in Selby Gardens in Sarasota and saw Old Hammi. I had to have it. Took a while to get it and actually wound up with two others before I found it cheap enough. I only buy clumpers though. I don't want any runners.
> I'd love to try the Arundindaria gigantea in a fish tank. Well I really just want a tank large enough to hold that.


I am in Zone 5 and there aren't many clumpers that are hardy here. Last fall I planted a nursery-rescue _Phyllostachys *****_ and I hope it will sprout for me this spring. I am going to plant most of this _Arundinaria_ outside and see what happens.

I have a small (2 plants) collection of bamboos know to perform well indoors. The _Chimonobambusa__ marmorea _looked wonderful until I divided last year; it has never recovered from that and now left with just one live shoot. The _Indocalamus tesselatus_ still looks happy enough, but it is not such an attractive plant. It looks like corn. 

Bamboos aren't like most other grasses and you can't cut just any little division and hope for it to take. It seems to me they are more like trees and need to have a minimum amount of tissue and energy for propagation. I have seen pictures of real nice bonsai bamboo, but I bet they are tricky. 

I ran into this place in Michigan that sells Zone 5-6 bamboos... http://mibamboo.com/ They have some pretty cool stuff.

_Chusquea nigricans _ allegedly grows in Sphagnum bogs in Chile... http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...urce=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=_-tYUZvbJ4LzygHOz4DoDQ ...but it is rare in cultivation and expensive and I don't think I'm going to shop for it. I saw some real nice _Chusquea_ in the mountains in Mexico and in Costa Rica.


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## ewanFish (Jul 15, 2018)

Does anyone know if a true bamboo could be grown with leaves out of the water?


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