hornwort needles

I noticed that my hornwort needles are starting to fall off now and creating a bit of a mess all over the gravel. Is it usually normal for hornwort to fall apart?

The stuff does seem to go through a cycle, but I don't know why. I'll do a little research and let you know if there is a reasonable answer. Hornwort is in most of my aquariums, but it doesn't thrive in all of them. It probably needs quite a bit of light and not much turbulence.

Your water may also be too warm. They seem to like colder water.

I just did some research and found that hornwort does indeed have a life cycle. It is extremely sensitive to copper, and some medicines and algae killers contain copper. Aquarium shops usually have water conditioners that will tie up copper and other metals. I guess that means that any copper ions get attached to other atoms and thus become harmless to hornwort. The next result of my research is the enlightening fact that there are boy and girl hornworts, but they grow on the same stem. Maybe that should be in the UFOTD section.

I did a 20% water change yesterday...before adding the tap water I added my chlorine eliminator. Could the chlorine eliminator have done it? Also, I read that big water changes can be sensitive to their needles...Also, my water is at 79 degrees. It has plenty of light...any other suggestions?

Oh yeah, one more thing to add. When you said not too much turbulence are referring to air bubbles? I have quite a bit of air bubbles in my aquarium.

Most water conditioners will not bother hornwort. From experience, I know that hornwort does not grow in my one aquarium that has lots of bubbles, which i refer to as turbulence. A large water change does not seem to bother hornwort, and it's comfortable over a fairly wide temperature range.

should I get rid of the bubbles in my aquarium then? I leave them on because 1.) They keep the hornwort in the corner and 2.) Because the bubbles not only provide good O2 they look nice

I have a powersweep 214 in the corner of my tank which provides a current in the aquarium.

I was thinking, plants shed their leaves in order for them to sprout new ones. Wouldn't this be the case with the hornwort as well? It is still very green, there are a few places where the needles have turned a little brown.

The bubbles do help oxygenate the water, but if water movement is too strong, some fish may have a problem swimming against all that current. So far as the effect of turbulence on hornwort, that's just based on an observation. A friend's aquarium has so much turbulence that the water is not crystal clear and the fish have ragged fins. I guess turbulence is better than stagnant. In pet shops, their aquariums often have a very large amount of turbulence to compensate for over crowding.

Yeah John, my hornwort is dying

It is doing wonders for me. I haven't seen any ammonia at all since this thing has been in my tank. I can't really turn off the bubbles because if I do the hornwort just floats around everywhere covering up everything.

Do you have any other suggestions at all?

Also, do you think that once this hornwort dies and I take it out that there will be a huge increase in my ammonia, NO2, and NO3? I do have java fern, java moss, and anubias in there.

Hornwort and some other plants can directly metabolise ammonia, but an established, well maintained aquarium can handle it without any plants. You may be able to isolate a patch of hornwort by making a floating ring out of air line tubing. I hear that works but have never tried it.

In my aquariums, the hornwort grows where it wants to, but my aquascaping skills suck. Duckweed grows so fast that it's an invasive pest, but it uses up lots of nutrients that would otherwise pollute the aquarium and feed algae.

How exactly do you make a ring out of it? Just weave it around the tubing? how would you tie it off?

I keep hornwort and in my experience it is often messy from 'shedding' but not always. It can grow well free floating or anchored, but i've noticed that when i tuck some behind the intake tube for my filter, the bit that is exposed to light stays lovely, and the bit that is nearest the tube in shadow turns brown. I have never had a problem when in tanks that have turbulence, but I've stopped using airstones since transitioning to all live plants. You may care to split your specimen into several 'clippings' and placing each in various areas to see if lighting is your issue. I've had the most luck in mid-lit areas (not close to glass, but also not directly in the center) and mine rarely sheds like when i first started keeping it. It does well in both my 35 gal and 40 gal. both have a single flourescent tube at about 10-12 hours a day with a break in between to deter algae. good luck!

You can buy a splice, which is just a smaller tube that fits inside the air line tube. I'm not sure if the air line tubing will have a sufficiently large diameter, but it's cheap and easy to try. Of course you could also buy some 1/2 or 3/4 inch PVC pipe and some 90 degree fittings to make a floating rectangle. Just make sure the solvent is fully cured before it goes into the aquarium.

I went to my LFS today and took my light in to show them. They told me I should buy a new bulb, which I did. It is a t8 17 watt bulb. The guy said he really think its the light which is causing the horwort to shed its needles and turn brown. Another thing he said is that there is not enough nutrients in my aquarium, this could be due to the fact that my tank isn't fully stocked with fish.

If the new light doesn't work, is there any other advice at all? They fish store guy told me that too much aeration shouldn't be a problem because in the wild you cannot control water currents.

Im stressing out over my stupid hornwort

The new light may help, and a little more fish respiration and digestion might too. But please don't over crowd the aquarium. Light frequency is about as important as intensity, and the idea is to simulate sun light.

Maybe this is not correct, but it seems like hornwort grows mostly in the shallow areas of lakes and ponds, so turbulence may have an effect. For some reason, hornwort seems to grow better in an aquarium that has a substantial layer of the stuff. Come to think of it, my first really good hornwort tank had large populations of Guppies and Platies but no special substrate or plant supplements, and an under gravel filter with moderate bubbles in the uplift tubes. I sure hope some of this helps, because my next idea for growing hornwort isn't very clever.