# hornwort, ceratophyllum questions



## fishlover (Jan 2, 2007)

Hello everyone!
Is it normal for hornworth to be quite hard, and are they naturally fragile as in "can break easily"?
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Yes, I think. It's a rougher texture plant and can break apart easily.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I have seen what appear to be 2 different types of hornwort. The difference between them being that one is stiffer than the other. I don't know if this is due to growing conditions or actually two varieties of the same plant.


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## Asgard (Mar 19, 2008)

there are several species of hornworth
you might have the Ceratophyllum demersum (Rigid Hornwort)


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## exv152 (Jul 12, 2008)

Definitely not one of my favourites. I've had very little luck growing this plant, but I've been told like hygro it is ideal for controlling phosphates in excess of 1 mg/l. Same goes for nitrates. I have Horwort C. demersum which forms rigid stems.


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## Asgard (Mar 19, 2008)

exv152 said:


> Definitely not one of my favourites. I've had very little luck growing this plant, but I've been told like hygro it is ideal for controlling phosphates in excess of 1 mg/l. Same goes for nitrates. I have Horwort C. demersum which forms rigid stems.


Ceratophyllum and Eleododensa species are fast growing and use a lot of nitrate (competing out green algae), provide Oxygen, and secrete an anti-bacterial substance as well as using a lot of phosphate so also reducing the change of blue algea which is a bacteria. They also help micro-organisms to flourish (helpfull in shrimp tanks). I find the biggest drawback that I have to prune a lot, because they are so fast growing, especially in my small tanks (20G). I find them very easy to grow and have them also outdoors in ponds, they even survive frosty winters.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

Asgard said:


> Ceratophyllum and Eleododensa species are fast growing and use a lot of nitrate (competing out green algae), provide Oxygen, and secrete an anti-bacterial substance


Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort) and egeria densa (elodea) are two of my favorites. I would like to learn more about them. Do you have any references on the anti-bacterial substance they secrete?


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## Asgard (Mar 19, 2008)

bartoli said:


> Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort) and egeria densa (elodea) are two of my favorites. I would like to learn more about them. Do you have any references on the anti-bacterial substance they secrete?


I have no refereces on the substance itself, but the process is called Allelopathy.
A few other plant species can do it as well, Stratiotes sp., Chara sp. , Myriophyllum sp.
Some reading for hornworth, as for the substance try google for Allelopathy or Allelopathic effect. It's a plant defense against bluegreen algae (cyanobacteria) and green algea.


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## exv152 (Jul 12, 2008)

fishlover said:


> Hello everyone!
> Is it normal for hornworth to be quite hard, and are they naturally fragile as in "can break easily"?
> Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.


I also find this plant to be clogging my filter intake constantly, along with the cabomba leaves. Break easily - yes.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

My experience with hornwort has been good and bad. When I first put hornwort in my tank about a year ago it was soft and grew like a weed. I was dumping the excess in my goldfish pond and was quite happy. Kept the algae at bay and seemed to be absorbing excess nitrates.
About two months ago it begin to get very brittle and stopped growing much at all. I took some of the best looking pieces trimmed it to small end pieces and introduced it to a new tank I was using to put some baby swordtails in. The new end pieces grew like weeds again and the stems stayed soft. Seems like it likes new tanks very well. It is keeping the baby tank clear and it sits in a window as it does my pond.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

It can also behave differently in different circumstances. I have some in a 10 gallon low light (2 15w regular fluorescent bulbs) , low current shrimp tank and it's very soft and tends to have a loose growth habit. I took a piece from the shrimp tank and put it in a 38 gallon, 96w CF, very high rate of flow tank and the individual "leaves" are harder while the stem remains flexible. It also grows more densely with tighter whorls. I pulled some out of each tank this weekend to thin it and the difference was quite noticeable.


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