# Horwort - Love it? Hate it? Post Opinion!



## kkaso783 (Sep 25, 2008)

Opinion Thread! 

Do you use Hornwort? 

Do you like it? Do you hate it? 

Pros/Cons?

I'll go first  I currently do use hornwort in both my 55 gallon and my 10 gallon, mainly for a place of refuge for any of my live bearer's fry. It also looks nice and green when it is properly taken care of. At first however, fallen needles were a problem, but once it acclimated to the tank it prospered nicely.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

A bunch of us used it long ago and it was useful. Couldn't get rid of the darn stuff. Any little piece grew into a new plant and it grew fast. Last year I was told that a UV unit would kill it off and I have not seen a UV unit to buy lately so I am still waiting to test this. If the UV works Hornwort could be a great plant, it is nice looking grows well and makes a nice floating cover for fish.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Back before I knew how to grow plants, hornwort was the plant I grew.  Now the only time I use it, is when I'm setting up a new tank - it's a guaranteed fast grower and nutrient sponge.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

It's a great plant for balancing out things when just starting an aquarium or after a major redo. Just float it on top until the other plants become established enough to soak up the nutrients. In my experience, it tends to fall apart (rot) when you plant it in the substrate.


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## Fishtory (Jan 21, 2009)

Hate it! Used to love it but now that I can finally grow cabomba, I've switched loyalties.

I use it (hornwort) for fry. Strangely, I have never experienced the needles falling off. Last weekend I took all the hornwort out of all the non-fry tanks and packaged it for the LFS. She said she cannot use it because it falls apart in her tanks. (I thought at the time this was code for "i hate the stuff" but seeing this thread maybe it was the truth.) I carried it all back home and threw it away -- tons. 

Wonder why mine never falls apart? High pH?


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## supersmirky (Oct 22, 2008)

Mine never fell apart either. I loved the look of the stuff but it was just too aggressive for me.


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## kkaso783 (Sep 25, 2008)

Here is something I have observed with hornwort. Whenever I buy the plant from the store, the part of the plant that is put into the tank tends to slowly turn brown and rot, but what grows from it during the duration is bright green and healthy. So, what I have done is trim the healthy tops off the original plant and bundled them together and planted it. It looks very nice, but the original plant had to be thrown away. I am sure that high lighting and CO2 helps a lot when trying to grow healthy hornwort.


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## isenblatter (Jul 25, 2008)

I've kept hornwort in every cichlid tank I've ever owned, it's the only thing besides anubias' that they don't eat. I've had decent luck in my 55 with it, my African butterly likes to hide in it and wait for bugs to hit the surface, then he goes nuts.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Great for new tanks and once it gets acclimated usually grows when other plants fail. Sooner or later we move on to other plants, but it can do wonders.
I am always carrying bunches to my pond outside.


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## starrystarstarr (Dec 18, 2008)

i have it some in my shrimp tank and the young shrimp loving hanging out in it. I also have some in my fish tank for any fry. But this stuff grows like a weed in both my tanks to i have to get rid of at least a few handfuls every week. never had any problems with it falling apart.


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## andrewg (Jul 27, 2008)

I had some about six months ago what I started out in the hobby. I had this high-light/high CO2 set up and it turned pink and it pearled like crazy.


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## kkaso783 (Sep 25, 2008)

starrystarstarr I also have some ghost shrimp and they always tend to be somewhere in the middle of my hornwort too. 

andrewg I never heard of horwort turning pink! Thats awesome!


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## footballe (Feb 10, 2009)

Bert H said:


> Back before I knew how to grow plants, hornwort was the plant I grew.  Now the only time I use it, is when I'm setting up a new tank - it's a guaranteed fast grower and nutrient sponge.


sorry, i was a newbie in planted. Can explain why people always say to plant heavy at the initial stage ?
cause of the ammonia released by the soil at the setup ?


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I like hornwort. I keep it in one tank (out of 8) that has mostly slower growing plants so it serves as the main nutrient sponge. The tank has a lot of water flow to try and recreate a stream so I loop the hornwort around a powerhead cord so it flows along the surface instead of getting knocked down into my other plants. Once it grows all the way across the tank I remove about half of the oldest part of the plant, re-loop it, and let it grow again. 

I also use a roughly foot long sprig wrapped around and through the base of my red rubin sword to protect the bright red new leaves from the attacks of a very territorial rosy barb male that was tearing off chunks of leaves he must have thought was another male rosy barb. 

I think it definitely has its uses but I wouldn't want it in all my tanks.


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## Fishtory (Jan 21, 2009)

Hah. Apparently hornwort can live with no light at all. Or shall I say _flourish._

I have a small tank that I keep in operation all the time, though it is mainly a sick tank or new fish holding tank. It has no fish in it at present, so I hadn't been turning the light on. Yesterday I did and the whole thing is FULL of hornwort. Thought I had sent all that stuff with my last plant shipment.


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## surpera1 (Feb 18, 2009)

dude - i am constantly beating back the hornwort in my tank - its amazing how fast it grows


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## hiddenleaf (Mar 26, 2009)

I like hornwort. i just let it float in my tank, and when its started to get very long I trim and leave the new healthy top, discard the old parts and let it the new top grow again. its undemanding and grows really fast.


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## polardbear (Jan 26, 2008)

Love it for fry to hide in.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

My post is about how Hornwort helped me clear a tank that had quite a bit floating waste particles in the water column.

About 2 months ago I put approx. 1/2 gal. amount of Hornwort in a 120 gal. tank. The tank has a high fish load and the owners overfeed. For the first 4-5 weeks I had to remove about 3 gallons of Hornwort every single week. I discarded it in a 5 gal. bucket so every week I saw how much it was volume wise. I'd replant about 1 gal. of it back in the tank.

The Hornwort really helped with the suspended solids (mulm). For the first 2-3 weeks it was always covered with mulm. It's well known that that plant makes small particles stick to it. When that happens it's relatively easier to vacuum the mulm off the Hornwort instead of the mulm floating in the water column. After the 3-rd week the water got very clear and the Hornwort was not getting covered with anything any more.

In the last 3 weeks the Hornwort has not been growing as crazy as in the first few weeks. I guess it sucked some essential nutrients and it's slowing down now. But all the other plants still grow very very well.

My verdict is - unruly plant, but can help clearing up a dirty tank.

--Nikolay


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

By the way fish medicines tend to really harm the Hornwort. If you have to treat for Ich for example you better take the Hornwort out of the tank before treating. Malachite green makes it rot. You don't want to deal with pieces of mush floating/hanging all over the tank.

--Nikolay


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