# Syngonium to help polish water...



## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

I stuck a few rooted cuttings from my backyard in Cali, into the cutout for filters on my 35 year old + Acrylic Tru Vuu 240 gallon aquarium. It grew..then it grew well...then it just did great. As it got larger,my aquariums hair and blue green algae eventually disappeared after plaguing me for a year and a half.

Eventually,it took over the left cutout directly over the tank. I trim what comes forward off. I would say its made a huge impact especially after dosing the big tank with Seachem Iron. Plants that were so-so have taken off,and since the photos,I added some nice plants I had avoided before because I figured algae would just coat them and,or,they would not grow period.

Now,this tank gets sunlight from that big window and to get big growth you would have to use an intense artificial light..what kind is up to you..but a dedicated light for the Syngonium is a must.

The Syngoniums roots are both free flowing..and some have made to the bottom of the 24" deep tank and into the sand. Fish lover to swim in the surface roots and stems. I even get underwater leaves as the weight of the plant pushes leaves underwater ( eventually they rot and I remove them) but it looks like an underwater Philodendron.
Now,I've tried Pothos...Pothos is good..but it wants to climb and if its roots touch a wall,they cement themselves to it. Spathiphyllum is very good too..you might try that and it flowers.
I can't believe what a difference it makes...removes nitrates like crazy,tints from foods and I notice,takes the smell out of the water..no fishy or earthy smell...mostly no smell at all.
Thanks!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Here is a second endorsement for Syngonium--it has worked well for me too.


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

Funny thing about Syngonium is that its a vine..yet grows compact like a groundcover. I've seen youtube vids of it by a tropical stream and it grew along the banks like a perennial plant...not a vine.
Pothos gets a lot publicity as an aquarium nitrite and nitrate remover but that habit of vining is strong and it will send long runners to either trail or attach to the wall like i said.
There's even a pinkish Syngonium sold...not sure how well it would do. It might revert to green indoors.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

You can use the ornamental, small elephant ear plants as well. I think they're a distant relative to Syngonium. I've even grown some aquatic plants emersed.


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

Its been pounded into our heads what an aquarium must be...with gadgets everywhere and cords and powerstrips buzzing away that we forget that sunlight is good and plants can filter the water Carbon for smells? Not if you have thick masses of plant roots. IMMERSED plants the best. It's why cities use cattails and marsh plants,and not submerged plants or not so much.
A really advanced aquarist would consider it normal to use houseplants in separate basins..with the big Aquarium's water fed into that and then returned to the tank. Done in a nice esthetic way rather than how it's done in greenhouse setups with ugly basins and white PVC pipe everywhere.
It can be done to look nice..nature does it.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I use water iris for my pond. These plants are beasts at soaking up nutrients. Water hyacinths also. You can have a sump of water hyacinth out of the way to give your aquatic plants some light.


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

mistergreen said:


> I use water iris for my pond. These plants are beasts at soaking up nutrients. Water hyacinths also. You can have a sump of water hyacinth out of the way to give your aquatic plants some light.


Really,if you live in a mild climate you really could put a pond/ marsh/basin outdoors and plumb it return to the tank. In a place like Florida or South Texas that would be much,more doable. In that kind of setup..you can grow rotifers and daphnia...with that being an extra food source for the fish in your mega sized front room show tank. All you need is a strong pump...no calcium reactors,no protein skimmers,no this and that and then more!..just moving water.
No Co2. You're not contributing to GW.

I've added star grass,Alternanthera and in a few months will update the look. Just moving twisty branches into the Syngonium roots looks super jungly...like they are all one plant. Fish love it.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I have a bog pond separate from the fish pond. That's where the water iris are planted. I had to cull the plants because they were growing too much. I grow edible plants in the bog as well.

There are non parasitic leech living in the gravel substrate. I'm sure they're good eating for the goldfish.


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Paging @dwalstad 

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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Retrieving one right now from the my sunroom! I just hope it turns out like yours! I've been growing syngoniums for 40 years and never thought about putting it in tank. I have a pothos that's doing amazing and is anchored to the window.









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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

LOL..great! Pothos...I tried years ago. In fact you can see it on DAVES GARDEN.com under Pothos and my photo is bayarea tropics. You can see it grew much larger than average leaves for an indoor plant. Only,Pothos glued itself to that wall...I had pry it off,with the roots stuck. Later,I had to sand and repainted that wall ( and room) to remove all the evidence. Also,Pothos is rangy...Syngonium is not despite being a vine. I mean,it will eventually get viney but it's simple to trim and next thing you know,it's looking like a shrub growing out of your tank.
GG one tip: Dose with iron. Not only is it good for aquarium plants,it will make that Pothos a deep green,faster growing and thicker leaves. huh,that last sounded like a shampoo commercial

Keep us apprised on how its going. Really won't be a long wait before you see water roots and new growth. I started with just small cuttings like that..maybe four that had some roots. All that and more since late summer.

If you have that tank in a sunroom,your are destined for great success GG!


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

I do dose iron and Flourish Complete in a dirted tank. It does seem to make a difference. I already had some cuttings in water and I also cut a nice piece from a potted plant to add to it. I ordered a clip-on led light for the syngonium and the pothos. Will update!

I have heard horror stories about pothos sticking to walls! Mine is actually anchored to a vinyl window frame. The window faces the sunroom and doesn't get much light, hence the LED light. 

I wish I could keep a tank in the sunroom, but it has a temp variation from 60-65 in winter (space heater) and up to 82 in the summer (no AC). Maybe it could be plants only? 

Edit: Can you provide a link for your pothos pic on Dave's Garden? I can't find it! You have a lot of posts! 

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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

The sunroom sounds fine to me. Just put an oversized (300-500 watt) heater in the aquarium. All you need are temps in the mid 70's. 82 in summer is more than safe for plants and fish. Mosses might balk..maybe.
Here's part of the Pothos. I never dosed but I did have White Clouds ONLY in there and gobs of java moss thrived..so the white clouds were breeding,the young survived and it looked like a tank of some kind of Neon Tetras.
The leaves on the Pothos became much larger than grown in a pot indoors. IF I had dosed? I'm sure now they would be double the 8" they got.

davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/295502/


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Those are some giant leaves! Wow! I have read that pothos growing vertically will produce bigger leaves than when trailing. I've noticed this to be a fact. I first thought something was wrong with my trailers.
I have been toying with the idea of some sort of tub garden in the sunroom. 

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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

Pothos for sure will only get larger leaves climbing..that's pretty much true for Aroid vines.


I tell you GG,if you have a sunroom..haul a tank as big as you can into it and have fun mixing Aquarium plants with Aquaponics. If you want a plant tank where there are few fish..go White Clouds..I found they need very little filtration..just standing water in my old 50 gallon and gobs of java moss and fed flake foods..they were spawning all the time. No heater for me indoors in California. Not for them.


You in a sunroom have so many choice in what can be grown in water roots. Pachira aquatica aka "Good luck/Money plant"..is a wet streambanks plant in the wild. Ficus retusa..the one sold at Home Depot as Bonsai? Can be grown roots in water ( dose iron for sure!) I l think Ming Aralia can thrive that way. You have the light for all to thrive.
I wish my 240 was in a sunroom!..the possibilities!


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Good info! Now I'm truly inspired. I didn't know that about money tree. I have one of those too.

Something I had years ago that I've always wanted to try again in a tank is papyrus (umbrella plant). I keep this photo around for inspiration! Not mine-i just love it!









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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

That would work...Papyrus MUST have sunlight..its not a shade plant at all. This is where the trials and tribulations can be-ha. Remember too,In a sunroom if your tank is getting too much sun before you get all the plants you want in ( who buys $$$ and many plants to start a tank?,we get a few here and there as the budget allows)...you can always shade the tank here or there with potted plants around it...trees.pots on stands,pots hanging in the right spot.

What I like very much about the seachem iron is the gluconate also acts as a algaecide..boy,does that help. So using that from the start is a good idea.

What I like about this? It's a way to make a planted tank even more natural...sun,bold tropical plants and roots. I even saw a 50 gallon hexagon with just two fat Veiltail Goldfish and what was the emergent plant that seemed to fill half the tank with roots? Dieffenbachia! One of the old types that had a massive snaking trunk and 2' paddle leaves. It was Aquaponics before the term came into being.


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

The sun came out and and sunlight hit the Bolbitis heudelotii. It began to pearl..I mean a real stream of bubbles non stop. No Co2 tank.


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

Stan510 said:


> What I like very much about the seachem iron is the gluconate also acts as a algaecide..boy,does that help.


Please explain how Fe gluconate is an algaecide???

This is usually how myths get started among hobbyists.

Compliments of the "Krib"


> The reason that Fe-gluconate drops off is that the iron precipitates as
> Fe+3 rather quickly and the gluconate (being a labile sugar) is digested by
> bacteria and algae.


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

My mistake. i got my Seachem crossed with my Excell articles. Excell has the algaecide...Seachem's iron gets plants going so well,what algae I had are gone..and my tank gets sun. It was home to green spot and hair for quite awhile. I can't get over what a difference it's made and the Syngonium that was fast before is now exploding in growth with large greener leaves than ever before.

Here's a link to a article on low tech tanks and he links to his article on Excel:

www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

While glutaraldehyde and gluconate start with the same first few letters they are quite a bit different!:bounce:
Many will take statements like this and run with it until the next deficiency raises it's ugly head.


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## Gerald (Mar 24, 2008)

Funny story about "first few letters" confusion: A guy posted a pic of a "borellii" (Apistogramma) he'd bought, and asked why it didn't look like pics online. His fish was actually "borleyi", a Lake Malawi cichlid. Of course with chemical names ONE letter can make a BIG difference, e.g, chlorine vs chloride.


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

I'm getting older..I might even repeat things here- horrors!
Gadget girl..everybody,Here's a vid you will like. Its in Russian..cant understand what they say. Anybody know that super glossy leafed Sword plant is? Never seen any Echinodorus like it.


youtube.com/watch?v=RJPniekXFPs


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Great video! (Loved the bird at the end) What is the emergent plant? 

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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

That gadget girl is a Spathiphyllum. I would rate only second to Syngonium as an emergent plant. Plus,it has the bonus of blooming little calla lily like flowers. They come in dwarf sizes..with dwarf blooms, standard size as in the video and then you have 'Mauna Loa' a huge wide leafed cultivar that also has huge blooms. It could handle a 100-200 gallon tanks nitrate problem pretty easily if given the right light and amounts.

I've gotten some great growth between the Syngoniums polishing and the push of iron..both Seachem and some brand I had for garden plants.


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

So Spathiphyllum is a Peace Lily? Interesting! May have to try one. Your tank is gorgeous, BTW. I only hope that this will help with my green dust algae issue! I here a Finnex 24/7 light which I love, but I've had to dial the intensity back a bit from noon to 3pm.

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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

Thanks you GG! I appreciate it!
Before I had a meltdown last summer that I attribute to using Hydrogen Peroxide for hair algae and some blue green algae, I had some nice plants lost...bacopa had become a hedge.

It's hard to believe but 100% true that "all i've done" since, is make the bio filter 30% larger. The Syngonium was next..and as it got large water quality went up. But the equal jump up a level to NO algae and happy plants wasn't until November when I started adding iron.
I really don't think any other additive is needed. Not with my tap water.

I haven't changed pumps,lights,or how I feed the fish. 

I'm getting a feeling more and more also that substrates are basically anchors for plant roots. Even swords can grow huge on iron alone..no tablets ever used. Roots along with leaves absorb the iron..hence you only need 2-3" of gravel to allow roots to grow and absorb from the water column,NOT from the substrate per se.
Aquatic plants don't take nutrients from the soil like terrestrial plants. I think when I use soil in pots? Sure it feeds the plant for a few weeks at most-dissolved nutrients..after that,its all what they get from the tanks water.
Good luck with the dangling roots GG!..Makes a much natural look too!


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

It certainly makes sense. Emergent plants are what keeps a body of water clean and free of algae. I used to live in Carolina Beach, NC which has a natural lake. The powers that be decided to "clean it up" and removed all the cattails and emergent plants at the edges and they planted grass right down to the edges. It almost immediately started having an algae issue! 

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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

I think underwater plants are far more foliar feeders than root feeders. Not that they don't feed with roots at all...but mostly from the water column seems to me. After all...the seasonal flooding of nutrients they get in habitat is temporary..the other 6-9 months is what the rivers and streams and pond waters have to offer.


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

This syngonium root has grown 8" since Jan 2! That's much faster than the pothos. It is really taking off!









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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

Order a big bottle of Seachem iron..watch it explode and the leaves go deep green and glossy.
Doing great so far GG!


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Emergent plants really intrigue me. Like it adds another layer of dimension and visual interest.

I've got a bottle of Seachem Iron & Seachem Flourish. Even though my tank is dirted (sand cap), I have noticed these 2 products help, especially after the tank gets a few years old. How often do you dose the iron? 

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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

As the grand daughter would say..Go Girl! or with you the cool abbreviated, GGG!
I tell you..use Iron gluconate,and it might help to buy Potassium gluconate from Seachem OR Pharmacy..in tablets and probably 200x less expensive. If I ever find iron gluconate in pills at health stores,thats worth a try too. 
The Syngonium will soon GG, get richer looking and thicker leaves..and glossy. It will look BETTER than any plant in a pot at the nurseries. I promise!
I'm to the point that fancy soils,and all the other additives are needless. Iron..maybe potassium. That's it. As long as they are in gluconate form.

One more..my houseplants have improved since I started using the dosed aquarium water on them. Great stuff!


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

@Stan510 Hi! Just wanted to show you an update to my garden! Using Seachem Iron & Flourish at recommended doseage every other day. Thought I'd put a few "small" impatiens cuttings in there and look what happened!
















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