# Super Easy DIY Way to keep Duckweed in one place



## Franco

I recently added duckweed to my 10 gal NPT as a quick growing plant to keep algae in check but I didn't like how it blew around the tank because of the water movement so I built a floating cage to keep it contained. The duckweed is doubling in number in less than 2 days so I also wanted to keep it contained and make it easy to remove as it gets overcrowded.

I took 4 green colored flexible drinking straws and connected them together end to end to make an 8x8 inch rectangular shape. If you pinch the one end of the straw it can easily be inserted into the end of another straw. I then put a tiny bit of super glue where each of the straws meet as there is a little crease from sticking them together. This made them water tight.

I then floated the rectangular cage in the tank against one side so that it would hold itself in place against the glass and put the duckweed in it. This allowed me to keep the duckweed under the lights. When the cage gets full, I pull some out to free up space. This is effectively removing Nitrogen from the tank. I've been having problems with nitrites even with my biological filtration established and this seems to be taking the edge off the problem.

Super quick and cheap fix and also lets me pick what plants I want to shade a little.

I also feed the betta directly in the cage so that the food doesn't float out of his reach.


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## potatoes

thats an awesome idea. I was thinking of doing something similar with a large rectangular "feeding ring" because it has a suction pad to keep it in place


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## spypet

very clever DIY approach - similar to a floating feeder ring.

instead of straws, you can simply loop any length of airtube,
then join each end with an airtube coupling so it's air tight.
this way you can make multiple areas for different floaters,
and change size and configuration without messy/toxic glues.
using clear tubing and white plastic couplers keeps it invisible.










years ago I used those rigid blue plastic book report binders and airline 
suction cups to corral a corner of my tank with floaters for my frogs.


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## cdo4

I've accidentally stumbled onto a DIY duckweed trap while getting ready to build a algae scrubber. I have the mesh (plastic canvas, like this) but don't have the tubing yet. I need to get algae on the canvas anyway, and there's a lot of algae in my tank, so I scuffed it up with sandpaper on both sides and simply floated it in my tank. I'll get the plumbing supplies this weekend and then I'll be all set.

Great idea, perhaps, but the duckweed _loves_ my plastic canvas, and half of the duckweed is now growing through it, leaves up top and roots dangling down filtering out nitrates. I still have quite a bit free floating, but I could easily crop 1/2 of my duckweed by just lifting off a light and then pulling out this canvas. I guess my ATS will be seeded with algae and duckweed...may the better scrubber win!


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## spypet

#10 plastic knitting canvas works great as a moss wall too.
you mount it to the back glass using airline clip suction cups,
then sandwich the moss evenly distributed between canvas's.
I've also used it as a cheap custom made tank species divider,
and for breading projects where you want to seperate males,
females, and even make a third section to keep their fry safe.
the only problem is that white stuff is an algae magnet, so if
possible, try to find it in black, or manage your algae better


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