Water hyacinth

I was in Borneo recently and they have a real problem with water hyacinth there. It’s become very invasive since it was introduced. We were taken to large oxbow lakes in the heart of the jungle that had become completely choked with the plant. In many shallower wetland areas the plant grows so thickly that tree growth soon becomes possible and the wetland disappears for ever. It’s a constant battle to stop the plant from destroying wonderful jungle habitats.

If someone can come up with a way of making money out of water hyacinth they would be very rich indeed. It’s a shame it needs so much light or the pet trade could have had a go…

Nice little pluro BTW
 
I have some water hyacinth that has grown well for several months now with a single GE fluorescent (I'll have to check to find more details on the bulb) placed about 6" over the water's surface about 10h/day, and getting additional filtered light from the sky through a window, but no direct sun. The hyacinth has grown from 1 bunch to 3 bunches, then the original died leaving 2.
One interesting thing is that the algae that was beginning to take hold on the glass in spite of a herd of pond snails, was completely gone within a few weeks of the hyacinth's introduction. I suspect this might have something to do with the nutrients the hyacinth is so hungry for. Maybe the hyacinth took so many nutrients that it will soon die off too.
Has anyone else experienced an algae die-off after hyacinth introduction?
 
water hyacinths are very heavy feeders and pull a lot of nutrients out of the water. They are typically difficult to maintain in tanks due to the need for a large amount of light and lots of nutrients in the water. Without these the hyacinths will eventually decline and decompose. Once they begin to break down they can shed a lot of the nutrients back into the tank resulting in massive algae growth and/or poor water quality as these plants compete with the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite to nitrate for ammonia potentially reducing the levels of the bacteria to the point where they are no longer able to keep up with the bioload.

Ed
 
maybe i could use water hyacinth to fight my algae war, then take it out before it dies..
 
Just how much light does hyacinth require? I was contemplating one for my T. gran tank. I have a dual 96w strip. I generally only use one as the other plants are fine but I could easily modify the timers to add the adional tube for 6-8 hours mid-day. Is 196 watts sufficient?
 
wow, a setup like that is my long term dream when I have the space, is there anything on the bottom apart from all that java moss-ish looking stuff?
 
Typically it requires half a day to a full day of direct sunlight (recommendations for outdoor growth)... I'm not sure how that translates into compacts for indoor growth... but the other problem is the level of nutrients required to sustain them are not usually met in indoor aquaria...

Ed
 
With regard to waterhyacinth - this is actually one of the most invasive plants in the world - in some of the African Lakes there are boats that do nothing other than remove this plant to stop it choking the lake.

Please, when you have finished with this or any other aquarium or pond plant, never dump it on in a local pond or stream - put it on the compost heap where it will do no harm.

Best wishes
Tristan
 
Wow very nice setup! Is the land mass in the back anchored to the side or is it floating?

The water hyacinth looks great I'd like to have some in my setup, but after hearing about the problems it seems to cause I'm not so sure.
 
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