Keeping floating plants out of filter

[Drayven]

So my question isn't necessarily about plants themselves but more about keeping floating plants where I want them. Right now I have an issue where my floaters end up in front of the HOB filter, get knocked around, lose a bunch of leaves and get tangled in the rooted plants. What I'm trying to come up with is a way to keep the floaters out of the path of the filter. In my head what I'm picturing is a small string of floating buoys like you'd use to mark off a swimming area. Then I could connect them to the front and back of the tank where I want them and stop the plants from floating in front of the filter without disturbing the fish below. Does that make any sense? Does anyone know of such a thing for aquariums?

 

[Mystery]

I use a small piece of floating driftwood in this way, the dry gravevine wood sold for terrariums--attached to the wall at one end with a suction cup.

 

[mgamer20o0]

what kind of floaters?

 

[Drayven]

It's pennywort. What I ended up doing was putting a few strips of floral wire like is used in fake plants inside a length of air tubing. Then I sealed off both ends with silicone to make sure it's water tight to avoid rusting. Attached a suction cup to one end to hold it to the side and the other end is wrapped around my heater. This way as I raise and lower the water level the one end floats up and down and the other end is fixed in place. So far it acts as a nice bumper to keep the plants safe.

 

[DragonFish71]

Dang, now that's an excellent idea Drayven!!

I have pennywort too and it's driving me insane trying to keep it out of the way lol

 

[mgamer20o0]

smart idea. you also could have just used fishline and tie the stems to the tank.

 

[Drayven]

Yeah I thought about anchoring but I like the way it floats around on the surface.

 

[mgamer20o0]

it would still float just sectioned off to one point.