Has anyone used water hyacinth for oxygenation and water cleaning?

[Bob Vento]

I have read the water hyacinth plants (aka Water Lilies) are great for keeping pond waters clear and oxygenated. I also understand that the fish like to eat the roots too.

With this in mind I was wondering if anyone is using this type of aquatic plant in their fish tanks for this purpose? I understand they are an invasive plant and will quickly take over the surface area of an open pond of lake.

However, I feel that with proper diligence one of these plants could be beneficial to my little aquaponic ecosystem world.

What are your thoughts and concerns? 

Regards,
Bob

[Bob Vento]

Good advise as always TC...thanks.

Just looking for a little help and thought by using one of these plants it couldn't hurt ... but apparently it can hurt my ecosystem. My grow bed and filtration seems to keep the water chemical balance in check when I check it however it just doesn't look crystal clear. I am sure that is fine but I like the kids to be able to see the fish in the tank easily.

Bob 

[TCLynx]

It can take some extra filtration to keep water crystal clear but sometimes simply putting a sock on the places where water flows from the pump to the grow bed and from the grow bed to the fish tank can help, just gotta clean the socks regularly.

More filtration can help clear the water too but tilapia don't mind some particles in the water so it is really just a matter of aesthetics. 

Now one plant probably won't harm your system and tilapia certainly like some extra plants on hand but I wouldn't expect any miracles from a floating plant or two.

[Bob Vento]

OK TC,

I am convinced. I have removed the plant from my FT and keep it in a bucket for now. My wife likes them "because they're pretty", so for now they are in a 5 gallon bucket. I did notice my plants were suffering from lack of adequate nutrients. Now they are doing fine.

Bob

TCLynx said:

The crystal clear ponds may in part be clear because of the plants but they are probably also well designed so that the water gets filtered at a high enough rate to keep up with the bio-load on the pond.  As in the plants are not the ONLY form of filtration going on.

A large enough colony of Hyacinth may be able to use up enough ammonia and/or nitrate and other nutrients to help keep the water clear of algae blooms and their feathery roots might also help mechanically filter the water some but I don't think you can expect that by simply placing a Hyacinth plant in a fish tank for a week that you can expect the water to magically be clear because the plant is there.  You would have to make sure you had enough plant to use up the nutrients and make sure the water flow was such that the particles would stick to the roots but not get dislodged off to re-cloud the water etc.  Probably easier to make sure you have enough grow bed and flow to clear the water by growing the veggies.