I kept killing pothos in soil until I stuck a cutting in the tank -- it out-lived every "proper" aquarium plant I owned. The leaves stay on your side of the glass; only the bare stem touches the water, and that stem does something a filter sponge cannot: it feeds.
At a glance
| Light | low to medium (indirect) |
|---|---|
| Temperature | 18 to 28 °C |
| pH | 6.0 to 7.5 |
| What it does | pulls nitrate, ammonia and phosphate from the water column |
How to set it up
Root a cutting in a jar first, then trail the stem into the tank with the leaves above the waterline. Clip it to the lid or a suction cup so only the stem is submerged. In a 20 to 40-gallon tank, one or two stems will read lower nitrates within a couple of weeks -- pair it with our light timer guide guide for a layered, living filter wall.
Why crossover gardeners care
This is the exact plant GreenNest readers root in water jars on a windowsill. The only difference is scale: in an aquarium the roots feed fish, not just themselves. See a solid GreenNest water-propagation guide for the houseplant half of the same trick -- same cutting, two entirely different ecosystems.
