Duckweed. Good? Bad?

[rednkhuntertd]

I have come across some duckweed that has been growing in my friends fish tank. It looks cool, but I have heard that it can grow like crazy to the point of annoyance. I wanted to add it to my moving pool area in my RETF tank. The fish tank is healthy and hasn't been treated for anything (fungus, bacterial infections) Any suggestions? Thanks.

[frog_dude]

Yeah, it can grow like mad, but it would be pretty easy to pull out the excess once a week or so. It'd look great as well!

[Tindomul1of9]

I once had an explosion of duckweed in the pond of my 29 gallon tank. I started to pull it out as all the aquatic plants below it could not live. The stuff would just return too quickly. Finally after two years of fighting against it, it is restrained to one or two fronds growing on emergent rocks or soil and the occasional loose frond floating on water. In addition, the tank has matured so much that not enough light reaches the water due to overhanging leaves of terrestrial and emergent aquatics.
If you put it in, be prepared to fight it off for a long while before a balance is reached.

[Marty]

It all depends how much light you have over your pool. I had duckweed in my pond and it never spread like mad, becuase the pond was shaded. If your pool is lit directly you may have different results though.