Thanks, Dorie. Very interesting about the flowers. I do think I found what the poster was talking about. There is brief report in this month's Prevention magazine about a study in Belgium. The study found that hay fever sufferers had symptoms around some non-blooming houseplants (Ficus and Yucca being the worst). Apparently, they believe these plants do release allergens into the air, without being in bloom. The report is not on the magazine's website, or I'd add a link.

You might look into Brush-B-Gone.

Drop the TDS to 1100-1200ppm, research what the PH level should be for those types of plants. The more water movement there is, the more oxygen content there will be. Adding a dual diaphram air pump with a couple of air stones would allow for alot of movement. My suggestion for the PH is, find you a good PH electronic pen or PH test kit and test the PH of the water in the fish tank. Research on some different nutrients such as organic nutrients. Your plants in the fish tank are using organic nutrients and are doing well, so why wouldn't it work for the others? I've heard of people using a 55 gallon plastic barrel to put compost in and add water. They then use a submersible pump to circulate all of it. All of the enzymes and natural die off (same stuff in the ground) is then pumped into the resevoir for nutrients to be used in growing the plants. I hope what I have said helps and was not misleading in anyway.

Sorry to be so late: did you plant it anyway? We have creeping fig beautifully covering the entire eastern side of our stucco house. It reached maturity this year (12 years in); I just sheared off the large, non-clinging leaves (with figs) and am sort of terrified by the glimpses of branches now visible: 1/2 inch thick. I never want to see that stucco, but don't want to destroy it either. Think I'm in trouble.