Sorry, off topic but have you got a post on how you do it?
Not off topic at all (but sorry for the thread hijack) I'm afraid I don't have any photographs of the process, but I can explain it here:
You need:
- a small amount of aquasoil (between a golf ball and tennis ball size, depending on what your space needs are). It can be old soil, no worries.
- some sphagnum moss, about a 15cm x 15cm flat bit (usually it comes all mixed up, but often there are flat small-plate sized bits of it.) Just buy a small bag.
- thread to wrap with
- some moss or small-leafed aquatic plant, my most successful plants were Christmas moss, mini pelia and hydrocotyle tripartita. You could also try monte carlo, java moss, etc. The only thing I tried which didn't work well was phoenix moss, apparently it's 100% aquatic.
- aquarium tweezers
- some emergent-loving plants, my favourites are ludwigia red (ar mini, etc), and hydrocotyle (all work great), any stem plants, echinodorus, langenandra (mine grows great emergent) eleocharis (the tall one looks great), even epiphytes like buce and anubias, etc. See a full list here: WABI KUSA TUTORIAL (this has a different technique which is beautiful but not so good for adding to the aquarium)
- some stainless steel or plastic-covered wire (other wire rusts, not sure if that's actually a problem but am erring on the side of caution)
Basically you want to get your sphagnum moss flat disk in your hand, and then put about a golf-ball-sized pile of aquasoil in the middle of that.
Then you wrap the soil in the sphagnum moss, so it's (ideally) fully covered. Sometimes there are gaps so the soil falls out, but just keep it all in your hand.
Next you get your thread, and start wrapping it around the ball until the soil is fully secure and everything is neat and tight.
Now you wrap your moss/small-leafed aquatic plants around the ball using more thread. I usually add it in bits as covering it all in one go is difficult.
Now use your aquarium tweezers and stab the ball to get some holes in it for the plants. Depending on the plant you'll want to make a bigger or smaller hole.
Using the same tweezers, put your various plants into the holes.
At this point you can add it to the aquarium, or put it in a dish with some water by a window to mature for a bit first. Or just enjoy it in a dish forever! Below is the insutrctions for the wire:
Get your wire and make a U shape with it. You want the wire to be about 20cm, maybe a little longer in case you want to adjust the placement. You can always trim the ends later.
Stab the ends of the U wire into the ball so the ball is in the curve. (You don't have to stab it with the wire, but when I originally used the wire as a shelf like in the ADA link above, it just fell in immediately, this is what I found works)
Where the wire comes out on the other side of the ball, bend those up.
Put the ball in the aquarium about where you want it to sit on the glass. I recommend 50/50 in/out of the water (the drawing below is a bit low! IRL the top of mine are at the top of the glass basically)
Fold the wire over the glass so it stays
Tada! Wait 6 weeks and you'll have a beautiful little jungle.
Another option is instead of attaching it to side of the glass, balance it between some emergent wood branches, or use wire/thread to attach it to wood if you don't have any convenient branches.
I'd better go back and do this tutorial again with actual photos 😂
