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Growing Mosses

Evening All

This is my first post here, I'm new to the world of planted tanks and am currently planning my first attempt which will be a low tech Fluval Spec.

I have recently purchased what is believed to be German xmas moss from a1matt which is now growing on the kitchen windowsill, whilst waiting for Santa to deliver the Spec.

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Cheers

Jon
 
This maybe be a silly question but here goes when growing moss in a jar on a window sill do you use straight tap water or treat it first? I only ask as I bought some flame moss and peacock moss about a month ago which I attached to some wood in my tank it seems to be doing well with bright green bits growing on it which I think indicates new growth but I have got some bits which have come off the wood and I want to try and grow them on in a jar ready for my new nano tank when I get thanks in advance for any help great article from matt as well
 
Hi gang
Moss on the window sill this time of year is very slow growing...due to the temperature difference.
Through the summer months the mosses do much better...for best results lay moss on-top of wood/rock/stone and spray every now and again to moisten don't submerge the moss.
Use a covered container...preferably ones that can let some light in.
Depending what part of the country you live.... I use freshly mixed hot/cold tap water each time i sprayed the moss the reason is its full of Co2 and added a drop dechlorinator just for good measure.
Once the moss has attached give it a rinse every now and again in fresh water as above.
You will have nice attached moss no fishing line/glue/elastic bands in sight ;)
Go on start looking for those containers her in doors will be well pleased :lol:
Cheers
hoggie
 
Anderwrw said:
This maybe be a silly question but here goes when growing moss in a jar on a window sill do you use straight tap water or treat it first? I only ask as I bought some flame moss and peacock moss about a month ago which I attached to some wood in my tank it seems to be doing well with bright green bits growing on it which I think indicates new growth but I have got some bits which have come off the wood and I want to try and grow them on in a jar ready for my new nano tank when I get thanks in advance for any help great article from matt as well
Click to expand...

straight tap is fine.
green tips are indeed new growth, so your doing fine :)

you get slower growth this time of year, but I prefer it, as the moss can withstand direct sunlight in the winter without worrying about algae soup. I drop a single ramshorn in as well and that is clean up crew sorted. Then just top up before it evaporates. This works in the Winter, in the Spring\Summer direct all day sun will give you an algae soup unless you do regular WC.
 
Thanks for clearing that up matt I took a few loose bits of moss from the tank today but struggled to find a suitable jar to put it in then I saw all the used baby food jars will they be suitable? Also is anyone interested in doing a swap for some other mosses hope it's ok to ask that here
 
if it holds water it is suitable. There is a sales/swaps forum - but you need a minimum number of posts to access it.
 
Awesome thread thanks :)

couple of quick questions :oops:

i have introduced some willow moss to my tank, was wondering if it will eventually attach itself to my wood?
Will it also thicken out if i trim it ?

really love the moss thanks to Basil,
 
Shame it doesn't attach oh well. I have tied mine on with fishing line. My Angels have been hammering it though so I may have bought them a £5 salad! I guess only time will tell!
 
rolexbene said:
People are talking about growing mosses in jars on the windowsill in tap water, would it not be more beneficial to use tank water that has added ferts in, surly this would aid growth compared to inert tap water.
Click to expand...

There's probably enough ferts in tap water for low demand species such as mosses. Now't wrong with using tank water though. :thumbup:
 
Short answer... Tap water has all moss needs to grow.

I asked myself the same question a while back, and tried with both tank and tap, I prefer tap. Seems cleaner. But at the end of the day I use whatever is closer to hand.

I do not know what the fert level of moss is other than it is so low you can forget about it if you are changing the water regularly enough (which varies depending on light and temp – weekly is a good starting point). Easy enough to experiment if you are that way inclined (using RO water as a control).

Only possible exception being some of the larger mosses (eg giant fissidens - fronds about 5x larger than fissidens fontanus, spiky moss, and giant moss), I find that if the water changes are neglected they get greener water quicker than other mosses. I assume this is related to fert uptake.
 
found this a very interesting read. So much so I now have a plastic container with java moss in it. Just to see how well it works :D
 
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