parotet
Member
Hi all
Lately I have managed to grow moss in one of my tanks much better than I've done before. I'm happy with this and now I am seriously considering for future projects to use them more extensively, but honestly I'm still far away from this lush growing I can see in some brilliant aquascapes. There are 2 tanks from Viktor Lantos when I write this that come to my mind (and of course quite a lot from Amano) in which the combination of different moss species and other plants (for example Montecarlo, Cuba, etc.) add very interesting details and textures to the aquascapes.
As far as I've read there some key issues:
- co2 and light: they can grow without much of it, but C enriched tanks grow fabulous moss. With light it seems that they grow more compact and for some species it is nearly mandatory.
- temperature: it looks that moss do prefer cooler temperatures.
- nutrients: my guess is that their nutrient uptake must be quite low, but not sure
- attaching the moss: at the beginning I used to glue or attach with a cotton thread a small amount of moss on branches or stones, but I have realized later on that it is much better to attach a very thin layer of them, one 'leave' layer is more than enough to promote new growth and I have also realized that if they are all well aligned (sorry I can't find the word, I mean looking on the same direction) you get a nice shape sooner. I have also tried dried start, works great (mixer, moss and water... And then just paint).
- care and trimming: not too much information here... This is actually where I need more info. I'm a not sure if they need frequent hard trimming/renew or if they have to be trimmed 'leave by leave'. I also destroy the beautiful structure of i.e. Christmas moss 'leaves' when trying to lightly siphon the debris on it... But if I don't do this they take easily all the debris (fish poo, fish food, etc.). Any tip for cleaning without doing a mess?
Trimming is a PITA but there is a great video from George Farmer in which he explains how to attach a tube to the scissors.
(I assume there is a vast diversity of moss, from easy ones to very difficult... I'm not thinking about plain Java moss but medium to high demanding species that are also IMO more delicate in shape such as Christmas, weeping, Fissidens, etc.)
I have also in my low tank where I'm achieving a decent and beautiful growth some green thread algae... These nasty long green hairs. Really difficult to get rid of them, removing them physically is very difficult (and you easily destroy the structure, even if you use sticks to remove them or cut them) and water changes doesn't help very much. Once you done your best, well they they just grow again and again.
Hope the few tips I have compiled for the moment are useful for someone, but any new info will be welcome. Maybe it has been explained before in UKAPS but I haven't found it. Any good reading elsewhere would be much appreciated also.
Jordi
Lately I have managed to grow moss in one of my tanks much better than I've done before. I'm happy with this and now I am seriously considering for future projects to use them more extensively, but honestly I'm still far away from this lush growing I can see in some brilliant aquascapes. There are 2 tanks from Viktor Lantos when I write this that come to my mind (and of course quite a lot from Amano) in which the combination of different moss species and other plants (for example Montecarlo, Cuba, etc.) add very interesting details and textures to the aquascapes.
As far as I've read there some key issues:
- co2 and light: they can grow without much of it, but C enriched tanks grow fabulous moss. With light it seems that they grow more compact and for some species it is nearly mandatory.
- temperature: it looks that moss do prefer cooler temperatures.
- nutrients: my guess is that their nutrient uptake must be quite low, but not sure
- attaching the moss: at the beginning I used to glue or attach with a cotton thread a small amount of moss on branches or stones, but I have realized later on that it is much better to attach a very thin layer of them, one 'leave' layer is more than enough to promote new growth and I have also realized that if they are all well aligned (sorry I can't find the word, I mean looking on the same direction) you get a nice shape sooner. I have also tried dried start, works great (mixer, moss and water... And then just paint).
- care and trimming: not too much information here... This is actually where I need more info. I'm a not sure if they need frequent hard trimming/renew or if they have to be trimmed 'leave by leave'. I also destroy the beautiful structure of i.e. Christmas moss 'leaves' when trying to lightly siphon the debris on it... But if I don't do this they take easily all the debris (fish poo, fish food, etc.). Any tip for cleaning without doing a mess?
Trimming is a PITA but there is a great video from George Farmer in which he explains how to attach a tube to the scissors.
(I assume there is a vast diversity of moss, from easy ones to very difficult... I'm not thinking about plain Java moss but medium to high demanding species that are also IMO more delicate in shape such as Christmas, weeping, Fissidens, etc.)
I have also in my low tank where I'm achieving a decent and beautiful growth some green thread algae... These nasty long green hairs. Really difficult to get rid of them, removing them physically is very difficult (and you easily destroy the structure, even if you use sticks to remove them or cut them) and water changes doesn't help very much. Once you done your best, well they they just grow again and again.
Hope the few tips I have compiled for the moment are useful for someone, but any new info will be welcome. Maybe it has been explained before in UKAPS but I haven't found it. Any good reading elsewhere would be much appreciated also.
Jordi
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