I love moss but so far without an success. The moss has been in my tank for more than 6mths. I think is over adaptation period.Originally Posted by zenscape
The only moss I know that often mysteriously turns brown and fades away is erect moss. But that happens after it thrives in the tank. There were many such cases reported in Killies.com without conclusion.
If all conditions are appropriate, most moss hobbyists keep here are generally hardy. The basic conditions for moss is cool and clean water, and it does well even in moderate light. I have a low maintenance moss tank in office and the moss is doing well without WC, light source from ceiling office FL, no fert, no Co2. Of course high light, good co2 and adequate fert will help them pick it up faster.
How long is your moss in the tank? Could it be that it is in the phase of adaption? Also consider the source of the moss. Where did you buy it? Some moss are terrestrial.
Don't give up on moss. Its quite rewarding to see your tank full of flourishing moss.
Alternatively, do yourself an experiment. Go ikea and buy a small glass container (plant section). Get some fresh moss from LFS. Tie it nicely and dump them in the container and leave them alone. Store them in an open and cool place. Top up water when necessary. No frill, no co2, no fert and no skill needed. See whether they thrive with light green buds at the tips after a month.. If they do, you will no longer say you are not successful with moss
Maurice Cheong
A . M o m e n t . o f . T r a n q u i l i t y...
I suppose you had wash your filter, might be your bioload too heavy thus affecting water quality. Don't be dishearted. Anyway there are large varieties of moss in the market, one will be spoilt for choice.
The Happiest of people don't neccessary have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way
When will there be 25 letters in the alphabets?
Ill try that..really donno what happened?? Is it the light?Alternatively, do yourself an experiment. Go ikea and buy a small glass container (plant section). Get some fresh moss from LFS. Tie it nicely and dump them in the container and leave them alone. Store them in an open and cool place. Top up water when necessary. No frill, no co2, no fert and no skill needed. See whether they thrive with light green buds at the tips after a month.. If they do, you will no longer say you are not successful with moss
What is the the best temperatures for planted tanks? (esp moss)
Plants love low temperature. Especially moss which really show you their appreciation if you are able to cool the water down to 25 degress. From what I noticed, even without CO2 injection, and with cool water. It'll be really lush
Oh...is uv has anything to do with it? It seems that the moss die after I install the internal uv filter..Anyone has this experience?
Oh...is uv has anything to do with it? It seems that the moss die after I install the internal uv filter..Anyone has this experience?
I have installed UV in my tank just to get rid of GDA and the moss is doing fine. Regarding your previous question about light and moss, surely more light will help moss to grow in better shape but my office nano tanks do not have additional lights other than ceiling FLs and they grow well. Give it a try and see for yourself. Just top up water now and then, and nothing else.
I read you thread again and I couldnt see any reason why your moss didnt make it. Let us narrow down the issues:-
1. Moss needs cool and clean water- your tank has a chiller and there is nothing to say that your water is not clean.
Some folks swear that moss will need 25 degree and below to grow. I suggest you take a look at Chan's display tanks (NA). He is using fans only and he is doing business selling moss. How low can fans cool down a tank? 27 degree perhaps.
2. Light? If the rest of the plants are doing well, your light should be ok.
3. Critters chomping it? This is the main cause when i started growing moss. My moss couldn't grow until i read about SAE and moss. I had 6 big fat SAEs in my 4ft and after i took them out, the moss was growing. Amano shrimps to a certain extent love to chomp moss. There may be other critters that chomp you moss when you were not aware. Observe the critters in your tank and hunt for any culprits.
4. Fert? There are lots of example of low maintenance tank with thriving moss to indicate that Co2 and tonnes of fert may not be the main key to grow moss. Even low light is possible. On the other hand, it certainly helps with intensed lightings. Pay System Control & Engineering of Boon Keng Road a visit. Mr Tan is using MHs and his tankful of exotic moss is bubbling like beer.
5. Types of moss? Yes, i agree that some types of moss are less demanding than others, such as java, taiwan and spiky. These are good starter moss for you to begin with if you really want to try your hand on moss. Flame, Weeping moss and erect moss are slightly tricky. But i do not agree that weeping moss will certainly wither above 26 degree. The light is the cause for these moss to grow into desirable font shape. I tried weeping moss both near the light and bottom of tank. The former weeps whereas the latter comes up with a funny shape pointing up.
6. Tank often stirred up? Moss has a tendency to attract debris. Most new setup has this layer of debris on top of moss. But after a week or so, it will clear because moss bubbles like any stem plants and this will get rid of the debris. Otherwise it will suffocate the moss like in algae situation. This begs another question. Look hard at your moss. Do they have algae? Fine hair algae is difficult to detect in moss but it is not so fatal as BGA which is a blanket suffocation.
Moss will prefer us leaving it alone. Stirring it too much will disturb it growing process.
A trick from Mr Tan. He told me he changes 1/10 of his tank water everyday but I dont think most of us can afford the time. You may try it if you are really determined to convince yourself.
The above is just my 2 rupees
Last edited by zenscape; 14th Jun 2007 at 11:12.
Maurice Cheong
A . M o m e n t . o f . T r a n q u i l i t y...
Maurice,
I also don't know what happened. The rest of the plant is spreading like crazy but not very healthy only 1 type of slow growing plant that is doing well. But, my moss is the worse I have try 2 time to grow moss but each time fail. They just turn brown n die. Is all those kh2so4 blarr blarr important for moss growing?
The short answer is no. Fert will give you beautiful moss but without it will not kill it.
Maurice Cheong
A . M o m e n t . o f . T r a n q u i l i t y...
i keep taiwan moss (one of the more hardy species) in a very low tech tank with high temperatures (no fan and sitting by window), no co2, no ferts and about 1.5 WPG...there's particularly low co2 for me because i use a trickle OHF with lots of agitation, yet the moss is growing nice and green, so i don't think it's a matter of moss requirements not being met for your tank as they really have not very high standards...perhaps you could look to other factors as mentioned by zenscape? could be critters nibbling on them or dirt settling on them etc
I suppose cleaning of filters (improving of water quality) is one of the changes you made so far, maybe you can re-tie the moss (get rid of the affected ones) or introduce new batches and monitor. Step by step?
The Happiest of people don't neccessary have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way
When will there be 25 letters in the alphabets?
Can it be the cherries?? or the flake food? MAybe I should get some taiwan moss and throw in my tank and see how...
Brother...
Please help me.. i really don't know, it's my second time, doing this tank of mine and the problem still arises... and i'm feeling so pissed off. Seriously.. spent 3 hours to tie those moss on my DW...
See, my problem is that, now is the 3rd day and i start to see soft, hairy substance growing on my moss.... then, i tried using my forceps to pull them away, MAN!!! a lot of 'dust' just came off !! i really don't know what are those.. it's only the beginning ....
Next, i saw my DW starting to have mouldy thing growing on them... what are those ? it's my first time seeing all these... the DW had been treated for more than 3 months with chlorine and hot boiling water... still, such things happened....
What is the problem with my tank ? is it the zero presence of fauna? my tank is now functioning with 3 small fishes and that DW of moss..
Temperature wise is at 26.... tank is a cubic size tank, 30cm x 30cm x 30cm..
Please please help............
Last edited by scotworm; 19th Jun 2007 at 02:03. Reason: missing tank dimension..
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Got shrimps?
nope... no shrimmps at all... just started....
I keep thinking about it and i think it's my filter... is it that my filter not strong enough ? such that, i could see particles 'swimming' around the tank when i on the lights...
One thing is that, my DW got mouldy thing... i don't know why it grows.. after 3 months of chlorination and soaking in boiling water..
Filter flowing power problem?
Last edited by scotworm; 19th Jun 2007 at 02:23.
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Nope.
This fungus sometimes just grows on wood... not harmful
If you want to rid of it then....
Once again.. Got shrimps?
Wa, brother ah... it's not only the fungus thingy... They are slowly covering my moss !! YOu mean, those fungus covering my moss is ok? i also see 'dust' substance on my moss.. and they are soft and like a string.. very delicate..
And these fungus not only grows in one area.. it grows all around the DW !! Man.... i really don't know....
i've read from several sites and they also said, not harmful.. ok... i will get shrimps this week and monitor the situation. But sad to inform you is that, i used to have shrimps in my tank the last time i set up this tank of mine ... Still, these fungus didn't go off..
K, br0ther, if i get shrimps , that packet of 20 shrimps, will they do the job for me ?
IMHO, the circulation of the water in your tank isn't strong enough. Therefore kindda of causing a little dead spot or idle area...sort of like having dust settle on the moss and moss does seems to be a sucker for 'dust'. Had that once before I directed the outflow of water towards the moss. Now my moss are like grass been blown by the wind ....
I once having this white thingy on the bogwood, and it stink .. I sifon it out manually twice a week and it grow back again.. so dont really care and just let the moss grow.. guess what .. after a week or 2 than it automatic gone.
I only have 2 cherry shrimp in their but now whole bogwood fully cover by moss.
I having lot problem when i start my new tank at new home which never see before, green water, water leaking and etc .. I was thinking maybe bad feng shui lor.. but I didn't give up.
The more you see the more you learn, don't give up.
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