EvolutionZ's 2ft mossy tank

[sadiqsabia]

what is your co2 injection rate. My moss does not seem to grow well. How often do you change water.

[EvolutionZ]

if you have read the first post..
i did not inject any co2 for this tank.. no ferts as well..
i change 10% water once a week.

[richmaster]

Nice placement, but what about putting some plants in the right corner it's kind of empty back there

[Burnz]

hi Evo,

I think introducing more petite nanas (haverst?) to the relatively bare left side would balance the scape, filling up the left back and wrapping around the base of the biggest branch. I feel this would complete the scape though i feel it is good enough without the narrow java fern. I am guessing the scape would be looking great in a month or two. Cheers

[EvolutionZ]

richmaster, thanks for your comment.. will consider.

Burnz, thanks.. will go get more nana petite.. without the narrow leaf java fern would rather spoils the scape.. i personally have taken out all the ferns.. took some pics and compare.. the scape looks very artifical/un-natural..

[vwsj84]

what is your co2 injection rate. My moss does not seem to grow well. How often do you change water.

I have a 1ft cube tank with mosses... i dose excel once every 2-3 days... helps the moss grow real fast provided theres sufficient light. Tried DIY CO2 injection for about 2 weeks... but BBA started to form... so stopped CO2 injection and just continued with excel.

[Burnz]

Something to share with regards to moss. For the spiky/peaock moss in my 3ft setup, I have stopped co2 injection for nearly 3mths and verying occasional fert dose with 4hrs 30w daily light period and they still thrive very well. But one factor i would attribute to their survival is the average water temperature of 26-27 deg.

[Jervis]

You do need more Narrow Java Fern

[vwsj84]

Something to share with regards to moss. For the spiky/peaock moss in my 3ft setup, I have stopped co2 injection for nearly 3mths and verying occasional fert dose with 4hrs 30w daily light period and they still thrive very well. But one factor i would attribute to their survival is the average water temperature of 26-27 deg.

Yeah. Low temperature helps. With a fan i think 27-28 is no problem.
BTW, if you want your moss to grow fast, just increase the lighting period. There shouldn't be an algae problem since you do not inject CO2. However if you do encounter signs of algae, just throw in some shrimps, they really help to ensure your moss are clean, not to mention the free fertiliser from their droppings...

[Burnz]

Yeah. Low temperature helps. With a fan i think 27-28 is no problem.
BTW, if you want your moss to grow fast, just increase the lighting period. There shouldn't be an algae problem since you do not inject CO2. However if you do encounter signs of algae, just throw in some shrimps, they really help to ensure your moss are clean, not to mention the free fertiliser from their droppings...

Thanks. No problem so far for many months, I'm just controlling their growth, therefore less light periods and co2. There's probably more than a hundred malayan shrimp thriving within the layers of mosses.

[EvolutionZ]

most moss thrive well in non-co2 tank. infact, mosses in high tech tank get infested by hairalgae very easily.. so, if i want to have a full moss tank, i would go for non-co2 and non ferts.. just lower temperature..
currently tank's temp stable at 26 - 27C. yesterday was pretty cooling and it went down to 25C!

Jervis, yea, thats what i thought so, but was worried that it may be too messy, i'll look into it.

Anyway, after a very very long wait for about 3 weeks, finally my tank is cycled.. added 20 piece of adult cherry shrimps today..
most are females and i have 1 pregnant female.. lets hope she pull through!
just some lousy macro of the cherries after settleing in the tank for about 2hours.






meanwhile, the plants are growing pretty well.. nana petites are showing new leaves(thats pretty fast...) narrow leaf java fern having quite alot of new leaves growing..
put it simple... everything is growing much faster than i expect in a non co2/low tech tank!

[Burnz]

most moss thrive well in non-co2 tank. infact, mosses in high tech tank get infested by hairalgae very easily.. so, if i want to have a full moss tank, i would go for non-co2 and non ferts.. just lower temperature..
currently tank's temp stable at 26 - 27C. yesterday was pretty cooling and it went down to 25C!

meanwhile, the plants are growing pretty well.. nana petites are showing new leaves(thats pretty fast...) narrow leaf java fern having quite alot of new leaves growing..
put it simple... everything is growing much faster than i expect in a non co2/low tech tank!

Yes. I have come to observe over a few attempts that low tech setup with a cool temp work wonders with moss, ferns and nanas. Just need more patience for slower growth as compared to high tech, but the results are satisfying with relatively little maintance.

Actually i thought that those long Japanese hairgrass planted in bunches might be a good alternative to the narrow leave ferns, which gives the scape some variety without taking away attention from the wood. However, it may not work that well in the relatively low tech condition. That you will have to enlighten me.

[EvolutionZ]

Yes. I have come to observe over a few attempts that low tech setup with a cool temp work wonders with moss, ferns and nanas. Just need more patience for slower growth as compared to high tech, but the results are satisfying with relatively little maintance.

Actually i thought that those long Japanese hairgrass planted in bunches might be a good alternative to the narrow leave ferns, which gives the scape some variety without taking away attention from the wood. However, it may not work that well in the relatively low tech condition. That you will have to enlighten me.

have tried japanese hair grass but all melted on me/turned yellow and died.

[vwsj84]

have tried japanese hair grass but all melted on me/turned yellow and died.

How bout some excel dosing? It seems like the verdict is still out on whether its harmful to shrimps. I personally dose excel in my shrimp tank and i've not noticed any deaths. However i must admit that i do dose on the conservative side to ensure that nothing bad happens to me shrimps .

[EvolutionZ]

added another 20 cherry yesterday.. 8 were carrying eggs!

[EvolutionZ]

heres a female carrying eggs.

[blue33]

Where you bought your shrimps? Looking good to me!

[EvolutionZ]

the batch of 20 shrimps are from colourful. =)

[EvolutionZ]

hi guys.. an update..


spotted algae?


this bunch of nanas are free from algae..


side view..

[illumnae]

it's filling in well, but the back looks rather bare, perhaps you could look into some background fillers?