Erect Moss

**timebomb** · 26th Sep 2003, 22:19

Hi, fellas,

Thought you all may like to see how the Erect Moss is doing in my tanks. Here are 2 pictures, first one was taken on or about 9th of August 03 and the 2nd one was taken this evening.

Loh K L

**zmzfam** · 26th Sep 2003, 22:43

WOW, that is sure one erect one! :wink:

You sure have a way with plants, and the mosses (if they have plural) looks awesome. Your hairgrass is also growing very nicely.

In AQ, they will surely ask - what's your tank parameters?

**RonWill** · 26th Sep 2003, 22:58

Originally Posted by zmzfam

WOW, that is sure one erect one! :wink:
You sure have a way with plants, and the mosses (if they have plural) looks awesome. Your hairgrass is also growing very nicely.

eh Zulkifli, you ought to know that Kwek Leong simply has those bl**dy green thumbs that we undoubtedly envy (oops... my jealousy is showing

) when all we can grow is the entire family of algae and in all sorts of colors too!!

Ok... it's an open secret now, why I need those flag fish.

I can't get a moss wall growing for the life of me (even if I had known what my tank's parameters are) and have yet to master the ease in which Kwek Leong does it.

Erect moss eh... hmm... can't wait to see more updates!!!

**timebomb** · 26th Sep 2003, 23:10

Originally Posted by RonWill

eh Zulkifli, you ought to know that Kwek Leong simply has those bl**dy green thumbs that we undoubtedly envy

Hah, you may not have green thumbs but obviously, you are turning green with envy

I know quite a few folks suspect that I have some closely-guarded secrets which I have never revealed to anyone on how to grow the mosses. Therefore, I'm going to "sumpah" here and declare once and for all I don't have any secrets.

Many of you have been to my house and some of you know how careless I am with things like water parameters and fertilisers. Freddy was quite shocked when he saw me pouring liquid fertiliser straight from the bottle into the tanks without measuring first.

Frankly, I'm just as puzzled too why many people can't grow the mosses. I don't do anything to change the water parameters and I hardly ever fertilise the plants. I've always maintained that it's very important to have a low temperature and I still think that's the most important factor. Keep your tank below 28 degrees C and the moss should grow. But maybe you all should consider moving to somewhere near Towner Road. Maybe the water from the taps here is special

Loh K L

**turaco** · 26th Sep 2003, 23:33

That was fast! I used to believe you don't have any secret formula, now I don't

. Maybe the secret lies in that gravel. What fert used to be there?

Gan

.

**zmzfam** · 27th Sep 2003, 08:25

Originally Posted by turaco

Maybe the secret lies in that gravel. What fert used to be there?

Maybe all the fish poo KL has collected over the years! Teo uses chicken poo for his plants.

But seriously, looking at the hairgrass, within a month you managed to get it growing very nicely.

For moss, KL is correct - temperature do play a part, or his secret could lie in the liquid fertilizer that he use.

Quick, better find out.

FC · 27th Sep 2003, 16:38

You made it. Envy the hair grass spreading so fast and well.

**timebomb** · 27th Sep 2003, 17:09

Originally Posted by turaco

Maybe the secret lies in that gravel. What fert used to be there?

Gan, it can't be due to the base fertiliser because mosses do not have roots. They take their nutrients from the water column. But if you like to know, I'm using JBL base fertiliser and as for liquid fertiliser, I don't really stick to one brand. I have many bottles of different brands ranging from Tropica Mastergrow, Seachem Flourish, JBL Floralpol and ADA. I have different brands because liquid fertiliser is usually the only product I need from the fish shops, besides marine salt. I always believe in supporting the better fish shops so whenever I can, I buy their products and liquid fertiliser is something that is always available and useful.

I bought the Tropica Mastergrow from Charles of Biotope just before he handed the fish shop to the new owner. It's a pity really. Charles is such a friendly person and he's one of the few shop owners willing to bring in the rare and wild species.

By the way, have you guys heard? Seems like the fish shop at Joo Chiat Place has closed. Mr Fish is no longer in business or so I'm told. Robert Choo has always been friendly and helpful like Charles. It would be a loss to hobbyists if he's no longer in the business. Can anyone confirm this?

Loh K L

FC · 27th Sep 2003, 20:02

Mr Fish shop is one of the first planted tank shop I visited. The shop is though a bit small but very well done up and it is almost a one stop shop. It would be a pity to see it disappears. The only set back is the location, I think.

Hmm...

**molahs4** · 29th Sep 2003, 14:33

Wow. What a beautiful tank. Even if you have no secrets, I still envy your thumbs, however accidental.

What size is that tank?

**timebomb** · 29th Sep 2003, 21:04

Originally Posted by molahs4

What size is that tank?

Thanks for the compliments, Scott.

I'm no expert and I think it's easier for hobbyists in Singapore to grow plants as the water from our taps is just right. Anyway, the tank was custom made and it's 50" (Length) X 26" (Width) and 24" (Height).

I'm using 4 four feet tubes of florescent, Phillips 865, 36 W.

I use 3 cooling fans, each about the size of a 4 inch square to keep the temperature in the tank below 28 degrees C. The lowest I've seen was 24.7 on one very cold December morning.

I have CO2 injection from a gas tank and 2 Eheim filters (2015) running in a series.

Loh K L

**molahs4** · 29th Sep 2003, 23:19

That must be very dramatic in such a large tank.

To complete my interrogation of you and your tank, what is the background material? I have heard of many different background materials, but that one seems to to a great job at holding the christmas moss.

Very nice, Loh.

**checkerboard** · 1st Oct 2003, 20:07

I think it is a plastic mesh. It can be reasily found in most hardware shps with varying sizes for the holes of the mesh. Do not get one with holes that are too small.

Very nice Moss, I have to say. My 2 AC fans isn't doing such a great job keeping temperature down.

rgds,
Yew Kiat

**timebomb** · 1st Oct 2003, 20:10

Scott,

I took a picture of the plastic mesh I use to grow the moss walls. I placed a ruler beside the mesh so that you can see for yourself the size of the holes. Each hole has a diameter of about 3/8 of an inch. I bought the mesh from a hardware store but I think they can be found in nurseries too. They use the mesh as garden walls.

Loh K L

**timebomb** · 1st Oct 2003, 20:20

Yew Kiat,

I took a picture of my fans to show you how they are rigged up on top of my tank. I think it's important to position the fans such that they blow directly down onto the surface of the water. Positioned any other way, they won't be as effective. If you take a close look at the picture, you can see the digital thermometer is registering a temperature of 26.1 C. That's pretty low considering it's quite a warm day today.

Loh K L

**virce** · 1st Oct 2003, 23:24

Mr. Loh,
Did you DIY the hood? What did you use? It would be nice to have more hood-making tutorials around.

**timebomb** · 2nd Oct 2003, 00:05

Annette,

The hood is DIY but I didn't do it myself. I got a friend to do it for me. Melvyn Seah isn't a member of this forum so he won't be able to tell you here how he does it. But maybe I will get him to do a new hood for me one of these days and photograph the whole process.

Loh K L

**virce** · 2nd Oct 2003, 00:14

Niiiceee... can't wait! My hood cannot hold as many lights as I would have liked. Thanks, Mr. Loh.

Regards,

**kiokteck** · 24th Jun 2004, 00:43

Hi, how many hour of light do u switch on everyday??

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