Advice on growing moss

[fishchemist]

I had gotten some Christmas moss some time ago and recently bought some erect moss. I placed the moss in plastic mesh hoping to achieve a moss wall(just like that of Mr Loh). However, it has been about 3 weeks and no growth observed. I tied some to a piece of log wood. I noticed that their tiny leaves disappeared slowly and some had already lost all their leaves and turned black .

The specs of my tank are as follow:
* temp 25-26 celsius - Hailea 380 chiller
* pH about 6.6 - 6.8
* lights 4x36w FL lights
* Chemical additives - Use the fertilizers and water conditioner from Bioplast. Started using Bioplast about 3 weeks ago. I was using Sera products to condition water and Dennerle P7, E15, V30 to fertilizer plant.

All other plants like hair grass, riccia, balansea....are doing fine. except for my precious moss.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

Simon Foo

[FC]

Simon,

What is your tank's size?

I am not a good moss grower. However, Dennerle products grow moss very well as you can see in Sam Yick's tanks. Bioplast should perform just as well if you use the full range of their products.

Did you take picture when you first setup 3 weeks ago? I asked because it is very difficult to judge by memory.

If you do not have algae on them and they are not turning black, chances are you may just need to wait a bit longer - another 3 week? Many plants need time to adapt to the new water that they are exposed to and sometimes, it takes many weeks. My Luwigia Brevipes is a good example, it takes me about 2~3 months to understand the plant requirements and time for them to adapt.

[Daz]

Simon, it could be a simple case of your fishes nibble on it or a lack of water movement. from what i know, moss grows better if there is some water movement, not strong current but some.

[timebomb]

Simon,

It's kind of strange why the mosses are not growing in your tank. With the kind of temperature you have, they should be growing very well. What are the inhabitants of your tank? Do you have SAEs?

I don't have a good explanation why the mosses that you tied on the bogwood are turning black and dying but I think those inside your plastic mesh can't grow because something is eating the new growth. Many people don't believe that SAEs eat mosses or they think that even if they eat them, the SAEs can't possibly eat to the extent that the mosses don't show any new growth at all.

As far as I know, only adult SAEs eat mosses. Juveniles won't. Adult SAEs eat only new growth; they usually leave the old leaves alone unless they are really very hungry. If you are trying to grow a moss wall, adult SAEs will keep eating off all the new tips that poke out through the holes of the mesh, thereby preventing any new growth.

I would suggest you remove your SAEs if you have them in your tank.

Loh K L

[fishchemist]

Simon,

What is your tank's size?

I am not a good moss grower. However, Dennerle products grow moss very well as you can see in Sam Yick's tanks. Bioplast should perform just as well if you use the full range of their products.

Did you take picture when you first setup 3 weeks ago? I asked because it is very difficult to judge by memory.

If you do not have algae on them and they are not turning black, chances are you may just need to wait a bit longer - another 3 week? Many plants need time to adapt to the new water that they are exposed to and sometimes, it takes many weeks. My Luwigia Brevipes is a good example, it takes me about 2~3 months to understand the plant requirements and time for them to adapt.

Hi Freddy,

Thanks for taking time to reply my question.

My tank is about 4.5ft lenght, 1.5ft width, 2.5 ft height. It is nearly one year old now.
Forgot to mention that there CO2 injection too.

In fact I had failed the first round about 2-3 months back. All the moss did not do well as soon as I take them out of mesh and tie them to the drift wood. They seem to survive in the mesh but refuse to grow out. However, there is something very strange. In the mesh, they tend to grow in the opp direction, ie towards the glass wall instead of towards the open area. When I turn the mesh around, soon all they became botak and then turn black. I thought the light would help them grow better. But they all die on me.

However, I am not giving up. This makes growing moss more interesting and challenging. Will learn/experiment till I get it right.

Thanks again for the reply.

Cheers,
Simon

[fishchemist]

Simon,

It's kind of strange why the mosses are not growing in your tank. With the kind of temperature you have, they should be growing very well. What are the inhabitants of your tank? Do you have SAEs?

I don't have a good explanation why the mosses that you tied on the bogwood are turning black and dying but I think those inside your plastic mesh can't grow because something is eating the new growth. Many people don't believe that SAEs eat mosses or they think that even if they eat them, the SAEs can't possibly eat to the extent that the mosses don't show any new growth at all.

As far as I know, only adult SAEs eat mosses. Juveniles won't. Adult SAEs eat only new growth; they usually leave the old leaves alone unless they are really very hungry. If you are trying to grow a moss wall, adult SAEs will keep eating off all the new tips that poke out through the holes of the mesh, thereby preventing any new growth.

I would suggest you remove your SAEs if you have them in your tank.

Loh K L

Thanks Mr Loh for your input. Also for generously sharing your knowledge about the different types of moss in your webpage. Really appreciate your work.

I do see the SAEs and Yamatos nibbling on the moss once in a while. But a friend of my who manage to grow christmas moss in his tank think that SAEs may eat a little of the moss but still the moss will out grow the amount eaten.

However if this batch of moss fails, I will harden my heart and remove these fellows. They had been with me for nearly a year. Should this be my decision, I think I will set up a small 1 footer to temporaily house them until my moss wall is successful.

Many thanks to your suggestion.

Cheers,
Simon

[fishchemist]

Simon, it could be a simple case of your fishes nibble on it or a lack of water movement. from what i know, moss grows better if there is some water movement, not strong current but some.

Hi Daz,

Thanks for the suggestion. Will try adjusting the flow rate of the external filter and test out the result. Will update you on the progress latter.

Cheers,
Simon

[fishchemist]

Hi Freedy,

BTW I notice that you stay in SengKang. I got a friend who stays in Anchorvale who works in NCS - Derek Poh. Do you know him? Cause he says he got a friend who lives near him and is into planted tanks and active in planted tank forum.

Cheers

[FC]

Simon,

I am not sure, I may have met him.