Hello everyone and how are you? I am new to this forum but I have been eagerly reading it for the last few days. I have and do keep many different species of killifish including CIN, GAR, STR, RAC and others. I first want to say that reading the threads about many of your planted tanks have inspired me. It seems that in Singapore you guys really go all out and do such a great job with planted tanks and natural looks.
What I am trying to do is create a floor with the Java Moss I have. I have much of it just growing in a 40 litre tank at the moment but I am setting up another 40 litre and would like to do something beautiful with it. How do I go about creating a carpet of the moss. Also what are other good low light low maintenance plants for something like this. I do not want to use co2 but I am willing to go with a good fertilizer if necessary. For filtration all I plan on using is a simple sponge filter. Please let me know your thoughts.
Joe
Hi Joe,
Welcome here!
Thank you for appreciating this humble forum.
To form a nice carpet with rootless plants like Riccia and Mosses, they need to be weighted down and evenly spread over. You may use inert material like stainless steel mesh like below picture.
For your focal point plants requirements and small aquarium size, go for small low light plants like Anubias barteri var. nana ‘Petite’ which you can tie them on wood.
Thanks for your reply Freddy I appreciate it. I still have a few questions. Do you place the moss underneath the meshing that is used and then let it grow out and through? Also I have tried Anubias nana but have not had much luck. I think the problem may be that I have so many other plants in the tanks with the anubias so I use liquid fertilizers which is overkill for them. I am thinking of removing the Anubias from my other tanks and just using it in here. Once again thank you for your reply. We North Americans can learn alot about planted tanks from you guys, I find the simplicity of them attractive but yet they look so beautiful.
Joe
On attaching mosses there are different styles, some people put them in between mesh like a mesh and moss sandwich.Originally Posted by AquaManCanada
Other people get SS mesh and tie the moss on top with fishing wire.
While others (the smarter ones in my opinion) just put the mesh other the moss and let the moss do all the work
All of these ways work.
As for Anubis liquid ferts aren't overkill for them. Did you bury the rhizome? If so that's why it died. They are good with all ferts.
I think your a bit under informed! Us American's know a thing or two about Planted tanks as well, for more American based www.plantedtank.net/forums and www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forums. Both GREAT forums and I'm a member at both as well.
Welcome aboard this crazy obsession! Once you start you'll never stop... and then you will start collecting mosses then... then... then... you get the point!
-Andrew
By the way Freddy is the tank in the picture you posted a newly set up one or an older picture? I would love to see pictures of the tank as it is matured. Very nice piece of wood also. I wish I could find a piece like that. Did you get it from a local tree?
Joe
Joe,
The piece of driftwood Freddy uses is known as Bakau wood. Bakau is known to be very hard wood and it gets harder when it's soaked in water. In the construction industry, Bakau is used as piles to hold up structures like concrete drains.
For moss floors, most hobbyists here prefer to tie the mosses to small pieces of stainless steel mesh. Here's an example of such a moss floor using Singapore Moss:
Tank belongs to Nature Aquarium:
Loh K L
What puzzles me in the above set-up is why they used gravel in this otherwise fine looking scape.
Nothing real puzzling actually, Marco. With substrate, the tank looks more natural so although there's no need for gravel in an all-moss tank, many hobbyists would still choose to have a layer of gravel.
Loh K L
Yep, I like it, since when does the bottom of a lake, pond, stream, have
a sheet of glass?My big envy is the driftwood you guys come up
with. KL, what kind of wood is this?
Bill if you read the fourth post from the top I think K L tells about the wood as I asked about it myself. I have never seen anything like it but I love how it has many branches to it. Would be a much cooler driftwood to use than the stuff over here.
Joe
Thanks, Joe, my bad, didn't see it.
Yeah, all we have to do is go down to our local Bakau store and pick
some of this up, right? Sure....
Bill,
I think it is available, here. It looked like the prime wood used in the iron-man competition at the AGA Convention, and I saw lots of it, there.
Check with the guys who handle the Amano stuff in the US. It won't be cheap from them, but maybe you can locate another source through the APD.
Wright
01 760 872-3995
805 Valley West Circle
Bishop, CA 93514 USA
Hummm, that would have to be ADG (Amano Design Group) in Texas,
don't think there's another outfit selling his stuff. Jeff has a local source
for wood like this, but doesn't divulge who it is. Local by which I mean
somewhere in the US. Will have to check around, most of the online
driftwood places have stuff I could get in any Alabama stream, big
deal...big chunky stuff.
Hi Joe,
Another way to make a moss floor is to simply anchor the mosses with the gravel! See pics which I did last year.
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Insert just a strand or two mosses at each insertion point. Space them about an inch apart. They should form a carpet in about 8 weeks' time.
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