moss - need for speed!

[nerbaneth]

Well, I have this moss that I like, but I don't have much of it. I would really like to cover a large area of my 90 gal with the moss (as a foreground - sort of)

I would like to hear ideas to grow the moss faster than it normally would.

From observation: I have noticed that moss thrives in high nitrates. Is this something that anyone else can verify? ( I had my nitrates at 40ppm in one tank - the moss was growing and everything else was upset; I did a water change - everything started growing again but the moss stopped )

An idea: Will moss grow faster out of water? what would be ideal conditions to make this work? I read online that people who want to cover large areas of land with moss by putting moss, beer(or buttermilk), and sugar in the blender and then spreading that on the ground. would this work with aquatic moss?

Any other suggestions would be great!

 

[nerbaneth]

So many views and no reply I suppose I will have to do this scientifically and share the results.

My method (most likely in need of criticism) :

Tupperware containers; each with 5 grams moss in them. (need to locate a scale..)
All containers with moss and water just enough to keep them moist.(sitting on a paper towel or sponge?) And left by my window (northern facing window with lots of direct sun)

one container with high nitrates, normal P,K
one container with high phosphates, normal N,K
one container with high potassium, normal N,P
one container with high N,P,K
one container with normal N,P,K
one container using the 'blender/beer/sugar' method
one 5 gram sample in a highlight tank
one 5 gram sample in a low light tank

maybe one container in the dark might trigger fast growth?

any other ideas? Maybe moss just grows slowly I am going to prepare everything either tonight or tomorrow and begin the experiment on Thursday.

 

[tedr108]

I think you will find, as you mentioned, that moss does grow slowly, period -- at least my definition of slow.

I'm guessing that you will find the best you can do to make it grow as fast as possible is "non-limiting" (EI type ranges) on everything (nutrients and CO2), but I'm thinking that non-limiting light for algae is rather low. I have always ended up with thread algae on my mosses when in a high light area. I may very well be doing something wrong, but that has been my experience.

Someone please correct me, if I am wrong on anything here...

 

[Chiya]

Hi nerbaneth,

Mosses are like plants, give them the right conditions such as CO2 and Light and they will grow very well.

I've had US Fissidens, Christmas Moss, Java Moss and Flame Moss in my tank.
3wpg with CO2 (drop checker displaying light green), EI.

Growth was fantastic.. I had triple or even quadruple the moss I started with in abt 3 weeks.

My experience with them is that they take quite some time to adjust to the water.
Give them some time and soon you'll be wondering where to keep the excess moss!!

Hope it helps,

Regards,
Ryan..

 

[Tom Barr]

Cooler temps, flowing water and lots of CO2 and decent water column nutrients.

Careful what you wish for.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[nerbaneth]

Ok, I have started my experiment with the moss. I went to petco and bought a clump of cheap ($2.50) moss. I narrowed the experiment down to the things I was curious about.

5 Tupperware containers:

1 sitting on a papertowel with normal npk
1 sitting on a papertowel with high N(40ppm), normal pk
1 sitting in water (about 4cm) with normal npk
1 sitting in water with high N, normal pk
1 sitting on a papertowel that has been blended/mixed with beer/sugar (I was curious)
oh, and I also put an equal chunk in my 90 planted (normal NPK and 30ppm co2, med light)

They are all sitting on my window I suppose I will do N tests and dose accordingly
I bleached the moss in a 5% solution for 2 minutes (the petco tank was 'yucky' and snail infested)

From reading forums on aquatic moss, I have found that when people 'forget' about their water changes, they experience that all their plants become upset, but their moss takes over the whole tank. My guess is that this is due to high N. I guess we will find out

here's a picture:

My only concerns for this test are:
1. my window gets cold at night (I will measure the water temp once it gets cold)
2. I have very low flow (does anyone sell powerheads that fit in Tupperware lol )
3. at least for the submerged plants, there is low co2... I might make a diy co2 for them and just let it bubble in. If I am correct emersed plants will have no problem with co2? maybe I will send an air tube over into the emersed water too.

-Theres no such thing as too much moss [mad scientist face]

 

[Tom Barr]

I think those are poor examples for test.
You need larger volumes and flow in the tanks.

I cannot grow many plants in that type of set up myself
I'd also have to run at least 4 replicates of each treatment, not just 1, that's not going to tell you anything.

Rather than trying to do this all at once, try doing it in small blocks.
So set up a 2-5 gallon tank with filter, sediment(or not), filter etc.
Try and keep some control with the temp.

Repeat the treatment 4-5 times and then start the next treatment.
Takes longer this way, but can be done.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[nerbaneth]

I'm pretty sure you are right about that.. I will think of my 'pico tanks ' as the preliminary test. (emersed vs. submerged with moss) even though I am convinced the submerged is going to work best.

I had figured after these tests I would set up a 10 gal and grow it the way that worked best. Maybe once I get that 10 gal set up I will repeat all the tests over.

do you suggest really high flow (like a MJ-1200 in a 10?) or a more moderate 100gph Powerhead? I have a variety of powerheads laying around somewhere.

moss also likes medium light - not high as I have read. what would be med light on a 10 gal? 40w florescent?