Best Moss To Grow A Carpet Of?

[-FighterFishh]

Hiya guys!
I'd like to grow a carpet or moss in my 25l, however I'm unsure as to which moss would be best. I have riccia in my upstairs tank floating at the surface and on my wood, but I don't know whether this would grow well as a carpet or whether I should get something live java moss instead?
Thank you!

 

[Noahs ark6]

Riccia will work if placed onto a net first, as will Java moss and Xmas moss

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Flame moss is a good option as it grows upwards and gets less tangled but as NA said Riccia is always good as its nearly impossible to kill and grows very quickly.

Here's a link with some good tips. Clicky

 

[Thedoctor]

How do you maintain them?

I'm hoping to do this with a 4ft thats about 22inch deep.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Just trim them from time to time.

 

[Noahs ark6]

Just cut it back with scissors


Whoops, same time post.

 

[Thedoctor]

That's going to be a job and a half with a tank this big aha.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

You can buy 30cm long curved scissors .

 

[Thedoctor]

Ahh, thanks for the tip.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

No worries good luck mate.

 

[Thedoctor]

Does substrate matter when growing a carpet or is it more about Co2, water changes and fertiliser?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Well when growing moss carpet most people use mesh squares and as the moss only attaches itself to hard scape, it doesn't use the substrate to feed. A good substrate isn't only for root feeders tho, a porous clay based substrate is good as once it uses up the nutrients it has when new it acts as a sponge and soaks up excess nutrients too. Always helpful if you miss a daily dose of your ferts, but all mosses will grow in low tech environments too just much much slower.

Water changes are not so much beneficial to plant growth, more a preventative to algae and build ups of any nasty's you don't want in your tank. Most people do these daily when setting up new planted tanks due to things like plant melt, ammonia released from the substrate and algae.

 

[-FighterFishh]

Wow, only just read this back!!
Have planted some riccia straight into the gravel and it seems to be doing well. If I planted a big patch in the same sort of way (you can kind of see what I did here), would it be okay? I don't think it'll spread but as long as it's healthy I think it'd look alright!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Only prob is the planted parts will rot away over time, its a floating plant so all of it needs light to survive and you'll be starving parts of it.

 

[-FighterFishh]

Okay. I have a piece of slate somewhere I can use, would I be able to attach some riccia to that using some string or does it have to be mesh? Also, would I be right in thinking that it would still only grow upwards and not out?