Carpet Moss

[Mr Melt]

Hi all.

I have basically applied a good bit of carpet moss to my bogwood, in the hopes of making it "blanket" the whole thing and enhancing my aquarium.

I tied it down loosely with some black sewing thread; as of a fortnight there seems to be little to no change whatsoever.

When does the moss truly begin to root into the bogwood and spread? If anyone has any idea and/or tips they are very welcome to share them! =P

 

[chishnfips]

I recently asked a similar question and started looking up info on carpets of moss. I know very little about it but read it can take up to 2 months or more to establish depending on what type of moss you use, some are quite slow growing.

 

[Caprichoso]

There are many factors that apply; lighting, CO2, ferts, type of moss(phoenix is a good creeper but it's very slow growing), type of wood, etc. Specifically, what type of moss is it? Some mosses seem to never root (flame moss is an example). If the drift wood you have it on is a very hard, smooth type, it can take longer for it to root. I have java moss attach nicely to coconut shells and to rough driftwood in a couple of weeks, yet it refuses to adhere to a particular piece of manzanita wood, except in one really rough spot.

 

[Mr Melt]

Hmm, well I'm not exactly sure what kind of moss it is.

Heres a picture; as you can see I haven't tied it down tightly at all (as I don't wanna completely choke the plants like). Furthermore with the passage of 2 weeks bits and bobs have broken free, but the majority is still there:

Not sure about the lighting, but they are the standard lights from the T8 model (Juwel Rio 180). Furthermore I add 5-6 ml of plant fertiliser every morning (that Easylife/EasyCarbo stuff).

 

[Caprichoso]

Ok, well it's not phoenix or flame moss. It looks like java moss though I cannot be absolutely sure. Another option you have instead of waiting for the moss to attach (so that you can take the string off) is to cut the string, see what's attached and then glue the rest of it down with cyanoacyrlate adhesive(safe for the tank). That way you can glue little clumps down wherever you want and it will attach on it's own and then you don't have to "wait" for it.

 

[Mr Melt]

Ok, well it's not phoenix or flame moss. It looks like java moss though I cannot be absolutely sure. Another option you have instead of waiting for the moss to attach (so that you can take the string off) is to cut the string, see what's attached and then glue the rest of it down with cyanoacyrlate adhesive(safe for the tank). That way you can glue little clumps down wherever you want and it will attach on it's own and then you don't have to "wait" for it.

The string really isn't visible at all. I'm happy enough with it =)

I'm just wondering when it will start to blanket spread over the bogwood =P

 

[coldcazzie]

In my experience moss is not particularly good at spreading, but very good at thickening up. So if you were to spread it very thinly where you wanted it then it would get thicker, but doesn't seem to move to new spots easily. Also, it's more likely to attach if it's close to the wood. If you think it's too thick to attach closely, then thin it out. I can try to get a picture of what I mean on my wood.

 

[Mr Melt]

In my experience moss is not particularly good at spreading, but very good at thickening up. So if you were to spread it very thinly where you wanted it then it would get thicker, but doesn't seem to move to new spots easily. Also, it's more likely to attach if it's close to the wood. If you think it's too thick to attach closely, then thin it out. I can try to get a picture of what I mean on my wood.

Good thing I spread it right where I wanted it then =P