Got A Moss Ball But May Need Some Info For It

[zain611]

Hi guys,

I went to my local pets at home store today and bought a moss ball from there. I placed it in the tank and my shrimp look happy on it

The question is that what is the benefits of it or what will it do other time or how do i care for it

 

[AdamHawk]

Good question, they will grow and grow and can be cut in half when big to make two, benefits, not sure, care is easy though.

 

[LoachLover!]

They are supposed to help remove nitrAtes from the water

 

[ian]

they don't really remove Nitrates, they don't grow fast enough to do this. The only benefit they hold is as above, they are good for the shrimp.

 

[minnnt]

All plants will help to do that though. I have one that came free with a plant order. It's just plonked in the tank with no special care at all really.

 

[twingogeekeo]

They are not a 'moss' despite their name in the fish aquarium industry. They are a slow-growing form of algae.

As any plant, they consume ammonia (or nitrite or nitrate, in that order) to grow, provided they have the other things they need (a source of carbon, other nutrients such as potassium and phospate, and sufficient light). In exchange, they provide some oxygen during the photoperiod, but consume it in darkness.

In my experience, they do best in medium-high light and lots of water movement. They collect debris in the tank and must be regularly cleaned off (either by you or smaller fish/shrimp/snails). When I had them, I would swish them around in the water I was removing during a water change, much as you would for filter media.

Also they look so cool in a shrimp tank reason i have 4

 

[ian]

you might want to quote you sources twingogeekeo, rather than copy and pasting.

again they won't remove as much nitrates etc etc as people are saying, they are that slow growing it'll be minuscule what they actually do. It'll be like having a single strand of vallis in your tank.

 

[minnnt]

you might want to quote you sources twingogeekeo, rather than copy and pasting.

again they won't remove as much nitrates etc etc as people are saying, they are that slow growing it'll be minuscule what they actually do. It'll be like having a single strand of vallis in your tank.

And you HATE Vallis...































Oh, and Moss Balls.

 

[Gilli]

They dont need any special care - just give them a gentle swish round in your used tank water now and again when doing a water change to remove any debris from them. They are really slow growing but you can split them by just pulling them in half and re-shaping them by rolling them between your hands to make x 2 moss balls.

the benefits of having them in the tank are that they provide insuforia which your shrimp and any fry in your tank will feed on.

 

[zain611]

Thanks Gilli at the moment im taking care of 5 guppy fry which my female guppy gave birth to 2 weeks ago so this may help

 

[Westcoaster]

Try googling marimo algae, the natural algae balls are protected in Japan, the ones we get in LFS are hand rolled, if left alone they do start to unroll, I have three that I do nothing with apart from what has been previously mentioned i.e rinse in water change bucket and gently roll between my hands, I did roll one a bit too hard once the only affect that had was to make the ball float for about 2 hours, I'm thinking of gently unrolling the largest ball to make a blanket/carpet over a stone cave.