MARIMO MARIMO MARIMO

[mellowvision]

let's talk about these wonderful balls of algae.

will having these in the aquarium encourage further algae growth?

if I break them apart, can I use them to seed this on driftwood?

is this what people use to create the flamelooking green logs?

do any of you have them?

[nickmcmechan]

will having these in the aquarium encourage further algae growth? no, once they are established it will do the opposite, like other plants they may outcompete the algae for nutrients...like other plants i have seen algae actually grown on mine...its a diff type of algae, it doesn't spread

if I break them apart, can I use them to seed this on driftwood? i've never thought about this, but i think i remember somewhere that they just form into a ball again, i would worry about destroying it...the larger ones are hollow in the middle
is this what people use to create the flamelooking green logs? no, i think it is moss tied down with cotton...after three months the cotton disintegrates in the tank, leaving the moss rooted

do any of you have them? yes, i have a large on ein my 100l and a small in my 30l, they come from fast flowing streams which give their ball shape so you have to keep turning them. when you do your weekly water change, pull the ball out and squeeze it into your buket of tank water, this refreshes it (and you do notice the difference) and gets rid of nitrates it sucked up

[Que]

I saw them in a pet store recently and they wanted $20 a piece for them. Sploke has em too but I don't know when he'll be able to post. He bought his for about $2.50. So shop around.

Q

[OhNo123]

If you break them apart, they slowly form balls once they get bigger.

The flaming look requires Taiwan Moss - My LFS uses them to make flaming driftwood. Just tie it down like you would Java Moss.

[geofied]

OK, I'll admit, they're neat. But besides the sheer novelty of it, what's the draw for y'all? Sounds like they do have some nutrient sucking benefit (or detriment if it gobbles all your nitrates), but I'm not seeing any aquascaping benefit unless you are going for the "still life" look. I suppose if you set these up next to some banana plants you could pretend you have a bowl of fruit in your tank.

Again, not ripping, just curious.

[mellowvision]

yeah, I could see them being nice if they were all 1/2" balls, and you covered the floor with them, or if I could cut them up and spread them over wood... but just as big balls, they aren't much of what i want.

[midiamin]

To me, they were never suppose to give a certain look although I have seen some creative uses in dynamic plant tanks. The nutrient absorbing ability is a huge benefit in a heavily planted tank for those who have great difficulty in gravel vacuuming. The more they suck up the less there is a chance of developing troublesome algas. Use your imagination with them and I bet you come up with something different that hasn't been done before.

[OhNo123]

Hang them from your hood by fishing line. Floating Marimo Balls! wooOoo.

[FishyFry]

Here is a very interesting article on them in Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo

and a fun site about Marimo balls

http://www.marimarimarimo.com/main.htm

[Firebelly__girl]

Hang them from your hood by fishing line. Floating Marimo Balls! wooOoo.

and get some shrimp, to let them have like a ... tire swing type thingy =)

[jtburf]

do any of you have them? yes, i have a large on ein my 100l and a small in my 30l, they come from fast flowing streams which give their ball shape so you have to keep turning them. when you do your weekly water change, pull the ball out and squeeze it into your buket of tank water, this refreshes it (and you do notice the difference) and gets rid of nitrates it sucked up




they are actually from a lake in Japan where they float to the surface every day because of the oxygen the produce, and are never that round in nature.

[shaggbark]

So cool, like living art.

I would love to have some of these but not enough light in my tank 8(