Moss Identification? And Questions

[davidpckl]

I'm pretty new to keeping live plants, I've had fish for years, but never got real plants for cichild diggin reasons. Anyways I've read alot about java moss, and christmas moss, and i've noticed alot of it looking really similar but differnt in a range of pictures I've looked at and read. I bought some moss at petco the other day that didn't have a name on it but moss ball, not knowing as much prior to reading the net I didn't think much of it, but found out there is quite a bit of info on alot of mosses that look so similar its hard for me to tell what I even ended up with, and then the problem comes about of how to care for it, being I'm not sure what kind it is.

Here's 2 pictures of what i got, it came on a golfball sized cotton/foam ball, so i started out by just laying it all flat on a rock, then decided being what i know about normal plants the more light getting to it the faster it will grow, so i broke up the dense mass, and started stringing it on rocks in a more loose fashion.

A. What kinda moss do you think this is?

B. Should i have kept it dense like in the first picture or more spread out?

C. Will the brown come back or should i start removing it from the tank. ( It looked to me that the darker browns started turning lighter as if it would green up again. )

[grannylvsfish]

its java moss. it will grow soon. mine does crappy, not sure why but again its in a ten gallon with low light.

[austinpetemo]

how many watts does java moss need i have 10 watt bulbs in my 10gal

[jmhart]

for Java Moss 10w over a 10g will be fine.

[Fishy_Fun]

yes that will be fine but growth will be minimal.

[jmhart]

I've noticed this when it comes to Java Moss:

Under high light it grew very fast, and under low light it grew much slower. However, under lower lighting the color was much more intense, a much deeper green.

[dixienut]

i don't think it java, looks like christmas or some other moss, i have tons of java and it dosen't grow like that,

[DarrylR]

It looks like taiwan moss..

Or Java moss grown under very high light?

[davidpckl]

I've noticed this when it comes to Java Moss:

Under high light it grew very fast, and under low light it grew much slower. However, under lower lighting the color was much more intense, a much deeper green.

http://www.sylvania.com/content/display.scfx?id=003690841
I have the 32 watt 4100K model of this line of bulbs.

The bulbs on my 55 gallon are roughly a foot off the top of the tank. I have no idea what kinda lights they were under prior to me buying it.

It looks like taiwan moss..

Or Java moss grown under very high light?

Yeah I wasn't sure what it was, I might have to wait a bit and see what it does and get some better pictures once it takes hold of something. Would my current lights be adequate for good moss growth given 80F water temp, and good levels? What are good light cycles for mosses, just as a general rule of thumb for more thicker moss?

[davidpckl]

Well I ended up thinning it out more and buying some more, it seems to better with lower light. Its now starting to spread out, its real hard to see or i would put up some more pictures. It seems to better in my feeder tank, and fry tank which get way less light than my 55gal. So i'm still not sure what kinda moss this is. I tore the bottom open on the other ball I bought enough to stick it on top of a pillar looking rock i had. I'll try to get a picture of that up later.