lighting and moss questions

[evelyn80]

1. I have a 35 gallon planted with about 4-5 golf ball moss peices attached to some rocks. How long should it take to attach/establish itself on the rock as its been there for a few eeks with and it looks like its gonna come off when a fish goes swimming past it really fast.

2. is 2 15 watt black flourescent light and a 25 watt incandescent light enough for 2 peices of hornwort, 3 vals and the above moss?

thx!

[DAVIDFBT]

1. Did you break up the moss into small 1/2 inch strands before placing it on the rocks, or did you just bunch it up and tie it on the rocks? It usually takes about 2-3 weeks for the moss to establish a hold on the item, and about 2 months to firmly be established.

2. Incandescent lights are very inefficient, so I would say you only have about 1 WPGwich is enough for the hornwort and moss, maybe not on the vals.

[evelyn80]

no i did only place it in a big bunch.... seems i have alot of work reattaching it all. also explains why the vals look like their diein :(

[DAVIDFBT]

What I do if I have extra mos to wrpa around something is I take the long strands and cut them into strands about 1/2 an inch long with scissors. Then I just put it on what I want to wrap and wind cotton strin around it. The reason for cutting the moss is that out of every cut made into the moss, new growth will occur. This way, if you take a 4 inch long piece of moss, you will only get 2 growth zones, if you cut that moss into smaller pieces, you will get about 10 growth zones, making the moss look fuller and thicker.

[evelyn80]

well its attached to 2 of the rocks by its self now. i cut some of the moss down and put it on more rocks and on my peice of drift wood.