I love my flame moss, and recently while going through old pics of my 10g I realized how much it really grew!
Here's a boatload of pictures from week 1 back in early March of this year thru today. The moss came growing on a small piece of lava rock. I pulled off most of it and spread it out on my driftwood which had been soaking for a couple weeks. Cheap black thread was used to secure it. I also stuffed pinches into the crevices on the smaller upright piece of wood & wound fishing line around to roughly secure.
My lighting at the start was 2-23w daylight cfls and I had diy co2 bubbling into my HOB intake (which is why the water looks cloudy/dirty in a lot of pics - just tons of teeny bubbles!). After a couple months I stopped the co2 and changed to 2-13w cfls. At first I was dosing Flourish comprehensive 1-2x week but got lazy around the time I stopped co2. I have also dosed Flourish Excel with no problems.
Note: This is also an interesting trip back to all my old scapes... I just started the 10g (my first serious tank) in January, so it's a little embarrassing and yet empowering to see how far I've come - not to mention how much growth the dwarf sag, crypts & anubias nana have gone through!
Day 1
2 weeks of growth
4 weeks of growth
2 months later (3 months of growth + I moved which is why the moss isn't nicely upright/flamey. Note: No added co2 for at least a month)
4 months of growth
6 months ~ The moss on the vertical wood got lush but stayed short - I loved it! It's not pretty in the picture because I whacked it with a net while trying to (unsuccessfully) catch my last female Endler in that tank. I moved the vertical piece of wood to a different tank, the moss grew taller - my guess was due to less light - & less full.
See the crazy horizontal moss on the left side? I thought it was flame moss, but the growth was no where as clean... again, possibly a light issue.
7 months ~ Ahh, the moss went crazy! throwing out little fingers on each strand, getting more thick & lush)
A couple weeks later... so thick!
No ruler, a pen will have to do for perspective.
Due to a rescape of the 10g, the flame moss is now in my 20H - total train wreck! But the fish don't mind.
My single wild-type n. heteropoda loves it in there!
And so in closing... I encourage everyone to give flame moss a try! Don't feel limited to my design - I've seen gorgeous branching wood with flame moss growing above the substrate, as well as flame moss trees. Added co2 is appreciated by flame moss, but not necessary. Don't feel discouraged if your flame moss "isn't doing anything"... give it a few months and it'll explode!
Here's a boatload of pictures from week 1 back in early March of this year thru today. The moss came growing on a small piece of lava rock. I pulled off most of it and spread it out on my driftwood which had been soaking for a couple weeks. Cheap black thread was used to secure it. I also stuffed pinches into the crevices on the smaller upright piece of wood & wound fishing line around to roughly secure.
My lighting at the start was 2-23w daylight cfls and I had diy co2 bubbling into my HOB intake (which is why the water looks cloudy/dirty in a lot of pics - just tons of teeny bubbles!). After a couple months I stopped the co2 and changed to 2-13w cfls. At first I was dosing Flourish comprehensive 1-2x week but got lazy around the time I stopped co2. I have also dosed Flourish Excel with no problems.
Note: This is also an interesting trip back to all my old scapes... I just started the 10g (my first serious tank) in January, so it's a little embarrassing and yet empowering to see how far I've come - not to mention how much growth the dwarf sag, crypts & anubias nana have gone through!
Day 1
2 weeks of growth
4 weeks of growth
2 months later (3 months of growth + I moved which is why the moss isn't nicely upright/flamey. Note: No added co2 for at least a month)
4 months of growth
6 months ~ The moss on the vertical wood got lush but stayed short - I loved it! It's not pretty in the picture because I whacked it with a net while trying to (unsuccessfully) catch my last female Endler in that tank. I moved the vertical piece of wood to a different tank, the moss grew taller - my guess was due to less light - & less full.
See the crazy horizontal moss on the left side? I thought it was flame moss, but the growth was no where as clean... again, possibly a light issue.
7 months ~ Ahh, the moss went crazy! throwing out little fingers on each strand, getting more thick & lush)
A couple weeks later... so thick!
No ruler, a pen will have to do for perspective.
Due to a rescape of the 10g, the flame moss is now in my 20H - total train wreck! But the fish don't mind.
My single wild-type n. heteropoda loves it in there!
And so in closing... I encourage everyone to give flame moss a try! Don't feel limited to my design - I've seen gorgeous branching wood with flame moss growing above the substrate, as well as flame moss trees. Added co2 is appreciated by flame moss, but not necessary. Don't feel discouraged if your flame moss "isn't doing anything"... give it a few months and it'll explode!
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