growing moss quickly????

[ineke]

Is there a quick way to increase moss? . I have read that you can put it in glass jars by the window and it will increase in quantity very quickly but I don't want to kill the bit I have. I am only talking about peacock, xmas, flame and java not the rarer types. Any ideas would be great as I will be moving all my tanks soon and want to rescape with more moss rather than plants or is the only way just to buy more?????.

[Aquathumb]

My mosses were almost stagnant until I started adding 1 drip of fertilizer per day. I use Dino Pee or Seachem Flourish. Co2 works wonders too.

The window thing works but you need to change the water once per day (don't use tap water) and don't let the water heat up in the midday sun. That will cook them! (don't ask me how I know that ;)

[warren63]

Ive got a couple of tanks using my reptile lights which are exo terra natural light globes and find the java moss under these lights goes crazy. not cheap at about $33 a globe but since I had them I thought I would use them.

[Squiggle]

Aquathumb is the dude in the know for this, he dry starts a lot of his mosses as there is a lot more CO2 available doing it this way but you have to keep them moist. :victorious:

[ineke]

Thanks guys I might try the window trick on some java and see how it goes before I try the others. I don't have fertilisers so I guess by the time I buy that I could just about buy the moss. Eshrimp inspired me to try and grow a big amount of moss as he has a huge amount behind a "wall" and it was alive with shrimp . It looks so good I thought I would try it but you need a huge ball of moss.

[poeticwinter]

just put close to the light. but dont to close they will melt or turning brown. would say about 25-30cm from the light. it will grow quick without any co2. a good lighting is important too

[Garnelchen]

The mosses in my tanks (java and peacock) are going absolutely crazy, especially the ones in my 70 L tanks. The funny thing is, that the lights in those tanks are just the build in lights that came with the tank and those are not very bight at all.

There are lots of other plants in there and they take a lot of the light away too.

So, I think it is not the light, that's the crucial point here. Must be something else....

Oh, and I also don't use any CO2 or fertilizers.

...but while I'm very successfully growing mosses, my java ferns are not happening at all. They just look crappy and don't really take off. :(

[blindfisherman]

Chop the mss up into small pieces. It will send new shoots out from each cut.

[ineke]

I will have a play today and chop moss, put some in a jar in the window and try and get some hanging up near the light and see what grows the best. Thanks

[daz88]

Peacock moss is a fast grower in good conditions. Much faster than xmas and flame.

I have peacock moss in a tank that gets the morning sun, then a 3w led light in the afternoon/nite, no co2 and it grows nearly as well the peacock moss in my high tech tank. I think high light is good for this moss (not high temp, i.e. midday sun etc). I also have it terrariums and it grows pretty well there too (under led).

I would happy to send 1/2 to a full handful when its ready for another trim (in a week of two) or a smaller amount now (golfball) for a few dollars via standard post sent on a monday if you have trouble growing your lot up. PM me.

[shrimpstan]

buy a z series :encouragement:

[FishBeast]

I agree with Squiggle. Emersed is the way to go. Preferably somewhere with strong light (provided it is not too hot). I spray mine with worm pee.