How to create a Java Moss Wall

[dazkeirle]

Thanks man,

Yeah my Axie Barney spends all day hanging from it, usually by a single toe of something.

I'm making my tank separator out of the same stuff so he'll have 2 surfaces to climb soon.

I'm hoping that when the tank becomes a shrimp tank the holes and small gap left will allow the babies to take refuge from the older predators.

It's just great bendable stuff with 101 applications.

I swear in the aquarium world if you have plastic grid, zip ties, and suction cups there's nothing you cannot fashion.

 

[blackdog]

Here's my version!

After i saw this post i just had to do this! Thanks Daz.

I got the mesh on ebay as a kit with cable ties and suction cups ready to go! I tried everywhere i could think of to find the "craft mesh" but had no luck at all. So i was thrilled when i found a ready to go kit on fleabay - About $6 USD each - Drawback? It is a set size, i had to buy 2 kits for the axie tank and one for my minnow / shrimp tank.

As it happens, it worked out ok as the air stone fits in the middle anyway

Pics below! You can see the boys just staying out of the light there

I hope it turns out looking flash!!! Much nicer than a blank white wall or one of those picture things (i think)

Bren

 

[femme]

Looks good
I looked at those kits on ebay and after asking on here I got some mesh, suckers( thank god for xmas) and cable ties from a DIY store. I actually got too much mesh... 3 metres
I am creating a new stand for Juans new tank and am making the wall... when I get everything fixed i'll post a pic

 

[blackdog]

looks nicer today, i got sick of looking at thread and rubber bands trying to get the plants to take to the rocks, so i did some research and went the super glue route.

Plants look much neater, and i have the Chrismas moss stuck down under some mesh, so when that grows in i'll have a nice moss lawn on the rocks.

 

[dazkeirle]

It was only last night when clearing through the copious amount of fish tank stuff I've accumulated that I found the flourescent tube that came with my 60 litre.

Looking it up I realised I didn't have the OEM tube in there but a Hagen Aqua Glo.

I did a bit of reading and while having a high kelvin rating of 18,000 it appears many people have great success with this lamp for plants, Hagen advertises it as a plant lamp and lots of positive reviews despite the high rating.

As I already have it, I've decided I'm gonna give the Moss wall, and other plants in the tank a decent bust of lighting everyday while I'm at work (8-10 hours). The tank is 15 US gallons, and so the 15 watt tube is only 1 watt per gallon and so sits in the low light category which should be perfect for the plants in there.

Luckily because the LED strips are so small I'm able to run both light setups in the same tank, one for day and one for night (as the LEDs dont create UVs)

I'll let you know how I, and most importantly the Moss wall gets on.

 

[femme]

I unfortunately didnt have enough moss and my wall looks a little pathetic next to you guys pics.

Daz is it growing at all yet?

 

[dazkeirle]

It's growing, but only slowly as you'd expect.

It'll take years probably for full coverage.

I can see lots of little moss branches sticking out through the gaps, some as long as 2-3 cm so it shows how quickly it can grow.

I suppose it just needs a lot of length and a lot of growing in on itself to create the thick mat.

After a few weeks I'll let you know how big a difference the lamp makes.

 

[ghogg]

Mine has been in about 3 months now I think, (disappeared off my ebay account which is limited to 60 days) and its growing through a decent amount at the top of the tank. Lower down its only got a few strands sticking out so its going to take a while. Its also weaving its way through the floating plants as well, binding it all together.
I got quite a lot of moss and the wall was basically full when installed, just needs to grow through the rest of the mesh and it will look pretty good. Probably be about another 6 months for decent coverage. My tank has the standard lighting, 2 T5 bulbs (different light colouring) and its on about 10 hours a day.

 

[CheechWizard]

That looks so good...could you make a moss floor in the same way?...

Just got myself two Axolotl's and their tank is aesthetically rubbish...which annoys the hell out of me...

 

[iAxolotl]

Looks nice too bad i don't like waiting

 

[XeryusTC]

Just a small question: how well would those suction cups stick to a rock wall? I am thinking about aquascaping my tank when I get it and I will probably make a fake rock wall out of foam, concrete and epoxy but I might actually want to also have java moss attached to it and some kind of way to make a tank divider without needing to make ugly slots etc in it.
So basicly, will those suction cups stick to concrete or epoxy? Or will they only stick to very flat surfaces?

 

[waster]

could fiber glass mesh work for this?

 

[dazkeirle]

Just a small question: how well would those suction cups stick to a rock wall? I am thinking about aquascaping my tank when I get it and I will probably make a fake rock wall out of foam, concrete and epoxy but I might actually want to also have java moss attached to it and some kind of way to make a tank divider without needing to make ugly slots etc in it.
So basicly, will those suction cups stick to concrete or epoxy? Or will they only stick to very flat surfaces?

Check out my other posts, I have a devided tank even with a rock wall.

You'll just need to use more mesh and make a 2 sided cage, running across the back tight to the rock wall and then out to the center of the tank.

Works flawlessly.

 

[lorraine]

Can anything else but Java Moss be used? It looks fantastic, and really tempted at having a go

 

[dazkeirle]

many people use "xmas" or "christmas" moss, a slightly nicer pattern but java moss is easily the most affordable.

It now has some good growth through but will still take a while for actual coverage.

Still the shrimps like it.

 

[lorraine]

So are your shrimp a food supply for the Axies?

 

[malat]

oh oh this looks awesome! I actually have some soft metal mesh with me. I think it was used by my uncle for his gardening (Random lol). My uncle says it doesn't rust but i'm not too sure if it may end up leaking harmful substances into my axies tank! I guess i should those online kit ones instead =)

 

[lorraine]

Here is my attempt at the moss wall, :happy: I couldnt get the mesh big enough to go right to the top of the tank but will hopefully look ok once it has grown through and established
.

 

[morphyrichards]

I'm sure the mesh / java moss will look amazing soon once it's grown more but I've got to say - what are you going to do when your axolotl tries to eat one of those goldfish or even worse when one of those goldfish decides it thinks your axolotls gill fimbrae is a tasty worm and starts pecking them off?

 

[lorraine]

Neither Axy has really paid them much attention to be honest apart from the odd snap as one of them have gone past, and the fish seem none too bothered either the worse they that happens is that the big orange one (thelma) will try and steal the worms I feed the Axy's so I just make sure they are fed before the worms come out. When I first got Mr Stimpy I got him from a store where he was with goldfish and I was told that they were ok together. Since then I have found out different and they are not supposed to be together, I was aware that someone may comment on the goldfish and I may have to answer why. If there was a problem I would of course put the goldfish in another tank.

I hope the Moss wall works I could only get xmas moss so used that, Mres Stimpy seems to enjoy hanging of it has thats where I found her when I got home from work.