Moss Walls For Aquascaping.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I've seen tons of pictures of people doing a complete moss wall on the back and sometimes sides of there aquarium for a cool aquascaping look.

I got some christmas moss, so I was going to try this. I found a great website about it aswell. Here is the link.
Aquatic Moss. How to Create a Moss Wall. Create backdrop using aquatic moss. How to grow Aquatic Moss. Info on Java Moss, Christmas Moss, Taiwan Moss, Peacock Moss, Stringy Moss




I just had a couple questions for you experienced AA members.


1. My intake tube on my HOB Power Filter is going to get in the way of my moss wall project, what do you suggest I do about this?

2. Has anyone tried this before on the forums, if so tell me your experiences with it.



Thanks for your input in advanced.

 

[gzeiger]

I started one with a little clump of Christmas moss I got from aquabid. My crayfish ate it.

I can tell you that both Java moss and Christmas moss are terrible on filter intakes. Even a small amount of floating moss clogs my filter in just a couple days. I don't know what to do about it, but maybe some creative rockwork could replace the moss in that immediate area. The easy version would be to just take a cheap petstore aquarium decoration shaped like a volcano or something - a cave with openings in the top and sides. You could stick the filter intake down inside the decoration and thereby effectively direct it away from the wall. More interesting DIY versions may come to mind. I wouldn't worry about breaking up the wall with other stuff like that; it should just be a background anyway.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

K thanks.

 

[elwaine]

Ben... if you really want a back wall of moss, why not put your HOB filter on the side of the tank? In American speak, HOB stands for Hang On Back filter. But it Martian (where I come from) it stands for Hqtuzwrs Ogbts Bmmmouts - whch means, "Hang On Side filter."

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Ben... if you really want a back wall of moss, why not put your HOB filter on the side of the tank? In American speak, HOB stands for Hang On Back filter. But it Martian (where I come from) it stands for Hqtuzwrs Ogbts Bmmmouts - whch means, "Hang On Side filter."

Honestly, never thought of that, lol I feel dumb.

Since we discovered the side of the tank now, I got another question. Right now I have a HOB Whisper 20, a 20G filter. You think since I have plants and such in there, I can replace it with one of those 3G Nano Filters, they are small and clear and wouldn't look as bad on the tank. I'm guessing I could.

 

[elwaine]

Plants do a lot to reduce nitrates, but you need sufficient filter material to house enough bacteria to break down ammonia and nitrites. So I'd caution you on going down to too small a filter. Also, the filter provides currents in the aquarium and that's another thing you need for good plant growth. And a small filter might not provide enough water movement.

One thing you might consider - depending on where you keep your aquarium - is to make the side of the tank holding the filter opaque. For example, my pico aquarium has a black back and a black left side. Both the back and the left side of the little aquarium are close to walls. The only views possible are from the front and from the right side. So whether viewing the tank from the front or from the right side, there appears to be quite a bit of depth due to the opaque black background - and the HOB filter is hidden from view. - just a thought...

 

[gzeiger]

Plants will consume ammonia and nitrite and can be substituted for the biofilter, but you need a lot of them and they need to be growing, so light, fertilizer and CO2 must be available.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Thanks Larry, i'm going to look into getting a new background, my old one was construstion paper and it eventually starter to turn purple because of the water lol. I'm going to get a nice black background from my lfs and then move my filter over and see how this play out from there.

 

[elwaine]

Ben, I stand corrected. gzeiger is correct. A heavily planted tank is, of itself, a bio-filter. Plants consume ammonium (not ammonia) and convert nitrites and nitrates back to ammonium before they can use N to form plant proteins. Aqua Botanic - Plants and biological filtration Plus, each leaf of every plant is coated with denitrification bacteria. However, you'd still need a source of water movement.

 

[Innovator]

I haven't read through all the posts so hopefully I am not repeating, but you can also make a border around your intake, boxing it in by using a plastic grating and giving yourself several inches from each side of the intake tube. You will have to trim the moss from growing on the inside, but shouldn't affect incoming water assuming water would pass through the moss. Otherwise, strategically placed driftwood or vines climbing upwards against the back wall and creating barriers for the moss...just throwing out possibilties

 

[kribensis12]

Why not put a sponge over the intake?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Ben, I stand corrected. gzeiger is correct. A heavily planted tank is, of itself, a bio-filter. Plants consume ammonium (not ammonia) and convert nitrites and nitrates back to ammonium before they can use N to form plant proteins. Aqua Botanic - Plants and biological filtration Plus, each leaf of every plant is coated with denitrification bacteria. However, you'd still need a source of water movement.

With that being said Larry, you think I can remove the filter I have and replace it with this filter. Nano Hang-on Power Filters | Power Aquarium Filters | Filters | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

Since it will still give my water movement, it's smaller and clear so it looks better, plus my tank doesn't have any life in it anymore besides the plants (i'm going to explain that in my 5 gallon log.