Disassembling a Moss Ball?

[JohnRoscoe]

Is there a reason people don't cut up moss balls and lay them flat on the substrate? Moss balls seem to do fine in low light, and there aren't a lot of low-light carpet options, especially short and tidy ones, so this is an intriguing idea to me. Do they not not stay flat, or fail to thrive in this condition?

 

[TheresaM]

I know shrimp folks who poke a hole and attach them to cholla wood, looks like a funky tree.

I opened one of mine and draped it over a horizontal piece of cholla...my shrimp and Endlers fry love picking at it!

I've never tried completely flat, not sure how the underside would react over time.

 

[Slavo]

Is there a reason people don't cut up moss balls and lay them flat on the substrate? Moss balls seem to do fine in low light, and there aren't a lot of low-light carpet options, especially short and tidy ones, so this is an intriguing idea to me. Do they not not stay flat, or fail to thrive in this condition?

I've been thinking about trying the same thing when I setup my shrimp tank; seen it in a couple scapes online.

 

[Slavo]

I know shrimp folks who poke a hole and attach them to cholla wood, looks like a funky tree.

I opened one of mine and draped it over a horizontal piece of cholla...my shrimp and Endlers fry love picking at it!

I've never tried completely flat, not sure how the underside would react over time.

I've wondered the same in regards to time. One challenge I would foresee would be getting it to stay down as carpet. I wonder if attaching it to mess or something would work. I may have to try this.

 

[JohnRoscoe]

I was considering just setting a small rock on it to hold it down until it grew into the substrate, maybe moving the rock around with water changes.

Would love to find someone who has done this, though, and not waste time and money if it's a bad idea.

 

[mom2reds]

That would be cool if it works! Keep us updated if you try it. Good luck

 

[Fresh2o]

This might work. Instead of trying to have it adhere to the substrate, perhaps you can use a flat object such as plastic mesh used for moss walls (not sure what it is called but it is found in craft stores). I think it is a craft mesh or fabric mesh. This will give it a more stable foundation as opposed to the substrate. You can cut the material to the size of the moss ball and you will have the flexibility of moving it around the tank as needed. You could use very fine string or lightweight fishing line to attach the moss ball to the material. You still might need to weigh this down.
I have not tried this; just an idea.


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[Autumnsky]

I had a huge orange size ball break on me and I hoped for a year it would somehow mend itself but no!

I ended up laying pieces over DW in my tank. They did fine for months but died in a tank pH crash.

The mesh from the craft stores also come in rounds, think coffee cup coaster, in 4 and 6 inches and you can cut it to any size from the sheets. Stainless steel mesh would work best. I haven't personally used it yet. Any rock you would use ontop of the moss would start to kill it so I would use 100 % cotton thread with a needle to tack it down and tie rocks on the plastic mesh to try and keep it down, or maybe sinkers strategically placed.

My moss wall I had was light, and when I used the plastic mesh rounds with Subwassertang and Java moss on the substrate they always wanted to float up. That's why I think fishing weights might be most useful.

Moss ball spread over DW in center.

 

[TheresaM]

I severely lack the creativity gene so I turn to Han Aquatics for help. This is a java moss ledge. They come in 2" rounds or 2" x 4" rectangles. He offers them with a variety of mosses or bare to do your own thing:

And this is a 2" x 2" flame moss mat; again can be ordered with moss or without:

 

[Autumnsky]

I severely lack the creativity gene so I turn to Han Aquatics for help. This is a java moss ledge. They come in 2" rounds or 2" x 4" rectangles. He offers them with a variety of mosses or bare to do your own thing:

And this is a 2" x 2" flame moss mat; again can be ordered with moss or without:

Wow awesome!

 

[SpaceFish42]

This might work. Instead of trying to have it adhere to the substrate, perhaps you can use a flat object such as plastic mesh used for moss walls (not sure what it is called but it is found in craft stores). I think it is a craft mesh or fabric mesh. This will give it a more stable foundation as opposed to the substrate. You can cut the material to the size of the moss ball and you will have the flexibility of moving it around the tank as needed. You could use very fine string or lightweight fishing line to attach the moss ball to the material. You still might need to weigh this down.
I have not tried this; just an idea.


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I used that for a divider, and when I was looking for some and couldn't find it anywhere, I finally found out it was called needlepoint mesh.

 

[Mebbid]

The moss ball carpet would work, but it grows sooooo slowly that it would take many months if not a year or more to start to fill in. You can use java moss to achieve the same effect much much more quickly.

 

[trennamw]

Aren't the "moss" balls actually an algae? (Claudosomething) ... I researched this awhile back and found a few instances of breaking up the ball leading to a tank wide algae outbreak.


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