Growing Troubles

[22bfan]

I'm new to the forums but have had my tanks set up for a few years.

I'm experimenting with moss aquascaping and am running into some trouble growing Java moss in my 10g tank. I attached a thin layer of it to a few natural rocks but it doesn't seem to want to grow. It will show a little bit of branched growth after about 2 weeks. I made a CO2 generator that does a great job of expelling a good number of micro bubbles. As well I started using Flourish Excel. None of this seems to be helping me grow a nice thick patch of Java Moss. Ive been at this for about 10 months now.

My lighting setup is just a small basic dual CFL setup (not sure of wattage or color temp from memory). I light the tank about 6 hours a day. The only thing that seems to be growing is a light green fuzzy algae (I guess its algae). The fuzz is growing on most upward facing surfaces and even appears to grow over top of the Java Moss strands. I started using Flourish Excel because I read it should assist the moss and stunt the algae.

My inhabitants are as follows:

4 neon Tetras
3 glowlight Tetras
4 male fancy guppies
1 algae eater
400,000,000 Malaysian Trumpet Snales

Any suggestions on what I should change? Cut down on inhabitants, raise color temp/wattage of lighting, extend light duration, use algae tablets to get rid of it?

Thanks

Brad

 

[the_fish_man]

is this your 55 gallon or 10 gallon?

 

[Crepe]

What's the temperature. Java moss likes it a bit cooler than most plants.

 

[IT-FishGuy]

I've heard that if you have Co2 added that the plants will require more nutrients are required, but seems that if you are growing algae then you have some of them in abundance. If you add more light you'll probably grow more algae. What kind of requirements does it have? Light, nutrients, water temp, etc?

 

[Crepe]

Oh right, java moss likes a lot of iron in its water.

 

[22bfan]

Oh right, java moss likes a lot of iron in its water.

I bet you nailed it. We have a water softener in our house. I just read that the Flourish excel reduces FE iron.

I'll buy some iron suppliments since I don't want to use non softened/non filtered water for my refills.

Thanks!!

 

[22bfan]

Sorry, forgot to reply to the other questions:

This is regarding my small 10 gallon.

I keep it at room temp which is about 73-74.

IT-FishGuy - You are right. Adding more light in my experiments resulted in massive algae overgrowth but still stunted Moss development.

 

[IT-FishGuy]

If you can. (It's a truck load of work, but may be worth it.) think about switching out your current gravel to just straight Flourite. It has a high iron content, but you can look at their site and it'll tell you what the percentages of stuff is in it. That's what I looked at before I bought mine. I also find it a great excuse for you to set up a different planted tank that can utilize the gravel, if you've got the money.
I started my tank out with plastic plants then moved to live. Found that the plants needed more nutrients and that the gravel was a good way to go. I had mud for 2 - 3 days while the filter cleaned things up.8O

 

[22bfan]

I picked up some Flourish (not excel) that has a good amount of Iron as well as other minerals that should help grow the good stuff and kill the bad stuff.

Seachem. Flourish

I'll try to remember to post an update after a few weeks.