"Moss Ball" Chladophora aegagrophila

[Tarkus2112]

I seen my LFS has these. Anyone have any experiences with them?
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I was tossing around the idea of adding a few plants to my tank and these look awesome! (I know, I swore I wasn't going to go planted, but all this waiting for my fishless cycle has got me thinking. )

My main reason is to try and battle the high nitrates in my tap water. Does anyone know if these will help? I'm clueless when it comes to planted tanks. Also do I have to get fertilizer and C02 injection? I would rather keep things simple and stick with easy, hardy plants that don't require stringent water conditions.

 

[HN1]

If you want a nice easy to keep plant to help with nitrates, I'd suggest hornwort. Moss balls are cool, but require a bit more work and have less benefit IME.

 

[BigJim]

Water sprite is my nitrate sponge. I've actually had BGA show up because of low nitrates and that's in a 20L with 50-100 guppies.

 

[HN1]

Water sprite is my nitrate sponge. I've actually had BGA show up because of low nitrates and that's in a 20L with 50-100 guppies.

Another great one!

 

[JohnPaul]

Marimo balls (the moss balls you show) are great little things to have in your tank, but they don't grow fast enough to be much of a nitrate sponge. In order to suck up significant amounts of nitrates, you need something that is going to grow pretty quickly.

java moss
hornwort
anacharis
water sprite

are all good choices, don't require a lot of light, and are really easy to find. You could add some other things (Brazilian Pennywort comes to mind) if your lighting is a little higher.

 

[Tarkus2112]

Water sprite is my nitrate sponge. I've actually had BGA show up because of low nitrates and that's in a 20L with 50-100 guppies.

What is water sprite?

The first picture that popped in my head was of someone dumping a bottle of Sprite into the filter. haha

 

[BigJim]

Water sprite is a light green aquatic fern. I have no idea why it's called water sprite.

 

[HN1]

Every tank needs a water sprite...

 

[Jason7894561230]

lol nice HN

 

[JohnPaul]

LMAO. Very nice.

 

[th08tu]

Hey I had one of those moss balls in my tank for a while, wouldn't really suggest them, unless you are trying to breed live bearers.
They are really slow growing, require medium to high light or it will brown, and needs fairly good flow or it will just flatten. However with the high flow it tends to pick up lots of food and junk, so if you ever try to move it, crap goes everywhere.
But it does look kind of cool....