# Basically no-light vase idea



## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I made a little vase for my wife. It gets almost no light. I put a few low light stems and they didn't survive but Dwarf Hair Grass did, kind of surprised me. You may give that a shot. It's not growing much but it's still alive after more than a few months. 


I just got a few nerites not long ago. I think they are attractive, I love them. The fact they do so much for algae is a major plus but they are cool looking in general and seem to move around more than a lot of other snails I have had. To my knowledge, I don't think they can easily reproduce like pond snails which is a major plus for me. The only other types of snails I have had are Apple snails which I think are less attractive. 

Good luck.


----------



## Bluebugs (May 1, 2013)

Thanks for the reply! The DHG idea is intriguing, I had a similar experience with the stuff. I feel I would have to carpet it in high light, then ease it into low light. I also wouldn't want to cut it, would be difficult in the little vase. 

I kinda want moss, but I'm afraid of it dying and looking awful.


----------



## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

DHG will not carpet without good light, at least in any reasonable time period. In 3-4 months, it has like 3 new runners, basically about the same as 1 day in a high tech, if not less. I would only use it to look the same as how you plant it, not for a carpet. 

Moss should do well, I had a bag of some sort of moss that I used what I needed and just left it in a bag in my stand. It was still fine like 2 months later. Not sure what type it was but moss is hard to kill. I find it easier to make it look ugly in a high light, high CO2 setup to be honest.


----------



## thedirtydaniel (Sep 7, 2013)

If you have room, you could always use a small desk lamp and cfl bulb. I have a quart glass jar with some java moss, water wisteria, two types of hygrophola and a small tropical fern growing. I couldn't get DHG to grow, although I tried. I have a couple of ghost shrimp and a couple of Painted Fire Reds in there.


----------



## Schmitee (May 1, 2012)

How about some anubias? I've got an anubias nana petite which is underneath a java moss 'tree' and must get barely no light at all and is yet full of colour, though it's growing extreeemly slowly, maybe one or two new leaves in the year since I started the tank


----------



## alex009 (May 21, 2011)

something like this (minus the betta) could be a good idea. You could take advantage of the situation by using emergent plants such as pothos (pictured), arrowhead vine, peace lily etc. For the underwater section some java moss might be able to survive...


----------



## thebuddha (Jul 16, 2012)

this screams moss.

I had a mason jar set up that had some moss wrapped around a stick, an anubias, dwarf water lettuce as a floater, and a little patch of micro sword that did suprisingly well. substrate was miracle grow, capped with sand. I did run a light over mine, but only for a few hours a day.

I think you could do something very similar with the florescence from your office. Throw some moss on a stick or rock, throw in a couple pieces of dwl, anubias, java ferns, and crypts in the substrate. Here is a picture of mine: (home to ramshorn snails)









Is there anything you could HANG a light from? (since desk-space is the issue) or you can get something like this that suctions on: http://www.deepblueprofessional.com/solarflare.html (the one called: Solarflare Micro LED light 6700K ADB42892)



Take a look at this link to get some creativity juices pumping. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=363465


----------



## WestHaven (Jun 30, 2012)

talontsiawd said:


> To my knowledge, I don't think they can easily reproduce like pond snails which is a major plus for me.
> Good luck.


Nerite snails can't reproduce in freshwater. The eggs never hatch. They can only hatch in brackish or saltwater.


----------



## sangckim5 (Sep 15, 2013)

I have a bowl that has been set up for at least a month. It only receives filtered indirect light (north, so not a lot of light) and a cfl 10ft away. The plants I keep are crypt undulata in the center and peacock moss on the bottom.
The crypts are kept on still sand with osmocote plus, and have doubled in number of leaves in a month 

Pic from a month ago


----------

