# Java Moss driving me crazy - what a mess!



## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

its a mess at first but once it settles in its better. I definately would look into a rubbermaid tub for trimming it though.


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

chad320 said:


> its a mess at first but once it settles in its better. I definately would look into a rubbermaid tub for trimming it though.


How do you mean? the driftwood that it's on is huge so it'll be tough to remove, if you mean to take it out and trim it in the rubbermaid.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Youre going to have a hard time with little pieces floating around if you trim it in the tank. Or you could just not trim it.


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

chad320 said:


> Youre going to have a hard time with little pieces floating around if you trim it in the tank. Or you could just not trim it.


I'm not sure what to think about this! I just started the tank so it would be pretty easy to take out the moss and go for another plant to cover the driftwood.

The thing is, I really just want the moss to grow on the driftwood, which is a decent size area but I wont be able to lift out the driftwood to trim. I don't really care if little pieces are floating around, but won't I eventually have java moss everywhere?? I'm starting to already


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

You can stick a siphoning hose by the area to be trimmed, do the trimming, and hope most of the trimmed moss gets sucked up by the hose.

I do not know why your Java moss is so delicate. I just tested the strength of mine and unless I am purposely trying to snap the strands, they do not break off.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Yea, I'd go for it. When you trim just turn off your filters and siphon around it. I only trim about twice a year anyway. I also have a piece of wood thats too big to get out all the time so I do it in the tank with that one. Heres a super crappy pic of mine....


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## fishdweeb (Nov 3, 2007)

I pull handfuls out about every 2 weeks.....my driftwood has a nice tight covering of the moss...


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

Well, for better or worse I freaked out and decided to get it out of there! What a mess it was  

I have been using my little tongs every day to remove scraps and bit by bit it's going away. I keep finding strands here and there but I think that 99% of it is gone. I don't know why, but I just don't like the java moss - I really like a sort of tidiness in the tank (to the extend possible) and java moss isn't cutting it.

Now I am going to try and find another type of plant that I can anchor to the driftwood - one that won't get all over the place!


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Dave-H said:


> Well, for better or worse I freaked out and decided to get it out of there! What a mess it was
> 
> I have been using my little tongs every day to remove scraps and bit by bit it's going away. I keep finding strands here and there but I think that 99% of it is gone. I don't know why, but I just don't like the java moss - I really like a sort of tidiness in the tank (to the extend possible) and java moss isn't cutting it.
> 
> Now I am going to try and find another type of plant that I can anchor to the driftwood - one that won't get all over the place!


Welcome to the world of moss...lol...As beautiful as it is, I've always ended up jerking moss out at some point or another. A moss only tank is always an option though.


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

Too late now, I already committed to trying to go moss-free. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I'm gonna pull every little bit I see as long as I can 

I have a few different things planted up front, just to see which one does the best under my lighting/conditions. Now I just want to get something growing on the driftwood, but I'm not sure what.

I'm getting good at grabbing little pieces of moss from the water with the tongs !!


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## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

i have it growing out of my substrate, its wraped around stems, grows out of my DHG, i even have a java fern leaf that sprouts out of my DHG about every month. impossible to remove 100% atleast IMO. i'm about to break down the tank and start again because it is driving me insane. i have been waging war with my moss for months now.


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## Bandit1200 (Dec 11, 2010)

*my 2 cents...*

Here's my experience with the java moss so far. I bought a "clump" from the LFS. I put it in and it went everywhere. The problem with it when it's new like that is the way it's harvested for you to buy. It's all the odds and ends basically that have been torn apart from trimming/harvesting so that even though in the bag it looks like one big clump of moss it's not. After all the bits floating about clogged up the intake to my canister filter I looked up stuff to do with it and found the java moss wall pics online. I thought to myself "hmm, pretty neat, but I don't have that much moss to cover the back wall of my 29 gallon. What can I do..." So I got some black plastic mesh and folded it into a pouch about 2 inches deep and wrapped it around the top of a fake plastic tree stump with some hot glue to hold it in place. I know, plastic tree stump is tacky, but it's hollow and the Kribs love it, they've been raising fry in it for almost 5 years. That was months ago and it's finally starting to come through the mesh enough for a trim. The bits that didn't make it into the mesh or into the filter all sort of clumped up under the stump and grew out. Once it grows out and isn't just a pile of fragments it will look MUCH better and won't be so much of a pain in the a** to deal with. I did notice when I started adding co2 to the tank the color of the moss greatly improved. Before it was a dark dark green and honestly I wasn't really that happy with it, but now it's a nice jade green. I really don't know for sure if it was the co2 or just acclimation period for the moss but it's doing much better now. I just removed a huge pile of it from around the bottom of the stump and dumped it into the tank i'm prepping for the cherry shrimps to breed in. Hoping for luck there, but time will tell.


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## Wwh2694 (Dec 14, 2010)

Is there any moss that when u cut it it floats up?


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I removed my moss this summer. I am still finding bits of it growing randomly in substrate, on the silicone and even on other plants. Good luck.


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

i always use my hands to pull and remove what i want gone so its not floating around or you will find it somewhere else later on its life live with. it does look really good when its all filled in but not much of aquascaping will go great unless its kept in check. maintenance is key for any plants/scapes to look how u want them to


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

I used curve tweezer to hold the moss in place then trim/cut with other hand, just as if you're cutting your own hair. That away you can remove the cut moss out and replant it somewhere else.


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## Zareth (Dec 13, 2010)

Try Mini Pellia


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

This is one reason why I don't have moss in any of my tank. I hate the mess that it makes. The only moss I have at the moment is Fisseden Fontanus(sp). I used to have riccia and x-mas moss and it sucked during trimming sessions.


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## small-fish (Jan 3, 2009)

mine is like permanently fused to my driftwood, where it first started, then it moved to a rock in the tank.


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

my java moss has fused itself into the smoothe plastic of my hob filter.


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## dthb4438 (Nov 12, 2007)

pull it off by hand is much easier than trimming it with a scissors. Not as much mess.


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## Jayh619 (Sep 6, 2016)

You could go for Fissidens (Pheonix moss) or christmas moss.


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