# Moss Growing Setup



## jhays79 (Mar 28, 2012)

That's pretty cool! Since you live in Florida, couldn't you do this setup outside somewhere, as long as their was a plug to plug the airpump in?


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

Yea more than likely you could although it does get down to the 40s which I'm sure isn't all that great for the moss. I do know people down here worth similar setups for fish breeding in their garage.

If it wasn't for all those tricky apartment complex rules I'd be in business 

If this pans out I've got another idea brewing similar to this but on a bit larger scale


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## GreenBliss (Mar 7, 2012)

This is very cool. Subscribing.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

GreenBliss said:


> This is very cool. Subscribing.


Thanks! I will be actually moving more mosses here this week, I'll have some better organization then too :icon_cool


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

So I did some organizational work tonight....

I have a few more things that I am going to be adding for the experimentation here most of which will be on 2x2 mesh (just to keep things organized) although some I will leave out free floating to see how that works 









Mystery Moss | Mixed Moss | 2 x Weeping Moss 2x2, 1 x Xmas Moss 2x2 | Xmas Moss

Mystery Moss - We're getting closer to identification but I will see if it continues to blow up it's already greened up a lot today

Mixed Moss - Combination of Xmas, Java, Weeping, Mystery, Fissidens ... if it's a moss I have a small piece of it has to be in there

Other mosses are self explanitory  

Currently swapping out water daily once at the height of my CO2/Photoperiod in my 55 Gallon which is also ferted.

I will probably have one more update later this week then we will let it sit for a while to see what happens


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## jimmytruong87 (Oct 16, 2012)

You should tie them on driftwood, it can help them grow faster


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## RobMc (Oct 16, 2012)

Cool - interested to see what kind of growth rate you get.


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

wow...really interesting Keep us posted


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Nice setup!


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

jimmytruong87 said:


> You should tie them on driftwood, it can help them grow faster


Thanks for the tip! I've got some cholla soaking and more ss mesh on the way (thanks h4n)

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'll have one or two more shots later this week and then we play the wait game :fish:


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

OK so Final testing setup and then it'll be no pictures for a while 

Final Setup of the mosses is below under the first picture.

Future Ideas (prolly soon):
*Add one more desk lamp (I just thinking the way the lights are angled, etc... one more light may be better)
*Making plans for a more larger scale setup if this works well

Here's the total overall shot:

Mystery Moss | Subwassertang | 2x Weeping Moss 2x2, 2 x Fissidens, 1x Flame Moss 2x2 | 2x 2x2 xmas moss, 1x cholla xmas, free floating

Mystery Moss: I will figure out what it is when it fills out it seems a bit under lighted


Subwassertang - Doing free floating for now I will eventually figure out stuff to tie it to -- maybe


Weeping Moss (Top), Fissidens (Middle), Flame Moss (Bottom) Note how you can pick up the dark corner from being in between the two lights (far outside)


2x2 Xmas Moss (Top). Free Floating (Middle Right), Cholla (Bottom Left), Rock holding other cholla down


Thanks for stopping by! This will be the last update for at least a week maybe a few wanna let it settle...unless of course I get some explosive growth


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

I would like to see how this goes my moss is in the window with water from one of my tanks the other declorinated water from the sink no air stone hook up tho seems like a good idea.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

I have one update for now:










Xmas moss has been doing well and I wanted to get a shot before I packed up and shipped a few out of here (I need to make room as you can see the moss has been growing pretty well  )


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

drewsuf82 said:


> OK so Final testing setup and then it'll be no pictures for a while
> 
> Final Setup of the mosses is below under the first picture.
> 
> ...



Did u use any ferts or do water changes


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

newbie - yes to both -- The water comes from my 55G planted tank which has CO2 and is ferted following the Flourish guide.

I do the changes daily at the height of the CO2/Photo period I've found doing it this way I can micro manage them and take care of any issues such as snails or any browning (which hasn't happened) as they happen.

The Xmas moss has been doing great so far! Here's a close up shot of a handful that I have which will be going down on some cholla and some more mesh soon


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

drewsuf82 said:


> newbie - yes to both -- The water comes from my 55G planted tank which has CO2 and is ferted following the Flourish guide.
> 
> I do the changes daily at the height of the CO2/Photo period I've found doing it this way I can micro manage them and take care of any issues such as snails or any browning (which hasn't happened) as they happen.
> 
> The Xmas moss has been doing great so far! Here's a close up shot of a handful that I have which will be going down on some cholla and some more mesh soon


What's the height of CO2 / photo period? An what watt bulb also what's the out put on the bulbs 5000k or 6500k ? Thanks for the info BTW. I'm havin soo much trouble with my moss so I hope this setup helps.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

THe height of the CO2 period in my tank is when my indicator shows green letting me know that my co2 levels are good (and I usually see some pearling going on)

Photoperiod - the time the lights are on the photo period in this setup is 8 hours (same as my 55 gallon tank)

The bulbs are CFL 13 watt GE Daylight bulbs I got them at walmart and for the life of me now I can't find the box to give you the K rating, I believe they are either 5500K or 6000K and they are approx 4-6 inches from the moss (depending on where they are in the tub)


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

drewsuf82 said:


> THe height of the CO2 period in my tank is when my indicator shows green letting me know that my co2 levels are good (and I usually see some pearling going on)
> 
> Photoperiod - the time the lights are on the photo period in this setup is 8 hours (same as my 55 gallon tank)
> 
> The bulbs are CFL 13 watt GE Daylight bulbs I got them at walmart and for the life of me now I can't find the box to give you the K rating, I believe they are either 5500K or 6000K and they are approx 4-6 inches from the moss (depending on where they are in the tub)


I saw the bulbs they are 5000k but the store near me sells 6500k CFL bulbs I got 2 of them. I think the CO2 is playing a big factor in helping your moss grow plus the ferts I'm gonna wait till I put CO2 on my tank then ill try this but thanks for the info?


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## JoeandCarrie (Oct 26, 2012)

I didn't think that any of the listed mosses required co2. Am I wrong in that? I would like to try this to accumulate enough moss for a 40b project. The mosses are soo expensive. Looks like a nice simple grow out system though.

Anyone else tried with no co2 but same setup?

How's the progress op?


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

I actually don't have any injected co2 in this setup. The airlines are for airstones to provide circulation of the water at night

I've changed the water change out schedule to every 2-3 days and I'm still getting ok growth with it...

You can do this setup completely without CO2 I just use the water from my big tank to help bump it along


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## PeterN1986 (Jun 15, 2011)

I dry-started the java moss in my Mini-M for several weeks and it just exploded in growth. After I flooded the tank, it still grows a lot. My tank is non-CO2. I think you will see better and more efficient growth dry-starting your mosses.


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## JoeandCarrie (Oct 26, 2012)

Thanks for the info, checked out that Mini M also, will have to read more on the dry start thing. Really nice looking Java growth.

-Joe


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

PeterN1986 said:


> I dry-started the java moss in my Mini-M for several weeks and it just exploded in growth. After I flooded the tank, it still grows a lot. My tank is non-CO2. I think you will see better and more efficient growth dry-starting your mosses.


Interesting...I wonder if I should be taking a more "less water" approach to this setup


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

I know it's been awhile, but any updates? I bet you outgrew this setup pretty quickly...


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## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

Yeah this is fascinating. Any updates? I want to see those tupperwares fullllll of moss


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

I actually fell ill for a while and well a lot of them went down hill, although I've made a lot of notes on how to improve and continue it, it needs some work before it'll be photo friendly again. Hang in tight, it'll prob be a few weeks


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## Default (Jan 10, 2014)

drewsuf82 said:


> I actually fell ill for a while and well a lot of them went down hill, although I've made a lot of notes on how to improve and continue it, it needs some work before it'll be photo friendly again. Hang in tight, it'll prob be a few weeks


Def. do a emersed setup the next time around, no worries, no algae, nothing!
I've grown almost every type of moss emersed and have had no issues immersing them afterwards.
Java/spiky/Xmas/taiwan/weeping/flame - explode when emersed, and they get real green and compact.
Fissidens - not so pretty out of water, but grows without worrying about algae, works great on rocks.
Mini pellia - looks great, grows thick and looks just like coral plates.
I've had about 3 moss dedicated tanks, top recommendation! one - two distinguishable species per tank :frown: I also find co2 and high light grows some awesome moss.
This was my old moss tank, all if not most of the species in there saw emersed life.


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## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

This is tight, keep updating plxz


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## creekbottom (Apr 5, 2012)

Default!! Can you explain your setup, or start a thread so as not to hijack this one. I just put some moss in a tupperware container and then thought, I wonder if this will get rid of the algae? How do you make sure it gets ferts? Does it require different lighting out of water, higher, lower?


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## Default (Jan 10, 2014)

creekbottom said:


> Default!! Can you explain your setup, or start a thread so as not to hijack this one. I just put some moss in a tupperware container and then thought, I wonder if this will get rid of the algae? How do you make sure it gets ferts? Does it require different lighting out of water, higher, lower?


I hope I'm not hijacking, but I think experience from all ends can benefit everyone!
For my older emersed setups that had a lot of moss, it was very simple, simple tank, high light, and a small filter to create a waterfall.
But what you could do is just get a extra tank (taller the better) and add some water with a internal filter or pump to generate some humidity. Add rocks, woods, or anything to raise above the water line - and just place the moss on top. Add a cover/food wrap to contain the moisture and you can forget about it for a while!
You can make it fairly high tech, I have a thread labeled 65 emersed and I have moss in there as well, check it out, it utilizes a mister and a waterfall to contain moisture.

Also in regards to ferts, you can spray it with diluted ferts, but really unnecessary, too much will toast it. I'd recommend just spray it once in a while with water and they won't need ferts.


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## Trail_Mix (May 17, 2011)

I agree with others, give the moss something to attach to, and then grow it quasi-emersed, also if you take the strands of moss and rip them into smaller pieces, those will grow into new fronds. Try using a container with some soil (optional) with plenty of fine gravel and/or coarse sand. Leave the water just below the top of the gravel, and make sure the humidity in the air is maxed. Then spread your moss snippets over the gravel/soil mixture, add light, and watch it grow! For quick growth, lots of nutes aren't needed, but plenty of light really seems to speed things up.


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## arktixan (Mar 12, 2010)

This is pretty sweet, cannot wait to see more progress.

Do you have Week to week photos to show growth?

or am I just being blind, and blew right through the process  HAHA!


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

I've now placed this on my defunct list. 

Some issues I ran into personally:


Work/College = No Downtime
Very hard to manage the water quality
Lights seemed to be too intense, with the room that I had algae would literally explode
Growth was slow (however algae had no problem growing)
The wood bookcase made it nearly impossible to experiment with light levels

I did learn a lot with this project, however I now have great ideas to resurrect it when I get into a larger location with more room (I'm thinking that taller shelving would better work with this).

I think that with some slightly larger bins that this would work better (again no room for me to work with it).

I will say that these worked excellently for temporary holding tanks for trimmings from my other tanks while I was waiting for RAOK/Sales threads to be won/sold. 

The bins will be re-used for another project that I'm planning on starting which is more of a set it and forget it setup which I should be able to do and is something that I've wanted to tinker with for a while. 

If anyone wants feel free to take my plans and give them a go and see if you can perfect them a bit, I would be glad if you posted a journal/link here so I can view it and see how you progress and maybe together we can work towards something great. :icon_smil

Thanks again everyone! See you on my next journal coming soon (maybe even over the next two days :wink: )


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## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

If you were to do this set up again which I really hope you do so, try doing moss to wood and just indirect sunlight.

How come you couldn't manage the water quality? With the airstones should be good and not stagnant. Or small water changes?

What algae were you getting? Once moss gets algae, its so hard to eradicate especially the stringy type, without killing it. I feel ya

In reading default 's replies, advice is solid. thumbs up

Bump: Lighting "I believe" (had to put that in), is one of the major keys to get right in growing moss. Even if its not getting any direct light, it won't die and will grow. This goes against default, but lesser light, better adaptation imo. It racks my mind when I see a high light successful moss tank, I'm not understanding it, especially when most of the or all the common mosses out there do not pearl stream. The science is confusing to me in how mosses sex and reproduce but its gotta be different from any stem plant out there.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

I noticed in my other mixed bins where the lights are about 12" above the bin that I had absolutely no algae in there and saw decent but slow growth.

I did try to attach to cholla wood, saw algae in those tanks as well. Nasty green algae as well as hair algae. 

I had the airstones/sponge filters running 24 hours a day

Lights were on a 4 on 4 off 4 on 12 off setup


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