# Getting back into the game with some OLD java moss



## CVK 81 (Jul 5, 2013)

Nice start. You may want to using fertilizer. A little flourish couple times a week and a root tab under the sword would go a long way in helping revive it. With good lighting, the moss should come back on its own. I'm interested in the led you picked up from lowes, do you have any more info? Thanks and good luck with your new tank.


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## zachofalltrades (Apr 10, 2009)

Lowe's Par38 Daylight 15w LED

I was mistaken it's 5k instead of 5500k. It has a plastic lens on it when I bought it, which I removed revealing the type of led it has. It looks like a grid of diodes made into a little button sized array. Can't tell in the photo but it makes a pretty nice water rippling effect since the light comes from one focal point, but the high corners of the tank don't get much light. We'll see what I have to do when things grow out. Currently it sits on top of a glass top that I removed the plastic hinge from.

Thanks for the feedback!


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## ForensicFish (May 19, 2013)

Swords are slow growers.

Make sure the rhizome of your java fern is not buried in the substrate. If it is and not removed, it will rot and die. They need to be tied to wood or rocks.


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## zachofalltrades (Apr 10, 2009)

Just updating the thread a little since I dug out my old (decent) camera so I figured I'd add some pics that aren't cell phone pics. The guppies also had fry so I figured that was worth an update as well.










and I also took a video and put it on youtube to show the shimmering effect of the light in case anybody wanted to see:

http://youtu.be/sPO2J0S7okw

I also realize that my aquascaping is very haphazard right now, and no that is not my best effort  just playing around right now and when I figure out which plants do well I'll start coming up with a better idea from there. The Java moss is doing a lot better, I can see new growth all over it. The java moss is the hardest one to figure out what to do with it in a tank this size. They can be detritus traps so I don't think I want to do a carpet with it... and it's a pretty small tank to fit some driftwood trees into but I've always loved the way that looked.


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## zachofalltrades (Apr 10, 2009)

ForensicFish said:


> Swords are slow growers.
> 
> Make sure the rhizome of your java fern is not buried in the substrate. If it is and not removed, it will rot and die. They need to be tied to wood or rocks.


I did see that after you posted it but my brain didn't process that correctly and I thought you were talking about the Java MOSS. So I wanted to say thanks! Gonna pic up some drift wood soon and will fix that.


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## Imaginary1226 (Jul 27, 2010)

It also helps with java moss to rip it up to help it grow faster. I have noticed if it is near wood it eventually attaches to it.


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