SirBuce's Yellow Moss Tank (20L)

[SirBuce]

Hi folks hope all is well there

So indeed MTS is real aha - this is my third tank and it will be the last tank for awhile...(famous last words ha).

This one should be my first 'proper' Aquascape tank (after experiments from My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Tank (30L) and My Turtle Vivarium with Buce (98L)) -
regrettably this tank actually didn't go exactly as I planned (the pot stem plants actually sit in the temporary tank for nearly 2 weeks before I planted them) - but I think everything turns out ok now

Why "Yellow Moss"?
Well because I am supposed to stock it with yellow neo shrimps but the LFS has been out of stock (people immediately bought them all in Jan/early Feb before I could put down my order lol) -
and the Moss lava rock actually comes from my dry start experiment back in end of Sep2022 (so it is technically 5months old now).

As usual, summary/specs of the tank are outlined below with some related side stories, and then I have a progression/timeline table with photos; and then a personal remark at the end.

(Photo on 12Feb23)

Tank Name Yellow Moss (Dennerle 20L) started 17/1/2023

L*W*H 25*25*30cm Filter TRU PVC Nano Canister Filter (M) Spoiler: Mini Filter close-up Diameter 11cm x Height 17cm Heater NICREW Mini 50W (at 25C) Lightning Chihiros C301 Soil Dennerle Scaper's Soil 1-4mm

The overall scape: I admire Iwagumi style scape so much, I am kind of minimalist (obsessed with nano tank) while most importantly to me everything has to be practical - so this is the idea I came up with back in Sep2022: do a dry start method (DSM) to grow moss on a hardscape material (dragon stone, lava rock, river rock, coconut shell etc) and make that Moss rock as my centerpiece, with some stem plants behind, done lol. I was thinking to not use an internal filter this time around - by chance I managed to get this interesting mini canister filter - the filter/media was cycling for nearly 2 months from my temporary tank before I switched it to this tank. Light is on 8hours 70% brightness: 10am-2pm, 4pm-8pm

Plants list

1 Hydrocotyle tripartita 2 Marsilea Hirsuta 3 Rotala indica 'Bonsai' 4 Rotala rotundifolia 'H'ra'/'Orange Juice' 5 Ludwigia sp. 'Super Mini Red' 6 Taxiphyllum alternans ('Taiwan' moss) 7 Riccardia chamedryfolia (Minia Pelia) 8 Taxiphyllum sp. ‘Peacock’ 9 Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping'

The overall planting setup: Hydrocotyle 'Japan' and MarsileaH as foreground/'carpet', and the stem plants as mid/background - I imagined when they all grow tall it would look awesome. The mosses I used on the dry start rocks are: 80% Taiwan Moss, 15% of Pelia and Peacock moss, and 5% of Weeping (I blended them and let them stay in dechlorinated water overnight with some shrimp food BacterAE powder, and brush them onto the rock next day).

Animals & Added Date

Endler/Guppy x4 27/01/2023 Yellow Neos x10 (TBC) Chili Rasbora x8 (TBC)

I would also like to get some chili rasboras (I tested the tank 12Feb23 Ammonia0/Nitrite0/Nitrate5/pH6.2/KH0/GH6/TDS135, I understand that it is highly beneficial to wait for more maturity of tank for them) - I actually just might try out for a few Caridina shrimps too aha. Endler/Guppy: For anyone who follows My Turtle Vivarium with Buce (98L), (very likely) Notty ended up having 2 more of his friends (1 endler/guppy and 1 firetail are gone...) so ya I moved the remaining guppies to this new tank :'(

Progression/Timelines with photos:

DSM: The first 8-10 weeks are just slowwww - but once they established they actually grow rather fast - especially when given proper lightning. I tried to mist at least once a day and let them air for 30mins a day if possible. And so Lava rock is the winner. 25Sep2022 started: Nov2022: Early Dec2022 -> Early Jan2023:

22Jan2023: I actually don't have any pictures when first setting up the tank on 17Jan2022 (it is rather basic this time around), so ya this is like 1 week after that.

9/11Feb2023: Glad the plants settling in well and started to see growth - indeed I chose all fast growing plants aha.

Personal remark:
Overall a rather young tank that I am loving it already.

I chose just aquasoil this time around as the colour already looks good (no need for cosmetic sand) - and I quite like how it turns out now ha. I can't wait for the stem plants to grow taller!

Also can't wait when I added yellow neos - their colour will pop for sure. Will update more later.

As always, any comment is welcome And yes all these have been so much (and I have learnt so much ha). Thanks for reading!

 

[hydrophyte]

Lovely setup.

I really like that dry-start method moss on rocks. I don't think I've seen it done like that before.

 

[SirBuce]

cheers @hydrophyte ha Glad you like the dry start rocks, below are the latest pics of them (from yesterday) ha

If I would start over again I would go straight with Leptodictyum riparium moss - my choice of mosses (mainly Taiwan moss) are just too slow - and honestly the looks of all these mosses look rather similar (and I am not too picky on the looks really). If I look really closely I could see some Minia Pelia and Peacock mosses on some small areas of the stones (particularly I saw them on the lava rock in tank).

I actually don't have a tank to utilize these rocks (and the ONF light ha) so I just leave them there for the time being lol (maybe I will sell them at local hobby community).

 

[hydrophyte]

Really nice moss growth on those rocks. So are they just covered to maintain humidity, or do you mist them as well?

This looks like a great method. You got such even, dense growth.

 

[SirBuce]

Really nice moss growth on those rocks. So are they just covered to maintain humidity, or do you mist them as well?

This looks like a great method. You got such even, dense growth.

Yes indeed the cover is for maintaining humidity - I think this is a must for the first 6-8 weeks - as they actually look dry if I didn't mist them 2-3 times a day.

After 3 months I mist them like once a day - I do wonder if I don't need the cover on anymore, I think at this point they grow emersedly and the free flow CO2 benefits them greatly. Some days I forget to close the air holes thingy of the cover ha.

I always use dechlorinated water to mist them, I used drop a few fert in it just for good measure - nowadays I just use water from my tanks ha.

I am really glad to see them grow rather dense there as you mentioned - it is an experiment after all ha. I think everyone in the hobby should do it, just for the fun lol. The setup is easy and it will come in handy to use these moss rocks ha.

 

[hydrophyte]

Yes indeed the cover is for maintaining humidity - I think this is a must for the first 6-8 weeks - as they actually look dry if I didn't mist them 2-3 times a day.

After 3 months I mist them like once a day - I do wonder if I don't need the cover on anymore, I think at this point they grow emersedly and the free flow CO2 benefits them greatly. Some days I forget to close the air holes thingy of the cover ha.

I always use dechlorinated water to mist them, I used drop a few fert in it just for good measure - nowadays I just use water from my tanks ha.

I am really glad to see them grow rather dense there as you mentioned - it is an experiment after all ha. I think everyone in the hobby should do it, just for the fun lol. The setup is easy and it will come in handy to use these moss rocks ha.

Really nice.

I'm picturing in my mind a setup in a broad & shallow tank, but with moss-covered stones like those suspended above the water surface and with a simple rounded stone layout and no plants as the underwater scape.

 

[Hufsa]

Lovely thread, and im gonna come back to check the details on your moss method again in the future, I wanna try it myself A lot of mosses attach better to hardscape when grown emersed, and I reckon they will continue to be attached after submersion as long as they get maintained short enough If they do then it would be a great way to attach moss to hardscape with moss types that normally attach very poorly under water.

 

[SirBuce]

Hi @Hufsa sure thing any questions I could help with let me know

Yes, I think what you said there makes sense - because I am highly aware of Weeping moss's bad reputation of attaching on hardscape, and I also can't find much info on Taiwan moss attaching hardscape online. I simply used what I have on hands at the time/available at LFS. Overall they all attach well to the rocks - and I think the type of rock is more important (from my experiment aha).

Lava rock is THE king, makes sense because it is so porous.
Coconut shell, dragon stone are ok;
river stone, seiryu stone are just poor (I actually gave up and scrub a small piece of seiryu clean as the growth was so bad).

For the mosses, I would just get whatever biggest portion with best price available, as you really need a good big portion to start (or you could wait for months like I did ha). To me I would say that Taxiphyllum (Taiwan moss, peacock, spiky, java) and Vesicularia mosses really look pretty much the same. Riccardia 'moss' (I only tried the Minia Pelia ie Coral Moss) is so cool and unique but indeed their growth rate is slow. I am truly amazed by my latest Leptodictyum riparium moss - this moss grows fasttt and rather carpet-y so I love it.

 

[Ady34]

I actually don't have a tank to utilize these rocks (and the ONF light ha) so I just leave them there for the time being lol

nothing better than a mossy rock, just enjoy them as they are 😃💚

 

[Hanuman]

You should try with fissiden. Will look amazing.

 

[SirBuce]

nothing better than a mossy rock, just enjoy them as they are 😃💚

Thanks really because indeed the mossy rocks look good lol, I am treating them as 'house plants' for awhile now, maybe I will get a terrarium/transparent pot to house them ha.

You should try with fissiden. Will look amazing.

I did look it up - fissiden is beautiful and is actually damn rare around here. I just might try it out when I have CO2, I heard that it is better submerge or semi-submerge for it?

 

[SirBuce]

Update (just about a month):

• I am quite happy with the overall growth, I actually cant wait to trim them - I will wait they grow a little taller.
• Actually I barely see any growth from the Marsilea - as I suspected this plant needs CO2...I will trim and replant the Hydrocotyle 'Japan' to cover as the foreground 'carpet' i guess...
• I fert with 2mL TSN + 2mL TPN (2 days per week), so far so good
• I have a total of 7 of these dressy Endler/Guppy mix now, god damn they are beautiful. I am still waiting for Yellow neos + chili rasbora - long term planning wise, I might move them to a new 30L that will replace my RC tank sooner or later My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Tank (30L))
• I have some ramshorn in the tank for awhile - the inlet actually serves as a kind of population control, snails get killed if they are greedy for the algea at the inlet....

Photos on 24Jan23 vs 11Feb23 vs 23Feb23

 

[SirBuce]

Life has been so busy in the past few months - my aquascaping journey has been quite eventful aha, I will have some updates to make for my tanks
(well...I lost the draft I typed out last week so ye some delays since then...)

Updates:

• "Yellow" part of the tank is finally completed: I finally got 10 Yellow Neos to complete the tank (as I originally intended) early April aha. Funny thing is that we actually now have some Caridina Crystal Black (we call them 'Panda') while we were waiting for the yellow Neos...and ya they are doing fine sharing the same tank with the Neos. I see there is a yellow neo mama shrimp so shrimplets soonnn (but no panda is pregnant yet ).
• I moved the Guppies to our RC Jungle tank (My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Tank (30L) ; and yup I am naming it 'Jungle' now ha, will do updates for the tank shortly) but instead I have gotten 8 beautiful magnificent tiny fishes CPD/Galaxy Rasbora. I have given up to get Chili Rasbora (as I originally intended) at this stage as it is just impossible to get it here in Dublin since beginning of the year...
• The situation of Moss: When I trimmed the tank early April I didn't really touch the central piece of the tank ('Moss stone') and...you guess it...my biggest regret (lesson) and also the funniest moment when the main/top part of the Moss detached from the stone lol (like a toupee that fell off lmao). It happened when I was cleaning the glasses and my tweezer pulled it up unintentionally over a couple of maintenance sessions. I mean, I have the pictures for the tank at its best but ya it is now forever ruined looked very different to what I envisioned ahaha

Some pictures below for the updates:

21Mar23 vs 07Apr23 (before vs after trimming)

Yellow Neos (finally):


19Apr23 & 24Apr23 (barely seeing the shrimps...):

6May23 - last time I saw our hairy Moss stone
(I will take a picture of its current state tomorrow lol, I just realized that I didn't take a single pic since the toupee incident aha...)

and also actually the missus captured some nice moments of the tank and compiled them into a video

Spoiler: Extra: Insta link of the tank's habitants

Overall, ya it is a fun setup but I think 20L is truly a shrimp only tank (2 CPD passed away likely due to stress or just bad luck ), but even then due to the setup, we could barely see the beautiful shrimps there are too many hidden space around the Moss stone and after we trimmed/replanted, the tank basically became 'heavily planted' so even more hiding space for the shrimps lol (cries and laughs). Since it is a stable tank for Caridinas so I will keep it running for awhile until I came up with a new plan...

 

[SirBuce]

As promised so ya the tank lost its toupee ahaha - at this stage the Hydrocotyle tripartita will likely to climb/grow up the stone much sooner than the moss. And I put the detached moss to my other tanks for different purposes.

Pictures taken today 26May23:

Officially it is a breeding tank for 2 CPDs I left in it (I moved the rest to the RC Jungle ha) - come on make some babiesss

And also yes I forgot there was a nice video on the shrimps (Panda) back in mid March:
(the Insta is really just for fun since missus is always keen on doing photos - so ya unlimited materials for her ha)

Spoiler: Insta link vid inside

 

[SirBuce]

And ohya I forgot to update for the rest of the mossy stones - I have used 2 of them in my new scape (incoming new scape write up ha), 1 for this experimental terrarium, and the rest I will keep them as they are for now.

These babies started since 25Sep22:

And then ya experimental terrarium:
ONF light yes when it was on 50% discount ha - and then I gathered the rest of the soil and Fittonia from my local garden shop.
I actually used lava rock pieces and pour water from other tank + gunk water from filter as foundation of the substrate.
Will see how well the moss grows in this condition - this is more like a learning project.