# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk > Aquatic Moss Club >  Advice on growing Christmas moss

## fishchemist

I had gotten some Christmas moss some time ago and recently bought some erect moss. I placed the moss in plastic mesh hoping to achieve a moss wall(just like that of Mr Loh). However, it has been about 3 weeks and no growth observed. I tied some to a piece of log wood. I noticed that their tiny leaves disappeared slowly and some had already lost all their leaves and turned black . 

The specs of my tank are as follow: 
* temp 25-26 celsius - Hailea 380 chiller 
* pH about 6.6 - 6.8 
* lights 4x36w FL lights 
* Chemical additives - Use the fertilizers and water conditioner from Bioplast. Started using Bioplast about 3 weeks ago. I was using Sera products to condition water and Dennerle P7, E15, V30 to fertilizer plant. 

All other plants like hair grass, riccia, balansea....are doing fine. except for my precious moss. 

Any advice? 

Thanks in advance. 

Simon Foo

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## Green Baron

I think Xmas Moss takes a longer period to establish and grow than the other mosses. My 'Taiwan' &amp; Erect Moss grow faster than Xmas Moss.

Do you have SAE in your tank ? If you have try taking them out.

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## tcy81

well look like perfectly normal setup .....
moss shld be doing well ......

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## lorba

when you say doing fine, how fine do you mean?

What is your tank size and are you injecting CO2? if so, what is the level? measure your ph and kh to find out how much you have in the water (the calculator). A good level is 20 - 30 ppm.

Do you have many yamato or other shrimps? Have you notice light greenish tips on the fronds, or are all black and dying? Where did u place them?

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## fishchemist

I am injecting CO2. I use the JBL PH cum CO2 level test kit and it measures at between 6.6 to 6.8 region. My KH is maintain at about 2 to 3, but I increase the KH whenever it reaches 2 using the Sera product-powdered form. However, I have not calculated the concentration of dissolved CO2. Will do it when I reach home tonight.

I do have the usual algae eaters - 4 SAEs, 6 Octo, 20+ Yamatos.

I noticed that those placed directly under the light die off the fastest. while those inside the mesh at the side though not growing out are still surviving. I think strong light is not suitable for moss, contary to advises by some bros in the forum. Please correct me if wrong. 

The riccia is growing real fast and IMO the bright green look and many O2 bubbles makes me think that they are doing good. Likewise for the hair grass are spreading like wild fire. Again, please correct me if my assumptions are not correct. Any comments are appreciated.

Also thanks for the three comments so far and keep them coming. Determined to master the art of growing moss!

Cheers

[quote:ce0e3b0d01="lorba"]when you say doing fine, how fine do you mean?

What is your tank size and are you injecting CO2? if so, what is the level? measure your ph and kh to find out how much you have in the water (the calculator). A good level is 20 - 30 ppm.

Do you have many yamato or other shrimps? Have you notice light greenish tips on the fronds, or are all black and dying? Where did u place them?[/quote:ce0e3b0d01]

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## ckll

My personal experience with xmas moss is that they prefer lower temp and under shade. I used to keep them in a 1ft tank with no CO2, and light source came from the 2ft tank next to it, the moss thrived and sent out lots of fronds.

When I transferred some to my big tank, the heat and lights killed some off. Only those under shade was spared, but didnt do very well. Only when I added a DC fan to cool the water, it started to bush up. BTW, this tank has injected CO2.

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## theodore

The xmas moss i used to keep strived in high-light (4.5WPG) and double in mass every few weeks. The only problem I had is that thread algae will overwhelm in the moss rapidly whenever my macros are out-of-whack.

In low-light (1.5W) conditions, the growth rate is considerably slower.

And also, they don't seem to tolerate higher temperatures (> 28C) that well and usually prefer areas with water good circulation.

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## victri

When you mention the leaves disappearing, immediate suspects are your SAE and Yamatos. Do you observe new growth (light green tips) on your moss? Do you see your fish/shrimp nibbling on the new growth such that only the stalks are left? I have some growing under direct 3wpg and doing fine. Also, how thick was the moss you attached to the wood? You only need a thin layer, and it's not necessary to tie too tight.

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## fishchemist

I do observe the SAEs and Yamato nibbling on the moss but many bros shared that if the moss is growing well, that would not be an issue as the growth will out do the small amount these fellows take in. I had seen moss thriving in tanks with lots of these algae eaters. 

I also observe that the yamatos also penetrate into the mesh and nibble on the moss, but yet most leaves remains. Thats why I suspect that moss do better with low light. But than again many bros have proven that moss do well with bright light. 

But still thanks for contributing for views.

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