# 20-gallon Experimental Moss Tank



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

*Setup:*

- 20-gallon tank (24x12x16)
- HOB filter
- 36W Power Compact light

The purpose of this tank is for me to play around and test ideas for planted tanks.

The substrate uses a bottom layer of back yard top soil mineralized for 3 weeks. The soil is then covered with a thick (1" at front, 2-3" at the back) layer of "fine sand" that I got from a landscaping center located across the Pacific Mall. The sand was priced at 4.99$ for a huge bag, I've only used 1/4 of it in this tank. Definitely cheaper than LFS sand. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this sand. I've used play sand before in smaller "tanks", and the play sand was a very silty sand. This sand settled much more quickly and did not cloud up the water with every slight disturbance like the play sand did. It also has better color: where the play sand is yellow, this sand is more of a beige color.

The first pic is what the tank looks like immediately after setup. I seeded the tank with a sponge and a mat of java moss from my established tank. I also added a dozen malaysian trumpet snails to keep the sand aerated, since I didn't have any rooting plants yet.

The java moss also had some hitchhiker baby RCS. They survived the initial setup quite well, and in fact grew a lot in one week.

The last 2 pics show the tank as it is right now, one week after setup. On the left side, I glued my java moss mat onto a coconut shell. In the middle is peacock moss (I think), and to the right, not very visible and not growing very well, is some fissidens.

I also have some duckweed and 8 stems of lucky bamboo to help with the silent cycling. I do not plan to do any water testing on this tank at all.


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## DaFishMan (Dec 19, 2006)

I'd say you ended up with a nice moss tank  Should fill with shrimp in no time (and moss too!)

With that powerful light, are you considering diy co2 or are you adding excel ?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

DaFishMan said:


> I'd say you ended up with a nice moss tank  Should fill with shrimp in no time (and moss too!)
> 
> With that powerful light, are you considering diy co2 or are you adding excel ?


I don't think it's all that powerful, only 1.8 wpg, and the light has been in use for at least a year now. I will probably add diy CO2, but first I have to buy and drink a 2L bottle of coke.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Week 2 update:

The moss seems to be growing nicely, and I got a pleasant surprise: the fissidens has new growth sprouting and creeping over the driftwood!


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Week 10 Update:

Taiwan Moss is not growing too well. Java moss is taking of like a weed, as expected. Fissidens is growing, but growing very slowly.

Current inhabitants:
- 4 albino cories
- 4 golden white clouds
- 20 harlequin rasboras


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Just found out that one of my cories died suddenly.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Some updates:

- Added staurogyne repens in the back corner
- the taiwan moss died out
- replaced my light with a 2x18W T5HO
- running DIY CO2
- retied java moss to 2 rocks, java moss is now taking over the tank
- the Fissidens is growing, but very very very slowly

Fauna:
- 11x golden white clouds
- 5x otos
- 2x guppies
- 3x albino cories
- lots of cherry shrimps and trumpet snails


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

perfect shirmp tank xD


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

lovevc said:


> perfect shirmp tank xD


was gonna say the same thing, shrimps would LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE those yummy algae's!


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Some updates:
- got 30 brigittae rasbora from BA, unforunately i can only count 20 after putting them into the tank
- added a crypt bush, which will hopefully serve as refuge for eggs!


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

In the past two months, my water wisteria took off like a weed! Java moss is again threatening to take over, even after a 'purge' that left nothing but a few strands.

This tank is proof that natural sunlight can be beneficial. This tank sits in a very well lighted area, and with the longer days, it is getting 2-3 hours of direct sunlight everyday from late afternoon to sunset.

The direct sunlight is so strong that during those times, my T5HO makes no visible difference in the light level.

So yes, natural sunlight can be great!


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I've always thought so too. Two of my tanks are in a south window, where they get plenty of sun and indirect bright light as well, all day. Winter sun's lower orientation gives me the prettiest rainbows for an hour or so on sunny days.

I've got Vals growing like weeds at the back where they get sun, and difformis, among other things.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Wow, over a year has passed since this tank was first setup! This tank has seen its share of ups and downs. Of the 6 ottos I originally had, only 2 (I think) remains. The stauro is not growing much, and I continue to experience BBA and cladophora, although they are under control.

I've had to write off my fissidens as they just got smothered by the clado. I've also removed most of the java moss as it would just get everywhere. So I guess the title of this thread is misleading: this is no longer a moss tank, lol.

On the positive side, my golden white clouds continue to do great, and I have cherry shrimps taking over the tank. There are also a lot of MTS, but I don't mind it that much. The 3 albino cories are still doing great.

I had almost 50% losses when I first put in the chili rasbora, but the survivors seem to be doing fine, although they seem pretty shy. I've also added a dozen harlequin rasboras, all of whom are doing fine. I was pleasantly surprised: 3 weeks and counting, and not a single loss.

The crypt is doing well, though there are always some BBA on it. The water wisteria is doing great, which is a big plus for me as it is my favorite plant.

Here are the pics:


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

wow, looking good man!


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## 10G (Sep 15, 2013)

Nice pic of the cory, he's just chillin on the floor, haha. No problems here, just a cory chillin on the ground movin my whiskers around.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

10G said:


> Nice pic of the cory, he's just chillin on the floor, haha. No problems here, just a cory chillin on the ground movin my whiskers around.


Well that's what they do best!


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Some more pics.


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## 10G (Sep 15, 2013)

Sweet, thanks for sharing solarz... check out my thread, i posted sum pics of my coryz, was inspired by you haha:

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?p=345231#post345231


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Updates:

- removed most of the stauro, it was growing too scraggly, and I didn't have time to trim it regularly

- added a few bunches of e. tenellus, and waiting for it to carpet

- had to trim the wisteria back twice

- added 20 cardinal tetras and 5 neon tetras


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Updating this thread after almost 6 months.

After experimenting with various plants on the left side, it seems I've finally found something that does well!

I got rid of all the java moss, and the wisteria seem to have slowed down their growth for some reason.


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## JNSN (Nov 4, 2013)

Looks awesome. I'm about to do the same thing to my 15g, no co2/ferts and see how things go.
Any co2 or ferts in here?
How are you fighting the algae?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

JNSN said:


> Looks awesome. I'm about to do the same thing to my 15g, no co2/ferts and see how things go.
> Any co2 or ferts in here?
> How are you fighting the algae?


I just started a DIY co2 a few weeks ago. CO2 has been largely intermittent, with long periods of none and a month or two of DIY, when I can be bothered to do it.

The only ferts I have in there are some jobe plant sticks I used when I was trying to grow a chainsword carpet. It didn't really help, and might have contributed to a BBA outbreak.

The algae I get in this tank are BBA and green spot. BBA mostly grows on the crypt, though the wisteria is getting some as well. At its worst, I had to do heavy pruning to remove the BBA by hand. Thankfully, it now appears to be under control.

I tried introducing one SAE, but it died after a few weeks. I should still have some otos in there (though I never see them), but they don't do anything to the BBA. I used to have cladophora algae, but that seems to have disappeared after several manual removals and the introduction of two amano shrimps.

Green spot algae, the only way to fight it is to manually scrub the glass.


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## TorontoPlantMan (Aug 16, 2013)

solarz said:


> Green spot algae, the only way to fight it is to manually scrub the glass.


GSA is a result of low CO2, low surface agitation, and low phosphates. I had a pretty bad battle with GSA on my glass & some rare plants which I couldn't afford to cut the leaves off. After increasing surface agitation, raising CO2, and doubling the initial amount of phosphates I was dosing, the GSA either completely disappeared or was soft enough for my Otto Cat's to remove.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

TorontoPlantMan said:


> GSA is a result of low CO2, low surface agitation, and low phosphates. I had a pretty bad battle with GSA on my glass & some rare plants which I couldn't afford to cut the leaves off. After increasing surface agitation, raising CO2, and doubling the initial amount of phosphates I was dosing, the GSA either completely disappeared or was soft enough for my Otto Cat's to remove.


Keep in mind that this is a low tech setup, so low CO2 is a given, and I'm not dosing any ferts either.

Surface agitation makes no difference in my experience.


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