# Fissidens growing *very* slowly



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

It seems that my fissidens moss is growing very very slowly. Here are two pictures, one is taken in August 2012, the second one in Feb 2013.

My tanks specs are:

- standard 20-high (16"x18"x12")
- 2x18W T5HO
- DIY CO2
- dirt substrate, no ferts
- temperature used to be around 20C, until I realized last weekend that my heater was broken. Now the temperature is around 23C.

Is there a way to make it grow faster?


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

ferts might help, the temp could have been a big issue which you have now resolved


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

pyrrolin said:


> ferts might help, the temp could have been a big issue which you have now resolved


Interestingly enough, I've read that fissidens does better at colder temperatures. I'm actually hoping the higher temp doesn't hinder its growth.

As for ferts, I'd rather avoid them. I know the java moss in the same tank grew something like 10x faster than the fissidens. Even the staurogyne repens filled out nicely in a couple of months. Thus, I'm not sure it's a nutrient issue.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

mine seem to be growing in 25C and it does grow slow i have had it for 2-3 weeks i think


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

hrmm,
There might not be enough nutrients for the moss to grow and spread.
In my new 17gal setup, I attached the moss to driftwood using sewing thread and it was flat for a week. After a week, the moss spread above the thread. It is about 3-4 weeks now and I'm seeing new growth on different parts of the driftwood that I didnt attach any moss.

I'll try taking some pictures later tonight and show you. 
Mine grew in 23-25 Degrees temp. The substrate I'm using is netlea shrimp soil.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

the only difference i can see with your setup solarz is that my moss is in a dirt and gravel cap substrate. the sand probably isnt allowing enough nutrients to get through? i know you have had success in your previous tank but if i am not mistaken all your plants were root feeders so that was pretty much okay for them. Though my fissidens grow slow it is growing every day spreading more and more. I think it took one week to assimilate into my tank then 2nd week i started to see new leaves.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

maybe not enough light?
I grow phoenix moss in 3 of my tanks, all of them are bare bottom(recently decided to put gravel because shrimps are not surviving as much without it), no fertz or co2 ever in them. all tanks are 78f ( 25.5c)

20g long - 3x26w CFL
Video of Phoenix moss in 20g long
20g High - 2x24w T5HO
14.5g Japanese Curve Rimless tank - 1x39w T5H0 about over 1 feet above tank.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

coldmantis said:


> maybe not enough light?
> I grow phoenix moss in 3 of my tanks, all of them are bare bottom(recently decided to put gravel because shrimps are not surviving as much without it), no fertz or co2 ever in them. all tanks are 78f ( 25.5c)
> 
> 20g long - 3x26w CFL
> ...


Nice fissidens man!

As you can see in my pic, my fissidens is light green on the tips, but dark green near the base. It looks like your moss is light green throughout. Have you ever seen anything like what I have?


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

solarz said:


> Nice fissidens man!
> 
> As you can see in my pic, my fissidens is light green on the tips, but dark green near the base. It looks like your moss is light green throughout. Have you ever seen anything like what I have?


yes when I had a very super small piece of driftwood that I tied fissidens on and it was in my 45g tall so that 24" high and I only had 4x21 T5NO lights. that tank I dose liquid co2 and fertz 3 times a week. however the fissidens was being shadowed by 2 amazon swords together was 36" wide and each is at least 3-5 feet tall.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

If you ever get to AI and look at one of their display tanks, you'd see they have huge patches of Fissidens, which is darker at the base and lighter green at the tips.. looks fantastic. Whether it is a function of lighting or feeding, it sure does not seem to affect the growth of their Fissidens. It's flourishing.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I just noticed today that there's what seems to be cladophora algae growing amidst the fissidens. Not sure if that's a cause or a consequence of the slow growth...


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

ouch, I hate that algae. Hard to get rid of completely and smells funky, did you ever have riccia? in that tank, riccia likes to attract clado algae.


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