Moss wall ideas

[JoeDigiorgio]

Hey guys. I'm looking for a macro that I can purposely have attach to my back glass, or possibly a mesh attached to my back glass.

 

I've done this in the past with java moss in a freshwater aquarium. I tied it to some aquarium safe mesh and attached the mesh to the back glass and after a couple months I had a complete wall of moss. I'm looking for the same affect in my seahorse tank but I don't know what species will grow this way for me.

[VW_TDI_02]

I know this isn't a macro algae but I know you can grow xenia on glass. I can only imagine that eventually it could cover the back glass which would look pretty amazing IMO. Might be able to do the same with green star polyps but I'm not really sure about that one.

[JoeDigiorgio]

Thanks for the reply! I'm trying to use a plant/macro specifically instead of coral because I want the back wall to act as a place for mysis and amphipods to hide out. They won't really populate a Xenia or star polyp wall the same way. This tank probably won't have any coral at all actually.

[Acielot]

Ulva will grow similar to liverwort which is mosslike but you will have to trim it to maintain that appearance.

 

A mesh material would also have to be used because not many macros can attach to glass.

[JoeDigiorgio]

After my original post I had the idea to tie the macro I end up choosing to some black egg crate and just having that stand flush against the back. The back of the tank is painted black already so the egg crate should be invisible or almost invisible.

 

 

Oh and the back wall doesn't get a ton of light so I was thinking maybe either red Titan or something. I know the reds usually don't require as much light. I want something that will attach though, unlike dragons breath.

[BulkRate]

cladophora might work if you're shooting for a turf-like look.

 

Personally I've had dictoya and c. Serultoides hold fast to just about anything. Just make sure you choose a variety you really like the look of if you go with the first.

[JoeDigiorgio]

I already thought of cladophora but I dont think the back wall gets enough light and I'm looking for something with more volume. Dictoya is a real possibility. The other challenge is finding a decent quantity of whatever I pick.

[hey]

dictyota works well, the transparent invasive variety grows outward in mats and attaches to damn near anything, a plastic mesh piece would work great. getting it to start growing on the mesh would be a challenge as I am not sure how you would initially attach it, glue maybe.

[HarryPotter]

Can someone post a picture of what you are talking about? Really curious, and can't find anything on google.

[JoeDigiorgio]

dictyota works well, the transparent invasive variety grows outward in mats and attaches to damn near anything, a plastic mesh piece would work great. getting it to start growing on the mesh would be a challenge as I am not sure how you would initially attach it, glue maybe.

Dictyota was something I used to have in my caribbean biotope but I got rid of everything in there not even thinking I'd want some of it back. It came in as a hitchhiker on some other macro and I really liked it but I don't know where I could get a ton of it. It would be easy to attach initially though with some fishing line.

 

I'm currently thinking red titan will be my most realistic choice for this project. To find a good amount of it seems easier said than done though...

 

 

 

Can someone post a picture of what you are talking about? Really curious, and can't find anything on google.

 

Check out the images here:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=moss+wall+aquarium&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=YopiVajgJMKEsAXsqoOAAQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=768&bih=928

[hey]

my best thought to get fast growth all over would be to scuff up the plastic mesh with some sand paper, then break up some small pieces of the dictyota and sprinkle it into the tank. My understanding of it is that it spreads mostly this way even microscopic pieces of it begin growth. Would probably let you get it started and have a nice wall in a couple months.

 

I have it in my tank btw just not enough that i manually remove regularly to cover a back wall, but a small amount should really take off if spread like that.

[HarryPotter]

Or combine Hey's idea with a few well placed pieces of moss to begin the process!

[JoeDigiorgio]

my best thought to get fast growth all over would be to scuff up the plastic mesh with some sand paper, then break up some small pieces of the dictyota and sprinkle it into the tank. My understanding of it is that it spreads mostly this way even microscopic pieces of it begin growth. Would probably let you get it started and have a nice wall in a couple months.

 

I have it in my tank btw just not enough that i manually remove regularly to cover a back wall, but a small amount should really take off if spread like that.

The problem with doing it this way, and with dictyota in general, is that it doesn't really spread locally like some other macros. It creates relatively small colonies all over the place which kind of defeats the wall idea. Since I don't plan to have anything else in there competing for space aside from the caulerpa prolifera lawn, every surface in the tank would have dictyota and the wall would just be sort of patchy looking.

On the other hand though...it attaches to plastic really really well. It made all my power heads invisible which I actually liked. Hmmm.

[JoeDigiorgio]

This was my old planted tank. This is the look in going for. Thinking Gracilaria mammilaris is the ticket

 

 

 

[vlangel]

I love the idea and will be following to see how it works out. I have a seahorse fuge tank and if it works I might like to try it also!

[JoeDigiorgio]

Just placed a macro order with inland aquatics. Spent about 40 minutes on the phone discussing the pros and cons of a few different species they offered for the idea. Their saltwater sales guy is really knowledgeable I was impressed. I'll try and keep this thread updated as it goes. They should be arriving Wednesday next week.

[phobos2deimos]

Awesome planted tank, Joe. I really miss Java fern and Java moss and all the other wonderful freshwater plants that allowed for some great scapes. Glad to see someone else trying to apply planted tank concepts to macros!

 

I had dictyota for a while, hitchhiked in and I thought it was cool... but it became a pest within months and I'm still struggling to get rid of that stuff. Tank full of macros, caulerpa, etc., and somehow it was *still* a pest.

[JoeDigiorgio]

Awesome planted tank, Joe. I really miss Java fern and Java moss and all the other wonderful freshwater plants that allowed for some great scapes. Glad to see someone else trying to apply planted tank concepts to macros!

 

I had dictyota for a while, hitchhiked in and I thought it was cool... but it became a pest within months and I'm still struggling to get rid of that stuff. Tank full of macros, caulerpa, etc., and somehow it was *still* a pest.

My problem with dictyota was that it liked growing on top of other macros. If it didn't have that habit I wouldn't have minded it s much.

 

I think if more people applied real aquascaping principles to reef keeping there would be a lot more really amazing reef tanks out there and fewer jigsaw puzzle tanks.

[phobos2deimos]

My problem with dictyota was that it liked growing on top of other macros. If it didn't have that habit I wouldn't have minded it s much.

 

I think if more people applied real aquascaping principles to reef keeping there would be a lot more really amazing reef tanks out there and fewer jigsaw puzzle tanks.

Exactly my problem with Dictyota. Latches on to everything, powerheads, caulerpa, rock, just about anything.

 

And I agree, I love see iwagumi and other styles applied to saltwater. It's pretty tough once things (especially corals) start growing since the growth patterns totally conflict with that style.