Hi I'm newb. From, Louisiana but now I live in Lacey!

Hey guys!

I'm Billy, and I just got into the aquarium scene. I have a 20L, (tiny 5g) 2x 3g's (360' view or something for my bettas).
My awesome friend Tanya told me about this forum,so I'll be posting on here about my thoughts and such time and time, and I'll probably be browsing for plants to buy from you guys.(anyone wanna sell dwarf hair grass?)
20L's planted with 8 jungle val's in the back, and a DIY moss wall that'll take a bit to grow. I'm using a 24' lighting fixture with 2x t5ho.
running a Fluval Aquaclear 30, and i have a fluval mini co2 (gonna use a 24 oz paintball co2 setup later) btw did u know that the fluval mini can run on 16g threaded's instead of that expensive 20g threaded?
Anyways I'll post pics enjoy, and give me advice please xD. I do plan on scaping and I do have a 40g L ready to work on.

.oO Welcome! Im attempting a moss wall as well. Sometimes plants can't grow fast enough...lol

BillHN wrote:Hey guys!

I'm Billy, and I just got into the aquarium scene. I have a 20L, (tiny 5g) 2x 3g's (360' view or something for my bettas).
My awesome friend Tanya told me about this forum,so I'll be posting on here about my thoughts and such time and time, and I'll probably be browsing for plants to buy from you guys.(anyone wanna sell dwarf hair grass?)
20L's planted with 8 jungle val's in the back, and a DIY moss wall that'll take a bit to grow. I'm using a 24' lighting fixture with 2x t5ho.
running a Fluval Aquaclear 30, and i have a fluval mini co2 (gonna use a 24 oz paintball co2 setup later) btw did u know that the fluval mini can run on 16g threaded's instead of that expensive 20g threaded?
Anyways I'll post pics enjoy, and give me advice please xD. I do plan on scaping and I do have a 40g L ready to work on.

Hi Billy,

Welcome to WA Fishbox; those are some nice looking tanks and invertebrates!

There are a lot of 'plantheads' on this forum, and at the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society (GSAS). You just missed out, I have some dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis 'Belem') that I am swapping with a guy in Texas for some of his plants but I will have more in a few weeks.

BTW, GSAS has their big annual day-long General Auction on Saturday, April 13th and there will be lots and lots of plants; details will be posted to WA Fishbox in the near future.

@Chad ; I heard moss walls will take a bit of time, so I tried 2 different methods for my walls.
On the last picture you see (all the pictures are from the same tank, the 20L btw)
There's a small amount of java moss (jm) in a mesh like cover on the bottom left, the JM was enclosed in Window screener (fiberglass), and the bright green one on the right of the screen has half window screener half cheap plastic mesh (49 cents) from michaels.

I'll keep you posted on growth when I get a chance via PM if you want.

@ Roy,
The GSAS event sounds awesome!
Although I feel so sad not having met you sooner, I would've definitely jumped on the DH.

Thanks guys, I'm still really new to all of this (like I really just started two weeks ago).
All of my progress were thanks to youtube tutorials and online DIY tutorials I found online.

Welcome! That's a nice lookin' tank you have there! I've had a moss wall for a while now, and it has taken me a long time for it to fill out properly. I'd say 3-4 months or so? It's interesting, the first couple of weeks, you'll be excited because you'll see moss poking through the mesh, and then as time goes on, you kinda just. . . forget about it, until the moss wall is like a jungle! LOL

Here are some pictures of my moss wall developing.


This was basically day 1 of my moss wall project, taken on November 13th, 2012


Some decent moss growth starting to take shape, taken on December 21st, 2012


Moss wall is finally complete, after about 3 months since I started the moss wall, taken on January 19th, 2013


And then everything turned into a hot mess! Clipping was done, and now everything has been tamed taken February 23rd, 2013


And now this is the latest picture of the moss wall, after trimming it a bit, along with clipping some of the plants, taken on February 23rd, 2013

Here is a video of the 10 gallon tank, with some side commentary. lol. It also has some pretty neat shots of the inhabitants in the tank.

u could sell the moss clippings for like 10 bucks a golfball portion on ebay.
Otherwise, DAAANGGG that's awesome growth rate. What's your setup.

Oh yeah, I'm getting Xmas Moss and Weeping moss. I can't wait to experiment with those!

WHAT?! $10 for a golfball portion of moss? What the heck... I should be selling this stuff like crazy then!! *GASP*

Although, it might be cheaper since this is just java moss. *shrug* lol. . . .

Christmas Moss and Weeping Moss could look GREAT for a wall, I would think! Definitely not as stringy as java moss

My setup is really simple. I don't use any liquid ferts, no co2.
I do, however use a small layer of Seachem Flourite (1"-2"), and topped it off with a layer of black sand (about 1" or so) and I use root tabs here and there, and a grow light (just one of those "grow light fluorescent tubes you can get from lowes/home depot)

Ammonia and Nitrite levels are always at 0, and nitrates are amazingly low, I almost want to say it's at 0 as well, but I'm sure it's around 5ppm or so. There isn't very much bioload in there because it's mostly a shrimp tank, with some tiny fish here and there.

I also just have a sponge filter in there (it's so tucked away in the back left corner, all you see are the bubbles from the air hose. LOL)

Hope this helps!

Welcome!

Good luck with your moss wall; I had one for a while but it's not exactly a low-maintenance proposition, as PokeSephiroth has already mentioned. It'll look fantastic for a few months, but you have to keep it trimmed or it'll die from the inside out and get super stringy and sparse.

@Poke,
Low Nitrates? That's awesome, I remember reading that usually your moss should take care of the nitrates for you. By the way, did you put your Marimo ball on a flat substrate? I heard that it's suppossed to spread out if you attach it to rocks. And wow I can't believe you don't need Co2 for a tank like that bro.
And yeah 10$ for a condensed golfball size is actually current asking price for some peeps on ebay!
Some guy tried to charge me 22$ for 4 tbsps of java on ebay!

@PB
Yeah, the moss I got were trimmings from a friend of mine in Tenino, I can't wait for it to start growing.

Also, I am going to mess around with a 5 gallon tank, using flourite, co2, and a sponge filter.
But I don't know whether the home depot 60w plant grow bulb would be too much.

Btw, I read your signature, do you have any extra trimmings you may wanna give away?
And I saw the blue bees yellows and velvets on the sig too, can I see a picture? your setup sounds awesome.

WOW. $22 for 4 tbsps of java moss, that's insane! I wonder if aquabid charges cheaper... that's crazy! I'm pretty sure all the plants in there are sucking up all the nitrates as fertilizer, and because there aren't many inhabitants in there that have a huge bioload, the nitrate levels are already low to begin with. At least, that's how I imagine it. Hence the lack of co2 and other ferts...although, I could be wrong LOL!

As for the Marimo Ball, I just kept the marimo ball as is, I used to have it free floating, but now it just sits in that one spot, and the shrimp come up to graze on it

I've thought about breaking the ball open, so that I can lay it out flat, like grass or something, but decided against it. Figured that the spherical shape adds to the "centerpiece" so to speak. I just rotate it once in a while, so that the underside also gets light, and also to help retain its round shape.

pbmax is the one who got me started with my 10 gallon shrimp tank, I bought some shrimp, dwarf cajuns, heterendria formosa, and plants from him, really great stuff from him!

I shoved my marimo into the driftwood xD

LOL!! yes, I noticed that, it's pretty stuck in there, from the pictures! Really neat, seeing it just hanging out on the piece of driftwood =P

BillHN wrote:
@PB
Yeah, the moss I got were trimmings from a friend of mine in Tenino, I can't wait for it to start growing.

Also, I am going to mess around with a 5 gallon tank, using flourite, co2, and a sponge filter.
But I don't know whether the home depot 60w plant grow bulb would be too much.

Btw, I read your signature, do you have any extra trimmings you may wanna give away?
And I saw the blue bees yellows and velvets on the sig too, can I see a picture? your setup sounds awesome.

I posted a bunch of photos of my blue velvets here:

https://wafishbox.forumotion.com/t6697-berried-blue-velvet

I don't have any recent ones of my yellows and none of my blue-bees. The lighting over that tank is terrible and the substrate doesn't bring their colors out. I may change this in the forseeable future, but it'll be a while.

6500K spiral CFLs bulbs with decent reflectors work really well on smaller tanks. Lowes sells 13w and 20+W sylvania CFLs that I use in both single finnex fixutres and dual-bulb perfecto 10g hood fixtures (I toss the hood and keep the light enclosure over glass covers).

I don't have many trimmings at the moment; I did a big purge of my tanks recently so they're all lying in a heap in the back yard. The only extras I have on a regular basis are floating plants and I notice you have some of those already. From Tanya maybe?

Christmas moss is the type im attempting to grow on a wall of plastic mesh. Just started it a couple weeks ago.

Thanks for sharing the photos PokeS- Im so jealous right now...

pbmax wrote:

BillHN wrote:
@PB
Yeah, the moss I got were trimmings from a friend of mine in Tenino, I can't wait for it to start growing.

Also, I am going to mess around with a 5 gallon tank, using flourite, co2, and a sponge filter.
But I don't know whether the home depot 60w plant grow bulb would be too much.

Btw, I read your signature, do you have any extra trimmings you may wanna give away?
And I saw the blue bees yellows and velvets on the sig too, can I see a picture? your setup sounds awesome.

I posted a bunch of photos of my blue velvets here:

http://www.wafishbox.com/t6697-berried-blue-velvet

I don't have any recent ones of my yellows and none of my blue-bees. The lighting over that tank is terrible and the substrate doesn't bring their colors out. I may change this in the forseeable future, but it'll be a while.

6500K spiral CFLs bulbs with decent reflectors work really well on smaller tanks. Lowes sells 13w and 20+W sylvania CFLs that I use in both single finnex fixutres and dual-bulb perfecto 10g hood fixtures (I toss the hood and keep the light enclosure over glass covers).

I don't have many trimmings at the moment; I did a big purge of my tanks recently so they're all lying in a heap in the back yard. The only extras I have on a regular basis are floating plants and I notice you have some of those already. From Tanya maybe?

Yes from Tanya! She's awesome!!!!! She was the one who hooked me up with my RCS, and a Fiery, as well as all my guppies and mystery snails (and a lot of the java and frogbit and water lettuce).
She just got some blue's btw and she'll be getting her yellow's in soon too!
I'm gonna grow some xmas to bring to her sometime, and some subs.

theChad, I'll be the jealous one once your Christmas Moss Wall starts filling in! =P

welcome aboard. nice tank

BillHN wrote:
Yes from Tanya! She's awesome!!!!! She was the one who hooked me up with my RCS, and a Fiery, as well as all my guppies and mystery snails (and a lot of the java and frogbit and water lettuce).
She just got some blue's btw and she'll be getting her yellow's in soon too!
I'm gonna grow some xmas to bring to her sometime, and some subs.

It's good to see my RCS, frogbit, and water lettuce making the rounds! I'm glad they're doing well for you.

pbmax wrote:

BillHN wrote:
Yes from Tanya! She's awesome!!!!! She was the one who hooked me up with my RCS, and a Fiery, as well as all my guppies and mystery snails (and a lot of the java and frogbit and water lettuce).
She just got some blue's btw and she'll be getting her yellow's in soon too!
I'm gonna grow some xmas to bring to her sometime, and some subs.

It's good to see my RCS, frogbit, and water lettuce making the rounds! I'm glad they're doing well for you.

She told me some funny stories about the shrimp when she first started raising them xD
Right now about 3 of the RCS are pregnant, and she's got about 2 tanks full of babies!

I always wanted to know who she got the shrimps from!
And she has a huge tub full of frogbit and water lettuce right now too.

pbmax, seriously, your water lettuce and frogbit are just... taking over the wafishboard, one user at a time! ;-)

It's only a matter of time before Lars On starts giving her water lettuce and frogbit to other people haha!

how many people has he sold that stuff to? xD cause Tanya had a load of them!

you should see the pile in my back yard...