moss rope ladder

[spypet]

over the next few Months, I will be trying new ropes such as
Coir, Sisal and Manila * - which biodegrades the slowest,
in hopes another rope medium will grow my moss even better.
I hope to achieve more even new moss growth distribution
without the interior moss browning and bruising as much.

Ideas that I have delayed working on were; using aluminum
wire to bend rope to keep any shape, and the marimo rope.

In the meantime, I came up with another moss growing idea.
We'll call it a Moss Bundle. I take a bit of my UV protected
1/2" clear mesh, fold it, stuff some moss in, then sew it up.
mount it on your glass with suction cups, or hang it vertical.
remember, it's not rigid, so it can be twisted into any direction,
so I could insert an aluminum wire inside later, to hold a form.

As always, I'll post a progress photo in a few Months on this
and also quantify any benefits of using different rope types.

If anyone has done their own rope moss projects,
I would enjoy it if you post a photo for us to see.

using f.fontanus





using flame moss





* I was advised by a natural rope specialist to avoid;
Cotton, Hemp, Flax rope materials for such a project.

[Madfish]

I have a Fissiden rope statring to grow in. I stated it about a month ago in my low light low tech shrimp tank. I will get some pictures posted on here in the next day or so. Its a great idea that you have and keep up on the great ideas. My shrimp just love you.

[frozenbarb]

Dude spyet lol your are like Moss diy crazy.

The new style is fire. Where could i get that uv clear mesh?

You could as well turn your tank into a moss net

[spypet]

Madfish, a month is not enough time for Fissidens. It took me at least 3 Months for my rope to fill in attractively. Turning the rope around and/or upside down every Month may help even out it's growth.

Frozen, here's an idea I had, but didn't have a chance to try yet. say you have a shrimp only breeding tank. you could lay this netting to horizontally cover most of your tank area about halfway up the tank glass height, held up by nothing more than a dozen airline tubing suction cups. this makes a sort of split level tank, with the bottom shaded bare gravel with shrimp foraging, and the middle layer of netting, peppered with moss as the ideal place for shrimp to get away, munch on algae, and for fry to hide from their parents below.

so instead of a moss wall, think of it as a moss hammock or moss trampoline. the advantage is you get to observe a lot more shrimp behavior without the over crowding, while keeping your moss off the dirty gravel sticking bottom of your tank, and because it's closer to the light, it will probably grow better too. because the gravel will be in shade, you might get to observe more nocturnal shrimp activity while the lights are still on. and don't worry, 1/2" holes are large enough for even a berried adult female to slip through.

this is just an idea I was kicking around, so in case anyone reading this wants to try it, please go for it! just be sure to share your pictures here for all to enjoy. check my signature, as I sell this mesh netting by the square foot, and can include a few feet of clear fishing wire upon request.

[Madfish]

I was thinking of something like that a few months ago. A shelf in the tank would work out great. Its more surface area for the shrimps to go around but I never really thought about using a net for it covered in moss.

[Crystalview]

Interesting!
a shelf or bowl like fissiden might work to breed and protect my German Blue Rams. They love to pic at it also. With small suction cups that might make a neat hammock. I would love a piece of netting

[kunerd]

Just last month I took all my moss in my 29g cherry tank and moved it to my spray bar that is maybe 1/3rd of the way down from the top. Anyway I moved all my moss to it and its been great. All the shrimp now seem to swim up to the moss to play and like you said it looks greener since its closer to the lights.

[spypet]

I finally got some cheap 5/8" Manilla rope from;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...192487648&rd=1
5/8" is much larger than I need, so I unwound the
three main strands to create 3 separate moss ropes.
You can use a hack saw or serrated sheers to cut it.
I then crimped 4cm of aluminum modeling wire to
each end to keep the rope from unwinding further.
This rope should be water logged outside of your
tank for a day, then it will actually sink on it's own.

I'm definitely doing a Subwassentang rope with it,
also F.Fontanus, then maybe stringy or spikey moss.
as usual, it takes a few Months for these projects
to bare photographs, so please be patient. Manilla
is a great plant attaching medium that will take years
to biodegrade, so I can imagine a lot of possibilities.
the ribbing makes it easy to insert moss bits to start.

I may try binding the moss with either cotton thread
or caging it in my 1/2" mesh, that I will remove later
once the moss takes better hold of this rope than nylon.
The idea of all this is to find a rope that moss likes to attach
to, and minimize moss frond bruising and breaking away,
and perhaps encourage the moss to distribute more evenly.
My black nylon rope has worked, but maybe this is better.
over time, I'm not concerned if the rope unwinds further,
I'm more concerned that any exposed parts will become
a magnet for algae, so I'll cover it completely with moss.

[Crystalview]

I saw the manilla rope in my small town ACE but was leary of it being orange and what the dye would do.

[spypet]

mine appears tan as in the tank shots. those blue background close ups were taken without flash in low light, so the orange color is deceptive. I can't speak for all Manilla named rope of course, but most are simply treated with a bit of vegetable based oil during the winding process. other than that, they are natural, and I have not seen any tannins, oil slick, particles, or adverse fish and plant reactions since introducing it to my tank last week. Manilla rope is specifically used at water fronts, cargo netting, and in outdoor decor, so it has centuries of outdoor water and sunlight exposure history under it's lash. obviously if you see Manilla rope that's painted or waxy, I would be suspicious about using that. mine has a dry somewhat prickly texture.

[A Hill]

Alright spypet,

You're crazier than me I believe this is official now

I may try the hammock idea soon because I'll be redoing my 55g but I think there will be a 'gap' where it will have lots of plants taken out but not taken down and redone yet.

Good work!

-Andrew

[spypet]

oh goodie, when you do a hammock, I can mail you my clear 1/2" mesh as
payment for your moss. just PM me the exact length & width you will need.

[A Hill]

Originally Posted by spypet

oh goodie, when you do a hammock, I can mail you my clear 1/2" mesh as
payment for your moss. just PM me the exact length & width you will need.

All right sounds good. It will be somtime around Christmas maybe that monday?

I keep meaning to clean the tank out figure out what is still living, then take that out and get it all redone, but I might get an ADA tank not too sure (probly not though) If I could find the right one for the space I have.

So I'll let you know.

-Andrew

PS, the willow moss come back from the dead yet? The section in my 10g has some really nice new growth. its a VERY slow grower though. I'll probably put the rest of the willow like that in one of the hammock things

[leoslizards]

This is a great thread with a truly awesome original idea! Thanks Spypet!
I still want to see how the shaped ropes come out.

[Crystalview]

Your using f.fontanus in these pics I can't count how many wide the netting is







Ok I have been swearing at the 1/2" mesh netting for weeks now. How many squares wide do you use to sew the moss into it? It looks narrow is it? I am going to use the Subwassentang but I need more so I am on the looking out for some again. Do you have updated photo's of this project yet? Love to see them.