Flame moss questions

if you left the tank COMPLETELY undisturbed for a MONTH
it's possible the moss would attach on it's own and grow.
that means no water changes, water movement or shrimp.
flame moss would make an odd foreground because it does
grow up, but unevenly. a much better foreground would be
Zipper moss, but that would take 4-6 Months to establish.

In general, moss should NOT be grown directly on gravel,
since gravel by nature will become disturbed and the moss
attachment will get compromised, die, and detach the moss.
that's why it's always better to use a rigid base like a mesh.
what you could do is start with a bare bottom tank. scatter
the moss along the bottom then cover the bottom with mesh.
give it a Month for the moss to attach to the mesh. later you
can remove the mesh, put gravel in the tank, then place the
mesh over the gravel. as it grows out and fills in you will no
longer see the mesh, just the moss. another idea would be
to use a coconut coir fiber mat in place of mesh, which would
be superior as it would prevent any moss from attaching to
the glass tank bottom itself.

jrh said:

I'm intrigued by the coconut fiber suggestion. How would this work? I have some coconut fibre bricks I got when I thought I might try my hand at culturing grindal worms.

Click to expand...

basically you cut the brick into thin mats as thin as you can without them falling apart; say 1" thick for example. then line the bottom of your tank with the mat. use airline suction cups punched through the mat where appropriate to help hold it to the tank bottom. add about 3/4" of water, just enough to get everything soaking wet. don't worry, moss grows just fine even when partially immersed. then sprinkle your moss "dust" evenly over the mat, or jam pieces in using a tweezer. give the mat 8 hours of light each day for 2 weeks, and keep re adding water to keep the fiber moist. after 2 weeks the moss will start adhering to the mat, so it's now safe to carefully fill up the tank with standing water. straight from the tap water will too much air in it may bubble on to the moss parts and float them up away from the mat. wait a day or two for things to settle down, then add your shrimp. be aware that coconut will turn gray then start to disintegrate in about 6 Months, but your moss will be interwoven and well established by then. please note that since your tank won't have much going on biologically without gravel, make sure you use a filter that's already biologically alive and established from another tank.