Lyana Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Hi all, I have a 10 gallon TB tank that I put peacock moss in a couple months ago. I tied it to a rock. The tank has a finnex stringray for lighting and I have matrix and purigen in the filter. A lot of the moss has died and the parts that are still alive haven't grown much. I have other plants in the tank, a sword and Anubis and they are doing good. I thought moss was supposed to be easy! Does this type need higher lighting? was also wondering if the matrix and purigen take all the nutrients out of the water and leave nothing for the moss. Johnnydok and Edwardnah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Most likely lack of nutrients. Also plants do best on timers if you don't use one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manticore Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 i do not know purigen but yeolith has the abilities to bind many minerals. check if zeolith is there. also do you use any type of CO2 fertilisation? that helps many mosses... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 No co2, the lights are on a timer. How many hours do they like? What is zeolith? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dendrobatez Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Zeolite - manticore is using the German spelling I believe. Its used to absorb ammonia among other things and is present in a lot of activated carbon mixes. Purigen could be starving the plant, moss is on the surface just receiving its nutrients from the water itself. Do the plants that are doing well have roots that have dug into the substrate? I have the same problem growing floaters in my fish tank and my mosses grow at half rate compared to those in my fish tank. Lyana and manticore 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Ah! I don't have plain zeolite but not sure if the purigen has some. My nitrates are also 0 when I test. Yes, the ludwigia and sword are growing good and not dying and they have roots in the controsoil. Maybe I should take out the purigen and matrix and see if the moss grows better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manticore Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 i would not take out the matrix, as far as i heard it is a very good and trustworthy filtermedia. (yes it was the german spelling, sorry). i would use very carefully easy carbo to add co2 in your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 The purigen should not be causing any problems either. Do you have a picture of the tank and mosses, how many hours are your lights on ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I have my lights on a timer for 8 hours a day. I have excel I could try. Is easy carbo better for shrimp? Not sure why the pictures are upside down. They look right on my iPad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Purigen does cause problems with moss. A buddy of mine has purigen in all his tanks and he has to add nutirents for the moss or they all turn brown and die. He said if he removes the purigen the moss grows fine but when added it slowly starves them. His been doing it for quite a few years so he figured out the culprit was the purigen. 35ppt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I dont know about the purigen almost every shirmper I know keeps purigen in their tanks and we all grow super healthy moss with little or no added fertilizers. Just good old shrimp poop. I add trace elemnts 2 drops in a 10g every two days and thats it for any additives. That could be the difference and I guess it would hurt to try adding some Seachem Trace or similar product every couple days and see if that makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Yeah, I thought a lot of shrimpers use purigen at least with TBs. I have flourish trace. I'll try that and see what happens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exsanity Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 There may be something to this. I only dose Excel, I have Purigen in my tank and my moss is slowly dying just like your pictures. I guess I will have to get ferts and see if they do any better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Some mosses are sensitive to Excel and it will kill them. Found that out the hard way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exsanity Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Some mosses are sensitive to Excel and it will kill them. Found that out the hard way. orly? That is disturbing. I may have to remove my mosses until I get a CO2 rig for my tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I dosed excel for a while and if I dosed 1/4 the reccomended amount they were fine but went up to half strenght and killed fissidens. Tried full strength for an algae outbreak and it killed other mosses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exsanity Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 I dosed excel for a while and if I dosed 1/4 the reccomended amount they were fine but went up to half strenght and killed fissidens. Tried full strength for an algae outbreak and it killed other mosses. My tank isn't heavily planted, so I have been dosing ½ strength as well. It's killing my weeping moss bad! But, my flame moss seems to be struggling on. I never thought it would be the Excel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manticore Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 there is too little water movement down there at the moss, it would be better more water movement... Lyana 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 there is too little water movement down there at the moss, it would be better more water movement... Hmm, didn't think of that but you're right, it's not getting much flow. I'll move my filter output Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfishlady Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 I have moss in all shrimp, tanks with purigen, no CO2, no added ferts, no excel, varied light timing and they grow like mad. I also have cheap lights on my tanks... lol Is the moss new to the tank? It could be that the old/previous growth is dying off as it adjusts to your tank water. My tanks have been in black out mode the last few days (like only about 2 hours or less of lights) because of a heat wave and I've had no problems. With all of that said, I have put new moss in tanks and had some of it turn brown because of the adjustment to new water, but the new parts grow out just fine. mayphly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 I noticed one of my tanks that when I added purigen, my tank lacked nitrates and started dying off. Johnnydok 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 Simple test then remove the purigen it's not like you really need it in a shrimp tank. If the moss recovers then you know the culprit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 Thanks for all the advice everyone! The moss has been in the tank for a couple months, at first it didn't grow at all, then it started dying, now it's growing some new shoots just slowly. I have a vase with Java moss in my window that didn't grow at first but now it's taking over the vase. Does moss sometimes take months to start growing well? Crazyfishlady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judyok Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 Peacock moss prefers cooler water temperatures and I suspect higher light. I had christmas moss in a low light tank and it did just so so, but it took off when I started using higher light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted June 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 The temp is 73 but not sure what the par is on a fines stingray, I'm sure it's lower light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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