so I have a small low-tech planted tank, and in it there are three mats of java moss - one of them is on top of my driftwood, but the other two are on the bottom of the tank, weighed down by pebbles, on top of a sand substrate, as shown:
I guess what I'm wondering is, is this a bad idea? Do these clumps of java moss help or hinder the maintenance/filtration of my tank? Does the java moss increase or decrease the bioload capacity of a tank? Has anyone ever covered the whole bottom of their tank with java moss? Sometimes uneaten food tends to collect in/under the java moss, and it seems that fish often do not find the food that has fallen into the moss. I do have blackworms and mts in the tank which might help, and the blackworms seem to like hiding in the moss. (I'm actually waiting for the population of mts to become more prevalent, I started with three of them, and there's lots of babies of varying sizes by now, but none of them have reached maturity yet)
One of the reasons I have the moss is because I will eventually want to breed some fish (guppies or golden wonder killies or something) in the tank and the moss provides a hiding place for fry and a habitat for microorganisms (I have seen some protozoa on my tank walls also) that the fry can eat.
Right now the stock is as follows:
3 nannostomus eques (brown pencilfish)
3 yunnanilus cruciatus (multi-stripe dwarf loach)
2 lampeye killies
2 spotted headstanders
1 banjo catfish
1 hoplo catfish
2 nerite snails, mts, blackworms
plants: anubias nana, saggitarus, java moss, java fern, and pennywort.
the tank is 8 gallons, footprint is 24" x 8.5"
as you can see, the bioload of the tank is already near/past its limit, and this is why I want to optimize its capacity. For filtration, i am using a marina s15 hob filter and a small sponge filter at the other end of the tank. I guess another thing that I'm wondering is if it is worth it to keep using the sponge filter, which blocks my view of the right end of the tank, or should I take it out, and maybe just use an airstone at that end to increase circulation? Or should I upgrade the marina s15 to an aquaclear hob? I like the marina filter a lot, but I don't know if it is ideal.
I guess what I'm wondering is, is this a bad idea? Do these clumps of java moss help or hinder the maintenance/filtration of my tank? Does the java moss increase or decrease the bioload capacity of a tank? Has anyone ever covered the whole bottom of their tank with java moss? Sometimes uneaten food tends to collect in/under the java moss, and it seems that fish often do not find the food that has fallen into the moss. I do have blackworms and mts in the tank which might help, and the blackworms seem to like hiding in the moss. (I'm actually waiting for the population of mts to become more prevalent, I started with three of them, and there's lots of babies of varying sizes by now, but none of them have reached maturity yet)
One of the reasons I have the moss is because I will eventually want to breed some fish (guppies or golden wonder killies or something) in the tank and the moss provides a hiding place for fry and a habitat for microorganisms (I have seen some protozoa on my tank walls also) that the fry can eat.
Right now the stock is as follows:
3 nannostomus eques (brown pencilfish)
3 yunnanilus cruciatus (multi-stripe dwarf loach)
2 lampeye killies
2 spotted headstanders
1 banjo catfish
1 hoplo catfish
2 nerite snails, mts, blackworms
plants: anubias nana, saggitarus, java moss, java fern, and pennywort.
the tank is 8 gallons, footprint is 24" x 8.5"
as you can see, the bioload of the tank is already near/past its limit, and this is why I want to optimize its capacity. For filtration, i am using a marina s15 hob filter and a small sponge filter at the other end of the tank. I guess another thing that I'm wondering is if it is worth it to keep using the sponge filter, which blocks my view of the right end of the tank, or should I take it out, and maybe just use an airstone at that end to increase circulation? Or should I upgrade the marina s15 to an aquaclear hob? I like the marina filter a lot, but I don't know if it is ideal.
