Moss algea wall, with African cichlids.

[markstrimaran]

It is a various mix of about 4 kinds of algea, with some moss. Notable red beard, purplish, long strand turf, black beard, short strand.


Same tank about 6 months ago.
It gets grazed short, if stocked heavy, and pellet food is limited.

Red beard grazed short.

The carpet, sand tile, grown with short strand.

 

[GoldfishForPresident]

Wow, that looks phenomenal - super natural, and I bet the fish love it!

Did you make those vertical structures with the holes in them? What is that made out of?

 

[markstrimaran]

HDPE 3/8" thick plastic water tank, cut, drilled, and sanded. The sides are bolted together, the original hot glue failed after about a year.

 

[markstrimaran]

Faux coral.

 

[GoldfishForPresident]

I love it! That's just such a cool, unique and effective way to break lines of sight and create grazing areas for those fish. Now I want to do something similar in my big tank. Good inspiration

 

[markstrimaran]

It will be interesting to see, what they look like once the algea overgrows them.
With random specks of Florescent shining through from were they grazed.

 

[pops]

looks great, good job!

 

[markstrimaran]

looks great, good job!

Thanks pops

 

[tarheel96]

I've always liked the algae walls mostly because of the way they look. But there's definitely more to them than that.

Mark's algae/moss walls ...

(1) give the tank a very nice, natural look
(2) break the line of sight
(3) give territories to dominant fish and places for other fish to hide/retreat
(4) serve as a food source for the fish
(5) remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrate from water column

Who can add to the list?

 

[markstrimaran]

Provides a nice acentic "happy light" 150 watt lava lamp, with fish. That lights up the living room.

Very much like model train building, in the hobby.

Someday a full video linked, wire controlled tethered micro "ROV" with a scrubber brush, will
Add some interesting video clips.