Mounting moss on walls

[harrywitmore]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Do you have air movement in there?

Would be interested in getting the details on the construction of that.

I have a small computer fan that runs all day. It keeps the air from stagnating. The construction was pretty simple. I bought some ECOWEB from Ray and created the background but cutting pieces and hot gluing them together. I then hooked a recirc pump to the background. It runs once a day. The moss was done as I said before. I mounted a fan to the top to run all day to move the air. I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

[Tindomul]

Where did you get glass cover? Plexiglas is it? And the cover/base? Thanks.

[harrywitmore]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Where did you get glass cover? Plexiglas is it? And the cover/base? Thanks.

It came with a plastic cover but it wasn't tight so I made another from some thin plexi I had. I reinforced it by hot gluing a strip to the bottom of it. I then made a bracket with plastic and hot glued the fan to the top. I fill the open bottom with a piece of ECOWEB.

[JungleMel]

Thanks for sharing this! I was just thinking of ideas for a 10 gallon tank and wanted to decorate the back with moss. I think I'll try this method as it looks really good.

Harrywitmore- what size/type pump are you using? I don't have any experience with building something like this, how did you set it up?

[harrywitmore]

Originally Posted by JungleMel

Thanks for sharing this! I was just thinking of ideas for a 10 gallon tank and wanted to decorate the back with moss. I think I'll try this method as it looks really good.

Harrywitmore- what size/type pump are you using? I don't have any experience with building something like this, how did you set it up?

The pump is one of the small fountain pumps. You need about 3/4" of water in the bottom for it to work. I took a piece of rigid plastic pipe and drilled 3/32" holes every inch or so. I then connected a elbow to that pipe and them connected a piece of flex tubing to both this pipe and the pump which was placed in the corner of the tank. The rigid tube was attached to the ECOWEB with zip ties.

I run the pump for about 30 minutes a day. The fan runs all day but is turned off at night.

One other possibility I'm going to explore is to use floral foam as a background. They will be stacked sort of like brick. I will use the moss mix on it as well. Here's a tiny experiment with this material. This is about 2 months after applying the mix.



It has only been watered twice in the length of time.

[cb977]

Way cool Harry!

[JungleMel]

Thanks, that seems like easy maintainence once everythings set up. I was looking online for different types of moss, any recommendations? I figure I should pick something that doesn't get too heavy as it matures.

[harrywitmore]

Originally Posted by JungleMel

Thanks, that seems like easy maintainence once everythings set up. I was looking online for different types of moss, any recommendations? I figure I should pick something that doesn't get too heavy as it matures.

I can't really recommend any source for moss. I would try yo find one that tends to be very short and tight in it's habit. This can be a problem since the same species of moss may grow completely different under different conditions. I have just be making selections for the many species I have both in my greenhouse and in my yard. Most all are volunteers.

[Connie Star]

What type of moss are we talking about?
Tindo, your moss looks like a liverwort to me, but I know you are a botanist. It sure looks nice!

[Tindomul]

I can see where you are coming from Connie, the pictures don't show the detail of the moss. Trust me its a moss, its got the leafy like structure that tells you its a moss, and it is currently reproducing and you can see the parts only found in mosses, the seta, capsule and calyptra. Although I have to say, I do have some liverworts growing there too.

The moss I have is very tight growing. So maybe thats why you thought it was a liverwort.