omnitheforsaken

Hi all,

I want to try an experiment with planting and wanted to know if any of you could foresee any problems before I started.

Mental picture:
I want to take a rock roughly shaped like a volcano with a flat top where the hole would be...

At the top of this I want to attach a Java Fern bunch. The rest of the rock will be spit in 3 different rings.

On the top ring I want to plant Flame Moss, since it will grow towards the light and make the Fern look as if it's coming out of the moss.

The middle ring I want to plant Star Moss, since it looks like a bunch of little plants.

And on the bottom ring I would plant Phoenix Moss since it grows down in an overlapping manner, and would give sort of a grass base look to the gravel around the rock.

Now, 4 different plants on 1 rock... can anyone forsee any problems with any of that? I won't be starting this project until I find the rock but I will be looking to start soon, if no one thinks I shouldn't that is...

10gallonmadness

The only problem I could foresee is that the plants would intertwine and you would get a mixture of colors.

Annadvn

Only problem i could see was if one of the mosses grows quicker than the others. Then one would out compete the others.

As long as you don't mind them all intertwining with each other i see no problems.

I think it would look really cool.

Anna

peacemaker92

Hi Omni,

That sounds cool! I can almost imagine it! haha I agree with Anna. A lot of mosses grow at different speeds so it might look a bit off if one grows faster and bigger than the other but it should be fine I guess. When you build this rock, how big will the tank be?

omnitheforsaken

Good to hear. I'll give it a try. Hopefully I can control the growth problem with meticulous pruning but if it doesn't come out right then oh well. It intertwining would probably ruin it for me and that actually might make it a non-starter. I'll have to think of a way to control/minimize that, which I should be able to do... I am an engineer after all, but thanks for pointing that out... I hadn't thought of that. I just wanted to make sure that they could all grow under the same conditions..., temp, lighting, chemistry, etc. I was pretty sure they could but wasn't absolutely sure.

The tank will only be 30 gallons... this will end up being the center piece if I pull it off. I don't plan on the rock being too big because I know the Java Fern can get up to 8" or so (I think... another concern). The rocks height will hopefully be less than half the height of the tank with a really wide base (about 2x the height).

Thanks for your insights

peacemaker92

That's cool! Hope to see pictures when it's done! Keep us updated.

Butterfly

Sounds cool! You know we will want pics as you work on this project
Carol

omnitheforsaken

Just to update the status. I will definitely post pics when I'm done though I'm sure it'll take a while as it takes about 2 months or more for moss to attach to rocks in my tank. The star moss I got in looked dead. It was almost powdery when I got it. There was some green so I've thrown it in my tank to see what it will do but I'm doubtful. This is going to take longer than I thought.

10gallonmadness

Don't worry. Just make a new thread when your all good and ready with pictures.