Shrimp Home

[gmc1]

Do you think this contraption I made with old syphon and Java moss will be ok for shrimp that I am getting.will moss still grow?

 

[Baccus]

Its very hard to get moss to attach itself to none natural things like plastic, because plastic is smooth there is no grip points for the moss t attach too.

 

[gmc1]

Do you think drilling some small holes at root points could help.

 

[Ch4rlie]

A nice thought, as Baccus already mentions, any plant will find it hard to root on smooth plastic or non natural materials.
 
Drilling lots of little holes may help, or perhaps also roughly sanding the plastic may help in giving a surface for the roots to cling on.
Even though I have not tried this myself but always worth having a go and seeing if it works out.

 

[TallTree01]

You could get some fine fly wire or something and wrap it around the tube, then the moss will attach much more firmly. I've had moss grow everywhere though. One time I had gone on vacation for several weeks, came back to a Syphon with Java moss growing inside of it. It must of come from when I last did a waterchange. It's very hard to kill or remove.

 

[NickAu]

Just a suggestion.
 
You could get a nice bit of tree branch about 5 inches long and drill the middle out with a spade bit, making it hollow, the shrimp can live inside the hole and the moss will be happy on the outside.
 
Its how I made my pleco logs. My plecs love the logs.
I got the idea from this photo.
Image not my work.
 

 

[gmc1]

Good ideas.i have it tied on to the tube just now.think I will try all of the above.

 

[Ch4rlie]

A decent suggestion from NickAu, only one little thing worries me, probably best not to use a new piece of wood thats just fallen from your tree in garden for example, am not sure if ANY old wood or just certain types of wood is safe to use in fish tanks or best with dead wood that has been dead a while as reckon new wood would still have sap and resins that may effect the tank etc
 
Once you know the wood is safe, obviously must be cleaned thoroughly.
 
I like the idea, be good if anyone can pipe in with an answer with some backup of research/study if possible as I would be keen to knwo this for sure.

 

[NickAu]

 
only one little thing worries me, probably best not to use a new piece of wood thats just fallen from your tree in garden

That goes without saying .
 
What I did was find a dry branch from a eucalypt tree that had fallen in a creek and been there a while, cut it drilled it then I put it in a pot  and slowly heated the pot till it started simmering, and left it there for about 20 minutes then turned off the gas stove and left the whole thing to cool overnight.
 
WARNING, Get permission from the wife to do this and by god don't use one of her good cooking pots like I did

 

[Baccus]

Boiling wood is not really a good idea, since the boiling process breaks down the cell structure of the timber, thus increasing the rate that the timber will breakdown/ disintergrate in the tank.
When I have taken presoaked timber from creeks or water ways I leave it out in the full sun for a week or two, turning it over regularly so that all sides gets a good chance of getting hit with a few hours of direct sunlight. Sunlight is still one of the best sanitisers available that wont cause on going damage. When it becomes time to resoak the timber to make it sink in my tank I simply set up a tub of water of suitable size to take the timber and leave it to soak up the water and submerge in its own time. This can also get the wood to release any excess tannins if you dont want them staining the tank water. If I am in more of a hurry and not worried about the tannins I simply tie a flat rock to the timber and use the rock as an anchor until the  timber has taken in enough water to stay submerged without the rock. For this process zipties are our aquarium friends.
To knock any dirt or loose bits of bark or wood off your piece of timber a stiff wire brush and a bit of elbow grease works wonders.