what's up everybody today we're going to discuss the famous java moss as you can see it can handle a wide range of parameters you can have it in Tanganyika tanks with 9ph you can have it in high-tech tanks with low pH soft acidic water it's not very demanding and that's why I like it and that of course is why it's famous many beginners can succeed growing moss walls it's very easy just to get some thread and thread it onto some driftwood or of course you can use superglue it's very forgiving like any moss it does prefer cooler waters but it is Hardy so you can have it in warmer waters and of course it's going to thrive it's just that if you want to have it show off its optimum growth patterns once again you want to have it in cooler water temperatures we're talking about the ideal situation for these mosses and of course when you're putting it on driftwood you just always want to make make sure that you thin it out get it as thin as possible just so the bottom half doesn't rot like I mentioned with fittings fittings is a little more forgiving just because it doesn't really grow on top of itself or branch out it kind of just grows in long strands but then they all grow at the same rate so then it kind of looks bushy and looks pillowy but with java moss you really do want to thin it out or overtime sometimes the bottom half can become rotten and it'll rot and as well if you thin it out it just helps the moss hold on to the wood and the rock a lot quicker you know a lot faster saves you a lot of time a lot of anguish but what's nice about java moss of course is it is relatively cheap you can you know it's inexpensive basically you can find it anywhere everyone has it tons of breeders use it you know guppy breeders all the way to Tanganyika breeders anything any kind of fish a lot of people prefer to use java moss just so the fry can hide in the moss and that's I mean that's really it guys you're gonna see me here in a minute trimming some of the java moss I'll show you how I trim it you don't necessarily need to trim it down you know to the bare bones like you know when you see people trim hc' baby tears or if you see anyone trim a carpet sometimes to keep HC healthy you do need to trim it to the bare bones but when it comes to mosses if you started out by planting them you know in thin clumps instead of thick clumps you're not going to have to really trim it to the bare bones basically you can just trim half of it off and then if you want to go ahead and stick it to driftwood you can use thread if you want and here in a minute you'll see me using some super glue I just prefer to use the super glue and if you're doing it outside the water it does make it a lot easier to plant because if you're going to plant to the driftwood and it's it's above water you don't really need to put the super super glue on to the moss when I was talking about the fittings I was putting the super glue onto the moss because I was thinking about how I do it when the driftwood is underwater of course if the driftwood is above water you just put the super glue on the wood and then that's way easier you put the moss onto the wood there you go mosses I think a lot of people have a hard time with them sometimes because they can get a lot of algae growth in them they're prone to algae growth because overall they are slow growing plants and they do their job quite well which is collecting nutrients so they collect a lot of detritus therefore a lot of moss is going to have algae growth for those two reasons but I think one of the biggest issues why people are having such a problem with visitants and with java moss or even with the Ricardian is your temperatures too high the number I'd say the number one thing that matters more than anything is the temperature people are saying well do I dose two I doz well of course you know any aquarium with plants should have some kind of fertilizers and of course if you're going to have Java ferns anubius and moss they're gonna want to have nutrients in the water column a java moss is so hardy though that it's gonna grow anywhere it's going to grow in hard water you know hard water has ample amounts of basic minerals it'll go crazy in a Tanganyika tank it's not demanding but if you want it to get really bushy all I can tell you is to put it thinly spread it thinly onto a piece of driftwood and then trim it weekly trim it every time at a water change turn your pumps off you know when you turn your pumps off it the moss clippings don't go everywhere you can easily net them up and then as well have high light so it gets really dense have cooler temperatures it just makes it happier it makes some darker in color and it just helps them grow thicker and more dense they get kind of spindly and thin in warm water so having the high light with the cooler water really keeps them nice and bushy and thick and dense and you know when it comes to algae I guess it's a good indicator because if you're Moss has algae then your tank probably isn't very well balanced so you're going to need to work on your husband husbandry skills there's really no secret and silver bullet we're always going to continue to learn in this hobby and it's really just about experience and practicing all the time so you're going to have to have good consistent one of the secrets the one of the secret bullets is consistency you're going to need to be consistent with your trimming with your fertilizers once a tank gets balanced which I'm referring to the substrate as well I'm referring to the bacteria beds in the substrate as well as the root mass of the plants that's you know basically what I mean when I talk about balance you can go longer without doing water change changes you can miss days dosing it gets easier for the tank to maintain itself and the plants will grow more quickly that's why people like a mono or a DA they put the bacteria and the starter additives into the substrate because it really jumps starts your tank but like I've said before they aren't necessary but what that's doing is it's maturing your substrate a lot quicker and anyone with experience and his hobby knows that the more mature your substrate is the better everything else will work out your carpets will carpet quicker everything will work out and the reason is is because the enzymes and the bacteria and everything are metabolizing the nutrients and it makes it easier for the plants to assimilate makes it easier for the roots to take up and then of course the enzymes being released by the plant roots are more mature because you have a more dense root mass so having tons of roots and having tons of bacteria in the substrate make everything else ten times easier that's really the only thing I can tell you but that's basically it I hope you liked this episode the next episode I don't really know what I'm gonna do yet and what does it really matter we know it'll be some kind of moss a liverwort and I did mention that I am going to include bladderworts and bladderworts are not bryophytes but the name is similar to liverwort so I'm going to include bladderworts and in the future I will talk about ug maybe next time I will talk about Utrecht you Larry Agrippina folia until next time keep your sleeves wet peace out