Christmas Moss turning/turned brown

**pjaldave** · 02-21-2012, 04:56 PM

I ordered some Christmas moss around 3 weeks ago and planted it directly to my substrate as I wanted it to become a carpet. A week later, it quickly turned brown, not all but it started there.

I thought I needed to have more lighting period for the moss because it is on the bottom of my tank, but then, algae starts growing beside the moss! so i had to cut back the lighting period. So this indicates that it is not because it is not receiving enough light..

Previously, I have my 2 28-watts 6700K T5 on for around 9.5 hours and my 19-watt LEDs on for 2 hours, this is what caused the algae outbreak i think. Then last week, i switched the LEDs and the T5 and reduced lighting period, so my LEDs are on for 8.5 hours and just one T5 bulb for 2 hours.

I dose 10ml of excel everyday, unless i forget. Tank is 100G and 16 inches tall.

**Cliff** · 02-21-2012, 09:10 PM

I don't know a lot about Christmas moss, but I do know that moss balls do not like excel and I noticed that you are dosing excel.

That might be worth looking into, but keep in mind this is only a guess on my part

**Lady Hobbs** · 02-21-2012, 09:41 PM

Doesn't like Excel and doesn't like being planted.

**bignellm** · 02-21-2012, 10:35 PM

My Java moss got more brownish after dosing excel flourish as well. But it was anchored with some kinda net weave thingy from Petco (something with a mesh, flat and gritty). It grew well there, until it started choking itself and received some Flourish. I still have some, am propagating it to a piece of driftwood--color's starting to come back too. In addition, I've also added some cheap Ghost Shrimps to help clean up the moss.

**pjaldave** · 02-22-2012, 05:52 AM

Well, it is not really planted as I just threw in some gravel over the portions I scattered.

So you say they don't like excel... Then i will stop dosing it. But, do you think it will recover?

**bignellm** · 02-22-2012, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by pjaldave

Well, it is not really planted as I just threw in some gravel over the portions I scattered.

So you say they don't like excel... Then i will stop dosing it. But, do you think it will recover?

Long as there's some life left in it, plus something helping to clean up the gunk that builds up in it; there's a good chance. My Java is starting to green up again on the drift wood I anchored it to. Got some Glass Shrimp in there helping to keep it gunk free too.