In article ,
Koi-Lo wrote:

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
I'm not suggesting moss inhibits alage but that it's a very efficient
consumer of nutrients, probably due to the massive surface area all those
zillions of tiny leaves have.
======================
Come to think of it,...it's the tanks with a good size ball of Java moss
that don't have any serious algae problems. I think I'll add a larger
amount to the tanks that did have a problem.

Yupper. This is not to say if you have lots of moss you'll never get
alage, but based on experiemtns with betta bowls and various plants
you'd have to ignore them for about 3 months to grow alage and moss.

Any other plant, java fern, crypts, lucky bamboo, you get it in about
3 weeks of zero maintenance.

Plus java moss (or any other moss, xmas moss, taiwan moss, creeping,
weeping or what have you moss) plays host to countless protozoans
to the point where you can have, for example, a self sustaining
colony of half a dozen pairs of (small) killifish in a 20 gal tank,
with a tight fitting cover, and it will not require any food to be added.

I did this for two years and fish bred, came and went, with no food added.
The poor things died when I was away on a business trip because the light
timer failed - I came back to a crystal clear empty tank; when I left it
was packed with moss and fish.

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