Marimo Balls

GekkoGeck0 · Post by **GekkoGeck0** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:03 am

The Fisherman wrote:what do they do then? they do look nice but they are kinda expensive. i paid 8 bucks for a really good quality one from my LFS..

I paid close to $10 for mine, which fell apart when I clipped a small piece off of it to try to propagate it. Now I have many many tiny marimo balls that mostly trap debris. The Indian Caridina shrimp I have love to live in the clump I keep the marimo balls in.

They don't do anything. They're mostly more of a conversation piece. In fact, some people go out of their way to kill the algae that makes up those marimo balls. I've never had it spread elsewhere in the tank, but apparently in some tanks the conditions can be right for the algae to send out spores and start growing elsewhere.

To each their own. To some they're a plague, to others they're great use in aquascaping, if you can get the slow-growing stuff to grow on your driftwood or rocks, or even getting it to spread like a mat on the gravel, and some like the marimo balls just sitting around.

Raphael · Post by **Raphael** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:27 pm

I don' really think that they grow in brackish tanks. Mine has stayed green at 1.005 but hasn't grown. The only thing that has happened is that it opened up to form a marimo carpet.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:13 pm

Heh, the easiest way to get the marimo moss on driftwood or rocks is plague your tank with rush algea....

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:18 pm

Hey sorry for this high-jack but..... Does duckweed do anything? My LFS has a crap-load.

GekkoGeck0 · Post by **GekkoGeck0** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:25 pm

hobbes wrote:Hey sorry for this high-jack but..... Does duckweed do anything? My LFS has a crap-load.

Sure. If you're not running a tank with loads of surface agitation or a HOB, it'll multiply like wildfire and quickly become an annoyance.

For that reason, it's also a decent nitrate absorber.

I have heard of people complain that they can never get rid of it. I can't seem to keep it because my HOB blows it everywhere.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:27 pm

It's very easy to grow. I use it in my labyrinth and killie tanks to prevent them from jumping. They think that the carpet of green is a lid....

perek · Post by **perek** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:03 pm

Whoever thought to roll algae in a ball and sell it for 10 bucks is a genious.

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:23 pm

Well the waves in shallow lakes roll it into a ball, and selling it was just the next natural step :p

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:48 pm

Phaedrus wrote:Well the waves in shallow lakes roll it into a ball, and selling it was just the next natural step :p

Thought a shallow lake with moving water was a stream?

But yes, nature played its part. Then us humans decided to profit off of it.

GekkoGeck0 · Post by **GekkoGeck0** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:31 pm

perek wrote:Whoever thought to roll algae in a ball and sell it for 10 bucks is a genious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo

Perhaps the price is justifyable, because they grow so very darned slow?

It doesn't grow much like algae, really. The people who try to kill Cladophora have major problems doing so, because it grows and reacts much more like a plant than an algae. Bleach and boiling water start to become the only options, along with massive overdoses of Flourish Excel.

I think it's great stuff, really. It's so soft looking, even when it's not in ball form.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:30 pm

Back to duckweed...I keep it in both my BW and FW tanks. It grows much more slowly in BW but is healthy, grows like mad and I scoop it out of the FW tank periodically. I have HOB filters in both tanks and it grows fine.

Eric

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:39 pm

Duckweed rocks then. Thanks for the info GekkoGecko. Hmm... What about watersprite? That thing grows fast for me.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:41 pm

Watersprite is very good, too, and grows quickly.

Eric

perek · Post by **perek** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:46 pm

Jayhawk wrote:Watersprite is very good, too, and grows quickly.

Eric

Never again will I use watersprite, man that was a PITA to get out of my filter.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:06 pm

perek wrote:
Jayhawk wrote:Watersprite is very good, too, and grows quickly.

Eric
Never again will I use watersprite, man that was a PITA to get out of my filter.

Did the plant die and break down on you?

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