A dream was about to come true. I can arrange and re-arrange again and again, the bonsai driftwood in the tank, just to daydream about what I could create with it.
 |
| The bonsai driftwood fit nicely in this nano tank |
Fissidens Splachnobryoide (mini fissidens moss) was chosen as the "raintree's leaves". The reason was mini fissdens would grow slowly and spread over the surface rather than grow too bushy like other mosses. It stays short and hence, less maintenance in the future.
 |
| Fissidens Splachnobryoide was chosen to bring life to this driftwood |
However, I have never tried to grow it before and therefore, not so sure about how it would turn out. Some say this moss is quite difficult to grow since it needs a cooling environment with good lighting. Whereas, others have also been successful growing it under a non-chilled environment in a low-tech tank. In my case, it would be mixed of those two: high-tech tank with no chiller and lean fertilizer dosing.
 |
| A tub of mini fissidens in loose form was prepared for this mission |
DSM (dry-start-method) was used to start growing mini fissidens on the bonsai driftwood. I just tried to turf loose-form mini fissidens into branches of the driftwood. Thereafter, water was sprayed on it time to time during the setting up. Few centimeters of water was left in the bare tank and wrapped over by Clingwrap. To keep it moist, water was sprayed over the wood 1 to 2 times a day then the tank was wrapped back again. The tank was left outdoor (not direct sunlight) for about a week.
 |
| Spraying water on driftwoods to make it wet |
 |
| Mini fissidens moss was placed on the bonsai branches |
 |
| Tanks was then covered and left outdoor for about a week |
After a week, the moss seemed to adapt to the new environment and I could see some new tiny leaves grown out. The tank was then brought indoor for flooding, it is the transition period for the moss to grow submerged and meanwhile, I was gathering the rest of necessary equipment. There was no CO2 injection at that time. This is a kind of low-tech tank with low lighting to minimize algae.
 |
| The tank was brought indoor and it was ready to be flooded |
 |
| The tank after being flooded |
 |
| The "Tree" looks quite interesting at this angle. |
The bonsai driftwoods leached out lots of tannins even I already boiled it before it was used. It is a good time to soak it a little bit more.
 |
| Tannin leached out, the tank looks like a bio-top setup |
Next step will be aquascaping! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment