Water gives life and it is this element more than any other that drives the creativity and passion of aquarium enthusiasts. Contained within a few cubic meters of water enclosed on five sides by glass is the opportunity to create a world that is every bit the outcome of the aquarium owner’s imagination.

You can create a salt-water environment and populate it with tropical fish and tropical plants. You can go for fresh water fish and try a starter’s approach you can spice up your existing tank with plants and decorations and you can work out ways to make your aquarium unique.

Irrespective of what you decide to go for an aquarium is a blank canvas and you, its creator. Within its confines you can imagine infinite worlds of infinite beauty and AquaticMagic gives you all the tools necessary to create. From nice-to-have accessories such as the Mist Maker to essentials like Filters and Water Conditioners.

An Aquarium, properly handled, has the capacity to become an object of infinite beauty, a microworld within which one has the capacity to realize William Blake’s mystical observation: “Seeing the world in a grain of sand/and eternity in an hour”.

You probably realize of course that an Aquarium also has the capacity to become a floating money lake which constantly absorbs money. This is where AquaticMagic is special too. Driven by the philosophy to offer a great product at a great price the AquaticMagic folks source their produce directly from the farmers who produce them, cutting out the middleman and realizing savings which are passed directly to their customers.

With a 100% satisfaction guarantee that gives you a free replacement or a full refund should a mishap happen during shipping, AquaticMagic are dedicated to living up to their billing and helping aquarium enthusiasts across the entire range of fishkeeping to expand their hobby, develop their interest and save money by getting more for their buck.

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Check out our Blog for advice from the Aquarium experts

If you need to give gifts to children, or a professional executive working in an office environment, you could consider a natural aquarium of fresh water. The very first criteria is that It got to be easy to maintain, and it has to be attractive and beautiful as this is a very good way to impress the children, or colleagues, and more important, develop their passion to nature and environment.

Here I will show you how to make an aquarium on your own at home, as well as in the clean office environment. Remember that this will be a simple and non-messy setup.

1. Begin with a fish tank; you can use a twenty gallon one for starters. Make sure the glass lid closes properly.

2. Place a layer of coarse gravel about two or three inches thick at the base of the tank. The gravel should be such that you can grow plants in it. Also keep in mind that the gravel color should be as natural as possible and avoid using the bright colored kinds as you are trying to create an environment close to the natural habitat that fish are so used to.

3. Next, put in some plants. Plants that take up a lot of nutrients from the water thwart the growth of algae so make sure you choose ones that grow pretty fast. There is a whole variety of aquarium plants available in the categories of rosette plants, grasses, ferns and stem plants. Pick ones that have a deep color, stems that are firm and well-developed roots. Take out the plants from the pots, split them from the bunch and untangle the roots. Choose different colors and qualities and make sure you plant the taller ones at the rear of the tank while the smaller ones find place at the fore. The roots of the plants should go below the gravel such that the crown of the aquarium plant is in line with the top surface of the gravel.

4. In the case of this small aquarium, you will not require a sturdy filter that will create plenty of turmoil and exchange of oxygen in the water. A tiny filter that can be submerged and can create a light current is just about sufficient.

5. The aquarium plants which go into your tank come from tropical places, so you will also require a submersible heater to maintain the water temperature at about 78 degrees.

6. Now fill the tank with water leaving about three inches at the top.

7. Select tiny fish that don’t destroy your aquatic plants. Some fish like to feast on them. Platies, guppies and tiny tetras like hatchet and Neons are a few kinds of tough fish. In order to keep the algae down to a minimal level in your tank, you could add some ghost shrimp and catfish that eat algae to your aquarium.

8. Put in the florescent light with the full spectrum. The aquatic plants need light to grow.

9. A natural aquarium does not require much maintenance. Trim plants that are overgrown with a large pair of scissors every now and then and change the water every week. This is really optional - and you could easily slower the plant growth (after it has reached your desired design), but lowering the amount of light shined onto the tank. You could easily do so by placing a non-transparent cover (Could be a plastic piece or a water proof thick card board) on the tank.

Why wait? Go ahead to build on to impress!

David
AquaticMagic - Grow Happiness

Have you seen beautiful moss grown in the aquarium tank above? It is probably one of the best hobby which combines science as well as art - you needs to know both before you could design and create the top-class plant aquarium tank with the moss and even other variety of aquarium plants.

Anyway, I am going to skip these steps:
1. Setup the aquarium tank for aquatic moss planting
2. Select the aquatic moss which is suitable for your design

When you have gotten the materials (moss and drift wood or log, as well as the fishing line), you are ready to start. Fishing line is preferred over cotton thread, it is because some cotton thread disintegrate too fast before the moss could even hold tight to the driftwood or log. It really depends on the aquarium environment that you have for the plant, but fishing line is generally able to do a better job here:

Step #1:
Reserve an extra portion of at least 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 cm) at the starting end, and make a round on one end of the driftwood before you tied a knot.

Step #2:
Place the aquatic moss slightly below the first loop of line that you have tied on the driftwood. Secure the moss with the fishing thread. use it to make another loop, slightly below the first loop (to form a spiral shape if you could imagine - do not cut the line during the process).

The thickness of the moss does not necessary to be thicker than 1/2 inch (0.5 cm) - but if you have plenty of them, why not? Keep in mind that if you packed too many of these moss under the thread, those moss at the inner layer will not be able to grow as significant (not light is applied to them).

Step #3:
Repeat Step #2 with more and more moss, until you have covered the driftwood with mos. For each loop you make (to secure more moss), the line loop should be gradually moving to the other end of the driftwood.

It could be quite hard to do this alone. You might wish to get help from your family members. Or, if you are good at knitting, you could hold the driftwood with a hand, and use a finger to hold a small bit of newly placed moss, before you use another hand to pull tight the line.

Step #4:
Make a knot again. Do not cut the fishing line.

Step #5:
Make loops again with the line, gradually towards the end (starting point) where you started.

Step #6:
Tied a knot with the extra portion that you have reserved at the beginning (step #1)

Step #7:
Cut away the extra lines. The driftwood with moss is now really to be places into your aquarium tank.

Step #8:
Be patience, and wait for 4 to 6 weeks. The moss will be able to grow nicely given the right condition in the aquarium tank!

Read up more on how to grow Java moss with plant net, or find out more info on how to create a moss wall for your aquarium tank

Click here if you wish to purchase some high quality moss for your aquarium tank

Hope it helps!

Reference info: Aquamoss.net

David

A very simple technique could be employed to create a DIY backdrop using aquatic moss for the natural aquarium. The stuffs needed to create the moss wall are commonly available, and the following simple steps will show you how to get it done with a little effort, on DIY basis.

The above are what you would need to create the DIY moss background (or moss wall):

* Plastic Mesh (click here to buy Plastic Mesh)
* Scissors
* Suction Cups
* Tying Wire
* Aquatic Moss (click here to buy Java moss)

The plastic mesh is commonly available in most hardware stores, plant nuseries, and large supermarkets. It’s main use is to be mounted on windows to prevent mosquitoes and other insects from entering the house. Well, we have different use for it. The meshes come in different colours and sizes, but for our moss background (or moss wall), we would need one that is about 7mm to 8mm in size, and black colour is more appropriate for the backdrop.

The mesh is cut to 2 times the size of the tank that you want the moss background (or moss wall) to be in. You would need to fold the mesh in half and stuff the moss in-between. Cut some holes on the perimeter of the mesh so as to stick in the suction cups. For my demonstration, it’s for a small 1 ft tank, hence one suction cup is sufficient. If you are doing a large wall, you will need to put in more suction cups especially on the 4 corners, and also some suction cups around the centre of the mesh to prevent warping when the mesh is in the tank.

Next, you would need sufficient quantity of moss. Open up the mesh, and spread out the moss evenly onto half of the mesh. Try not to leave any space uncovered, else you might have gaps in your moss wall later when the wall has been erected in your tank and the moss starts to grow out.

Next, fold back the other half of the mesh, and tie up the 2 halves together. I’m using some tying wire here, since it’s simple and I have it available on hand. You could also use fishing line or nylon thread to tie it up. Do not use any cotton thread since it will disintegrate after a short while in the tank. Remember to insert in the suction cups.

The above diagrams illustrate the final product.

Next, insert the mess against the back panel of your tank. Try to leave as little gap between the mesh and the glass as possible to prevent small fish from entering and stuck inside. One tip to prevent fish from entering the gap is to cut the height of the mesh to be slightly taller so that you can tuck the bottom of the mesh slightly into the substrate, and the top slightly above the highest water line. As for the length, try to measure it accurately so that both sides of the mesh fit closely to both sides of the tank.
The final step, wait for the moss to grow out of the mesh, and thou shall be rewarded.

Congratulation! It’s done! You will be having a very beautiful moss background in 2-3 months time. Christmas moss will be a better choice to create the moss background (or moss wall), as compared to Java moss due to it’s growth nature of forming a series of neat triangle shapes, which looks like a Christmas tree (that’s how we got the name of Christmas moss). I shall discuss more about it in the next article!

Christmas moss: Click here to buy Christmas moss
Moss wall installation package (plastic mesh): Click here to buy Moss wall installation package (plastic mesh) to secure the moss

If you are interested to know how to plant Java moss, Christmas moss, or other moss, in order to create a great aquarium floor, you could refer to the article on more information about How to plant and grow Java moss.

Source of information: http://www.aquamoss.net

David

It could be quite frustrating for many beginners when they were searching for a step by step guide on the Internet to grow the java moss. You need the right tools, and the right technique for a good start before you could see a java moss wall or java moss tank growing well!

A very simple technique could be employed to secure plants like Moss, Riccia and Pellia to various deco such as wood, rock and wire mesh. The stuffs needed are commonly available, and the following simple steps will show you how to get it done with a little effort.

The above are what you would need:

* 1 tub of mini Riccia, Moss or Pellia
* Stainless steel wire mesh of any size.
* Tweezer
* A pair of scissors for cutting net and string in the setup later
* Clear nylon or fish thread to tie the plant

Next, you would cut the net with size bigger than the wire mesh.

Next,
- Use tweezers to pick up some mini Riccia and lay on the wire mesh.
- A thin layer is sufficient, leave some space in between the small clump of Riccia.
- All the space will be fully covered when the Moss or Riccia propagate in a few weeks.

Next, do as shown above

Next, lay the net on the mini Riccia or Moss.

Next, do as shown above
- Hold the net with the wire mesh and flip over.
- Fold the net inwards and prepare to tie it later.

Next, get a clear nylon or fish thread as they are invisible to human eyes.

Next, do as shown above
- Secure the net with fishing thread at one of the corner of wire mesh.
- Use the thread to go around the wire mesh and secure another knot at the other end.
- Make sure all knots are well tightened.

Congratulation! It’s done!
- Repeat the entire process again if you have few more wire mesh to go.
- Put the wire mesh into your aquarium.
- This method is good to do a carpet style of mini Riccia/moss/pellia especially for your little shrimp.
- Do not block the plants from light.

Hope that the step-by-step guide is useful for you. If ever you wish to purchase the java moss, plant net, stainless-steel wire as shown in the guide above, you could visit the links below:

Java moss: Click here to buy java moss
Plant net: Click here to buy plant net to cover the java moss
Wire Mesh: Click here to buy the Stainless Steel wire mesh

David