# Moss and Glue?



## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

When attaching moss to driftwood, can you use superglue? I've heard of/read about people using superglue for other plants/ferns but I'm wondering if the moss would be too delicate for this.

Anyone tried it?

-Dave


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## pasd (Aug 26, 2007)

I've used it with anubias, but I'm curious to see if anyone has tried it with moss.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

I just glued an anubias yesterday (my first "glue-job") on some driftwood, along with a couple young java fern. I kinda overdid it with the glue (a bit messy), but at least it held. Now that I've got the feel for it, I have decided to try it with some of the moss that I'm getting from TexGal.

I'm going to tie most of it with 4lb fishing line, but there are a couple "un-tie-able" spots on a piece of driftwood I have that I think would look great "mossed-over". These spots will be my glue experiment.

I'll post some photos as I work and then you can all witness my success (or failure...). 

These links will show you the wood, and where it is situated in the tank:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db25b3127ccea812178c435a00000016109AasmbJs2bI
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db25b3127ccea812159b434c00000016109AasmbJs2bI


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I have my flame moss tied onto small metal grids. I bought it like that. I have noticed that as it grew out it did attach itself to my ADA AS. I would assume if it can attach to the AquaSoil then it would attach to wood and such. I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

So, I read not too long ago on this forum about someone who described tying moss to driftwood. They talked about wishing for a third arm and how they actually had to hold the wood in place with their feet! 

"HA HA HA!" I laughed to myself. "Surely that's a joke! Very funny indeed." 
"After all," I continued in my inexperienced infant stage of thought, "how hard could it possibly be to tie some moss to a piece of wood? And not only shall I do that, but I shall endeavor to attatch some with SUPERGLUE! HA HA HA! Very funny indeed!" 

Then, my moss arrived. And how quickly the lush, green, fluffy bags of goodness became the most fierce competitor I have ever dealt with.... :boxing:
As I tustled, fumbled, dropped and wrangled that hunk of wooden c**p, and faught to get the fishing line so delicately around the precious moss...I realized something...I wasn't laughing anymore...

SO, now I know what that person was talking about! 

I tried to upload photos, but it kept not working, so I'll insert links to them and give the details in a second post (coming in just a few minutes).

-Dave


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

I am waiting for my moss, it is coming soon, and thanks for this thread! I have a few days to get ready for moss attaching process then! :boxing: 
ound:


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Okay, I tried the glue, but I don't think I'll use it again for moss. It did work, you just have to be careful not to over-apply it. But, as careful as I was, it still left white residue showing when the moss/wood was back in the tank.

Tying is a better option (between the two) and I think I'll stick to that in the future.

The first two photos are glueing and after the glue dried (wood back in the tank). Notice the white showing through the moss. I'm hoping it will be hidden in a few weeks.

The rest of the pics are of tied moss. Incidently, I had intended on putting Flame Moss on the far right end (the 'nose') of the wood, but only realized I grabbed the Christmas Moss after I tied the final knot. NO WAY I was going to undo it and start all over! I think it will look really good once it starts growing out.

The moss I glued was only on the top of the wood. I did part Flame (to the right) and part Christmas (left) so I could see if there is any difference later.

I'll update after a few weeks on whether or not the glued moss was able to attach.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea83626572ad400000016109AasmbJs2bI
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea83627176a0c00000016109AasmbJs2bI
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea8362037ab8700000016109AasmbJs2bI
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea83625e86af200000016109AasmbJs2bI

The following two are what my daughter calls "Dinosaur Tail"
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea8362043abf300000016109AasmbJs2bI
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea83623ef6af600000016109AasmbJs2bI

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea83625bfeb9500000016109AasmbJs2bI
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea8362d566a4800000016109AasmbJs2bI

I hope the pics are 'view-able'. But if not, and you REALLY want to see them, I can email them.

-Dave


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

davemonkey said:


> So, I read not too long ago on this forum about someone who described tying moss to driftwood. They talked about wishing for a third arm and how they actually had to hold the wood in place with their feet!
> 
> "HA HA HA!" I laughed to myself. "Surely that's a joke! Very funny indeed."
> "After all," I continued in my inexperienced infant stage of thought, "how hard could it possibly be to tie some moss to a piece of wood? And not only shall I do that, but I shall endeavor to attatch some with SUPERGLUE! HA HA HA! Very funny indeed!"
> ...


Exact same experience I had, and I still dread having to do it.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I just had to laugh at your tying experience! ound: It is easier if you get it soaking wet. The water helps it to stay while you are futzing with the thread.

FYI the Xmas moss grows cascading downward. The flame moss grows up like a flame. Hope this works with your layout. Wish you had included a px of your tank!!! Can you see the entire tank please....


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Hey Tex!

Even though I mixed up where I was putting the moss, I think it will look good with my 'new' layout. 

I just ordered some lower-light plants (7 crypts wendtii, 2 hygo.diff, 2 more anubias, another java fern, and a bolbitus fern) to replace some plants I'm tossing out. (I was doing an experiment with Juncus repens and it didn't go well.) I'll be doing some shuffling around with others as well. 

If you look at my second post in this thread, there is a link to a full-tank shot.


That's how it looked until yesterday. (The shorter green hair-like plants in the front/right corner are the Juncus repens. It turns out they need higher light than I have, or at least better quality. Half my light is actinic, (50/50 10K with Actinic at 130 Watts total) which I just learned doesn't do much for plants. So, I consider my tank Low-Light for now.)

Anyway, once those come in and I redecorate, I'll post the new pics. Any idea how to get the pic to show up in my threads instead of just a link?


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

One member of the forum helped me a lot with tons of stuff, including posting my pictures.
I'll just copy his explanation. Even I could get it right away! Very easy and free, here it is:

"I load my pictures to a host site (I use www.photobucket.com) and when you upload the pics, you will see them with 4 windows below each picture.
The bottom bar starts and ends with .
That it the one you want.

You put your mouse over the window and click on it and it Auto Copies it.
Then you go to your post and PASTE it.

It shows up as a long string of text sort of like this

[IMG] http photobucket/whatever/109849-5-984 [IMG]

I used spaces that will not be there so it would show up in this post and not as an error, but you get the idea.
You can put many of these in one post plus you won't run out of space for your downloads on this site.
If you ever pull up an old post and find boxes with no photo's, it is because a user deleted them to make room for more in newer threads, and that can be frustrating to the viewer.

Now you can type above it and below this line, you can add spaces in between the lines and you can put text above each line so you can add comments to your photo's.

You will need to log onto photobucket, create an account, and then you can figure it out, it is easy.
You can make different folders just like it were on your computer so you can keep better track of your web albums and the like".
So I went to that photobucket.com and I was pleasantly surprised how easy, quick and spam free it was.

I just thought, what's going to happen if you use that [IMG] in the beginning and the end of the link, any link? 
I got to try it out myself! :D

Good luck!


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db26b3127ccea83623ef6af600000016109AasmbJs2bI[IMG]

:D Nope. Just Typing [IMG] in front of your link doesn't work. The picture has to be on the host site, like that photobucket. Sorry for this experiment right here! 
I just must experiment with everything, including moss attaching with the glue :mrgreen:


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for the photo help Shurik! I'll try that when I post update pics.

As for moss and glue, just use the glue sparingly, and don't let your fingers get stuck.

-Dave


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I found this green coated wire at Michael's Craft Stores in the floral arrangement section. It's super thin and so easy to use. I've been using it for about 6 months now in several tanks and it hasn't rusted it all. What's great is the wire is green barely noticeable.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

> : "I found this green coated wire at Michael's Craft Stores in the floral arrangement section. It's super thin and so easy to use. I've been using it for about 6 months now in several tanks and it hasn't rusted it all. What's great is the wire is green barely noticeable."
> 
> You know, I had actually tried to find something like that at the local WalMart, but they have just a tiny art/craft section (town with 3,100 people) and I couldn't find anything. Next time I go to Abilene I'm going to pick some up, though. That would take a great deal of the hassle out of the job.
> 
> I still need to find something to attach some more moss to a large flat surface (so I'm not winding twine or wire over the entire piece of wood just to get moss to stick on the front). Maybe there are some teeny tiny tacks or "U"-shape miniature nails. I think I read somewhere that 'Hoppycalif' had recommended tacks to someone for such a job.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

davemonkey said:


> > :
> > I still need to find something to attach some more moss to a large flat surface (so I'm not winding twine or wire over the entire piece of wood just to get moss to stick on the front). Maybe there are some teeny tiny tacks or "U"-shape miniature nails. I think I read somewhere that 'Hoppycalif' had recommended tacks to someone for such a job.
> 
> 
> If you use cork for the big flat surface, simple staples made from pieces of wire, bent to a U shape work fine. If you use wood it isn't that easy, but with great care you could use regular staples normally sold to hold wire fence material in place.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

hoppycalif said:


> davemonkey said:
> 
> 
> > If you use cork for the big flat surface, simple staples made from pieces of wire, bent to a U shape work fine. If you use wood it isn't that easy, but with great care you could use regular staples normally sold to hold wire fence material in place.
> ...


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Great job! Looking good. Think you have a good tank going on there!


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Here's the tank pre-moss and pre-dead-Juncus. The basic layout will not change, but I'll be re-doing many of the plants and getting in some fresh stuff. I'll post the updated pics (with better quality photo) in a week or two, and I'll get close-ups in thirds.










-davemonkey


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Well, it's been a week since I glued and tied the moss. They seem to be growing the same and the glue is still holding fast. So far, so good.

I also trimmed some of each moss and tied it to a small rock I had at the front of my aquarium to see how Christmas Moss and Flame Moss will co-exist. At the back-middle of the rock I put Flame, and surrounding it is the Christmas.

Once I get the new plants in I'll post updates of my new "moss rock" along with my set-up, but I'll put that all in the Aquascaping area.










-Dave


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

Hello, Davemonkey, thanks for visiting my thread, it was really nice to see you! 

Perhaps you’ve heard of this way to attach the moss, but I just discovered it for myself: 
some people are using hair net! 
It is so fine you can’t even see it; it is just like a spider net, very fine and stretchy. You can find it in some pharmacy or any hair place; it comes in different colors to match different hair color, so you can match it to any rock or wood, but it is really so thin you can barely see it. It comes especially handy when you want to cover something awkwardly shaped, big and not really suited for using a thread or a wire to wrap it around, like a big rock or your wood or something bulky.

It is totally out of fashion and I got mine at $1 store, the whole bunch of them. Will try it out along with all other ways of doing it 

Any good news with your “moss journey”? I believe the glue worked out OK. 

Cheers!


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Shurik, 
yep, I heard about the hair net, but have not tried it. So far I'm pleased with the glue in that it is beginning to break down a little (so it eventually will deteriorate by the time the moss is attached and there won't be unsightly white residue). But I think I'm going to stick with thread or nylon string on the easier-to-tie objects. 
The hair net sounds like a good idea, but there's no way I'm going to wrestle that piece of wood out of the aquarium again any time soon!

I do have another piece of wood I can try it on, but first I have to get another aquarium...and that may be a long wait. 

Keep us posted on what all you try out and how it works/if one is quicker than another.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Here's a wrap-up.

After 24 days, I have just done a major trim of the moss. The trim was mostly because I tied it on very thick and "long" and my fish were playing tug-of-war with it, so I wanted to get it down low and let it thicken up some more.

But, I noticed while trimming that the glue was breaking down and the moss was holding on with it's little rhiziods (both the Flame and the Christmas have attached successfully). The moss that I tied was doing the same.

So, the answer to the question "*Can you use superglue to attach moss to driftwood*?" is: *Yep*. You can, just don't over-do the glue.

I think I would only recommend it though for attaching things to pieces where using string, wire, or netting aren't easy. (Such as the top nook of the mopani I used.)

Here's a pic just before trimming this morning.









-Dave :bathbaby:


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## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

I've tried hair nets but found the netting holes to small. What I used was plastic netting. The stuff you get when you buy onions or potatoes. What worked best was the plastic netting on large bones the I bought for my dog. I would put flat rocks in the bottom to hold them down or leave the rocks out and tie the netting to driftwood. Worked great. I did a whole foreground in moss one time. All with moss in plastic netting.

Hawk


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