Habitat - Indoor :: Moss balls

[Bearkitten]

Has anyone used moss balls in their tank?

[ljapa]

I had one for a while. My turtle didn't bother it, but I found that it was just a great attractor of gunk, including any loose bits of stool.

I ultimately pulled it.

It did not cause any harm. I did not notice any algae outbreaks anywhere. When it's not covered in gunk, it does look kind of cool.

[Bearkitten]

Did it help keep the tank a little cleaner? My friend puts hers in her fish tank and suggested it to me.

[ljapa]

Not really. They grow so slowly and turtle produce so much waste, that it did not make a difference in my nitrates that I could tell.

[Bearkitten]

Okay. Thanks. Do you have experience with other plants with your turtles?

[AndreaF590]

I use to have one of the artificial moss balls in my tank. It says it's supposed to help keep the water clear. I took it out after a while and didn't get a new one and my water is clear either way so I'm not sure if it helps at all. If you just like the look of it though, my turtle liked to play with it at first. It took a while to sink and when it was floating he'd nudge it around and stuff.

[Bearkitten]

Okay cool. I have a ping pong ball in the tank that floats around and both turtles enjoy messing with it. They haven't redecorated since I put it in there. Thanks!

[VeipaCray]

Like ljapa said, the amount of waste a turtle produces compared to fish is off the charts. You'd have to invest in a moss ball farm with super high LUX lighting to get the moss balls to do anything beneficial beyond decoration in a turtle tank.

[Bearkitten]

Alright. I'm ordering a new filer soon and I'm going to use both in my tanks

[MEandYouPhoto]

I wish I had seen this post sooner so I could give you some warning. I had put in 3 of those Miramo Moss Balls in with my 7 inch male RES and he thought they were play snacks. He DESTROYED them in about 4 minutes. Tore them all to little shred. (what an awful mess to clean out of the tank and my filter. I do not recommend them for larger turtles unless they "grew up" with them. Smaller turtles would probably be ok.