Design your dream terrarium

[Linda]

A neighbors' 55 gal fish tank sprung a leak

, and I kindly offered to take it off his hands and he agreed

. Now the challange is setting it up, love these kinds of problems

. It measures 47 inches long, 20 inches high, and roughly 12 inches deep (sorry, don't know metric conversion and too old to learn

). It will go in my living room, in front of a west facing picture window which gets difused sunlight because of the window blinds. Electricty has to be kept to a minimum because of old wiring in my house; I plan on lights, would love a waterfall but don't think I can do both. Since it is the living room, shop lights are out (that is the hubby speaking, not me; I see the beauty in the plants, he sees the beauty in the set up). I'm thinking the kitchen undercounter floresecnt lights they sell at walmart may work, I've not been there yet to measure them but I remember seeing a double tube set up that may fit on top if I get two of them. I suppose another option is a true acquirium hood and light for reptiles; although from what I've read I'm not sure I like this idea (cost and heat factor).

Ok, now for the contents. I would like to create a natural setting, but leave plants in their own pots (I want the best of all worlds

). The plants I have so far are: 2 unknown Neps, 1 D. Spath, 1 D. Capasis, and some Ultric tricolor. I also have a few none carnivores that will like the environment (I think): a coffee plant, a fern, and a star plant. I'm thinking a layer of charcol, orchid bark and lava rock on the bottom to keep a couple of inches of water. The pots I expect can be covered with moss somehow to hide them. I've read about people using egg crates between the water level and the plants, any idea on where I can get these? Or other ideas for what to use. I was thinking those green baskets that fruit is in at the grocery store might work, they can be cut down to size then covered in moss. I want to use a tree branch for the Nepth to climb on.

So now, take it from here-----what other plants? what other ideas? Cost is a factor, but feel free to lay out your desire and I'll deceide if I can handle it. Have fun, be creative!!!!!

 

[Pyro]

As much as I love to design "natural-mimic" terrariums (you should see the set-up I've got for my reptiles) my first thought in all this is that this is your terrarium and you should design it your way so that it is special to you.

Okay, now that I have said that to ease my conscience

I have a ton running through my mind.

First question, this leak you talk about, how big and where? I'd be concerned about water draining out through the leak and ruining your carpet and such (has happened to me more times than I can count.) My recommendation for this; silicon based aquarium sealer.

The lava rock, orchid bark mix on the bottom is probably a good idea but I would hesitate on the charcoal. Yes it'll absorb toxins and such but this is will be a closed system so eventually two things will happen, the charcoal will absorb all it can and then be worthless and the charcoal will start to breakdown over time releasing all the nasty stuff back into the set up. I realized that with out the charcoal there will still be toxin build up but you will always have that in mind so you won't be inclined to say to yourself "Hmm I should probably change out the media soon but since I have the charcoal I can wait till I get a better chance" and then forget to do it till your plants are all sick.

On top of the lava rock : orchid bark I would place a layer of LF sphag to act as both a wick for moisture and a barrier for the next layer of media.

If you are going to leave all your plants in their pots then you could probably just fill in the rest of the space with sphag and use that to hide the pots.

Do note that your Drosera and the Utrics will more than likely decide to spread out of their pots and into the terrarium media.

For decoration I would just go woth what you can find. Rocks and stones add a lot of character, boil them before putting them in the terrarium to eliminate any unwanted hitch-hikers. Grapevine make great branches, as do dense hardwoods like willow, cottonwood and the like. Avoid softwoods like pine ans they tend to rot fast. Obviously, do not use treated wood or unwashed driftwood.

For companion plant I have always liked philodendron vine because it has good colour, grows well to cover "bald spots" and is easily trimmed. I also recommend spider plants because they actually help to de-toxify the soil. With the branches and stuff you could go for spanish moss and other "air plants."

I'm going to stop here before I get the overwhelming urge to jump in my car and drive the 35 hours back to Colordo just to pick up my 55 gallon tank that I had to leave behind.

Pyro

 

[Linda]

Great start Pyro, just what I'm looking for. I agree about the leak and trying to fix some. I plan to use some silcon around the edge which is where the owner said he thought it was. I also appreciate your comments about it is my tank and what makes me happy; but I'm a firm believer in the more thoughts the better then take it from there. Since this is in my living room, I'd really like it to be the focal point where people say "OH, how COOL", not "oh, cool---cough cough cough to hide the giggles".

Thanks for the non carnivore ideas, and I hadn't thought of stone which I should have cause that is my outside yard passion right now. Building a flat rock patio for under the shade tent and going looking for stones this weekend, will keep an eye for good ones for here too.

Keep the ideas coming please.

 

[Pyro]

Something I just thought of concerning stones. You should (obviously) avoid limestone and any other calcium based stone. I also tend to shy away from sandstones (unless I am making a desert vivarium

) because they have an annoying tendancy to absorb and concentrate salts. Quartz and granite tend to work best.

Pyro

 

[jack]

Linda, I have a shop light over my tank. And to make it look good I painted it dark brown. I found contact paper that matched the wood grain of my tank, stuck it carefully to the light. Know I have a very nice looking hood that cost me about $15.00. Be creative

Hope this helps, Jack.
Also, if you take peat moss and make it part of of your topping, little seeds will sprout and you can grow not only live spagnum, but also small ferns (at least thats what happen in my terrarium).

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Don't know a thing about aquariums and very little about terrariums, but couldn't you use a small aquarium water pump to pump water from the bottom of your terrarium up over some rocks for a waterfall or possibly through an activated charcoal filter then over the rocks?

 

[lithopsman]

Pyro, I'd like to see your reptiles setup..., but you should see my leopard gecko's 20 gal. desert terrarium!! Anyway... I love this stuff. First of all, if you want to cover your plant's pot's, you should add something around them that moss would thrive in. As for a waterfall, buy a small reptile pump from petsmart.com.
Just my $0.02

 

[clemsonrola]

Gosh you guys are going to make me want to drive to the pet store to start buying up the store!

Is it possible to see some pics of your creations?

 

[Linda]

Thank you for the input everyone, I had a long weekend off so this is my first time back on the board. I love the thoughts.

Jack, I am back to considering the shop light and like your ideas to dress it up some. What I saw at thie store this weekend will either mean 4 individual light units that look good or one shop light. I figure the shop light will be the better deal.

Lithopsman and Big CarnivourKid, the small pump is a plan for down the road. Talked to hubby will need to update our circut box and then rewire which is more than we can afford right now. We have more things plugged into our house than it can take right now. I do plan on creating the layout of the tank to allow for a pump when I can get it done.

I was rock hunting this weekend and found several nice size rocks to get things started. I'm real excited about getting it going. Filled the tank up about 5 inches (more than I'm going to use) and no leaks. So I'm ready to get started!!!!!! Keep the ideas flowing, I love them.

 

[unknownclown]

You know before I got into CPs I ahd a tank with anoles and other lizzards and a emperror scorpion. In one corner I created a small tank by using caulking and scrap plexiglass and I put sone fish in that

Of course the scorpion ate the anoles, it would catch them by thier tails dangling while they were sitting on the little log I gave them and Reel them in and then the scorpion eventually fell in the tank and drowned. But live and learn

Now I wish I had that set up cause it would have been a cool set up for neps!

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Go with as much light as you can produce: the shop lights are really the way to go. (2) 40 watt bulbs is good, but 4 are even better, esp. if you don't use staging to raise the plants to within 6 inches of the bulbs. Forget the charcoal, it's not needed and Pyro's comments are on the mark regarding its use. I used inverted pots to raise the level, masking them with live sphagnum moss. There are problems in using pots in a natural setting: it is difficult to provide tray watering. You might want to consider some form of individual resavoir for each pot/species which would let you place pots in esthetic spots rather than be limited to one level. Do be careful about which rocks you choose, and I would disinfect any branches by soaking in a dilute bleach solution as bark is the perfect place for fungus to hang out just waiting to infect the terrarium.

 

[Linda]

Tamlin, thanks so much for your insight. I have deceided to take Pyro's advise and chuck the charcoal. I have inverted pots planned for the nepths that don't want to sit in water. I have been a bit concerned about how to get the sundews higher to the lights but still keep them standing in water and still haven't figured out how I'm going to deal with that issue. I visualize the tank set up as woodland on one side and bog on the other, but not sure what the end result will be.

So far, the tank has been cleaned, I've washed off a bag of large lava rock and small chunks of lava rock and the bottom is just barely covered. Technical question RE Lava Rock, doesn't it contain calcium and could that be a problem? I've also added some washed decorative stone (not fish tank stone, but the larger smooth like river rock stone). I'm going to need more though, the wooded area I want to build up higher than the bog area. Have to get more Orchid Bark for the next layer. I had planned to put LF moss on top of the Orchid Bark, then sit the sundews on top of that (but will give serious thought to your suggestions and see how I can incorporate it, maybe a plastic tray of some sort that can be covered). In my mind, I was planning on 3 to max of 4 inches deep on the low end and 5-6 inches deep on the high end; water to cover the lower end. Right now without water or plants or top, the humidity level is just over 70%. The rocks that I use that come from outdoors I plan to clean with bleach, boiling water (as Pyro says) and will also not sit them directly on the medium, but use a plastic butter or coffee can lid as the base for them to sit on, I hope that will avoid any possible leaching problems. I will remember about the tree branches and bleaching also, good point.

Going looking for shop lights this weekend, I have deceided that is the way to go. I hope the light from the window the tank will sit next to will assit to provide added light to compensate for the distance issues.

Pyro, if your still out there reading this, when you refered to using grape vine did you mean grape vine as a live plant, or just the vine a decoration? I am intriged about that as I live in grape country and have plenty available. Some dead grape vine hanging like a tarzan swing could be cool; am a little concerned about it alive as I'd always be pruning it I think.

Thanks again for everyones insight. Sorry if this is too long, can you tell I'm having fun?

 

[Pyro]

I'm still out here reading

Re: Lava rock. I beliefe lavarock is mostly basalt and neutral in pH (but bear in ming I am not a geologist

) I have been using it in all my mixes instead of perlite and I have yet to see any adverse reaction.


Re: Grape vine. I was refering to dead stuff because it is pretty and easy to clean, plus bigger sections from closer to the main plant tend to be rigid and many branched offering great places for epiphytes and such. Live stuff could be interesting too and would add some colour but I can definitly see how pruning would be a problem

Re: Watering/moisture issues. Aeons ago, when I had my 55 gallon tank set up as a "lake side" vivarium I created a buffered watering system using 4 sheets of plexi-glass. It was a bit elaborate but basically what I did was drilled three 1/16" holes about 1" from the base of the first sheet, two about 2" from the base of the second, two 3" from the base of the third and one 1" from the top of the fourth. I glued these in the tank (at about a 30 degree angle as it was supposed to simulate a shore but there is no reason they cant be verticle) with the first being closest to the water with an inch of space between each sheet. I filled the spaces with ultra fine sand blasting sand mixed with a little peat. The way it worked was that the water would seep through the drill holes and capillary to the next level. By keeping the final hole above the "water-line" the rest of the tank was only being watered by capillary action. This set up worked great for me and I would guess that you could set up someting similar but increase the space between the sheets for different wetness zones.


Pyro

 

[Linda]

Pyro, what a great idea with the plexi glass, I will have to study on that a bit and figure out how I can make it work.

Another technical question: If there is 3 to 4 inches of water in a sealed tank (a couple of open inches for ventalition), I'm not expecting the need to water often. Is that a mistaken expectation? I figure most everything will be kept well watered just from the evaporation that has no place to go but back inside the tank. The nepths may be the only exception as they will sit above the water, although I ponder if they sit on a basket type container and if I cut the bottom off the pot they may do ok too. My soil mix for them is peat, small lava rock and LF Moss (which looks to be alive in one of them). The woodland plants I plan to set up a wick system with yarn, so even though they won't sit directly in water, the yarn will be below water level and keep them damp.

Well, guess I better get working now. I'm out the rest of the week, so look forward to any new thoughts when I get back on Monday (and I'll probably cheat and look in again later today

)

 

[Pyro]

With a constant water table you probably won't need to add all that often but moisture has a way of escaping when it wants too. The nice thing about your set-up is that is allows you to see the water table so you'll know when it needs and when it doesn't.

With the Neps, if the capillary action is right then enough moisture should come up through the soil for them to absorb. What you might consider is take the thing you are going to use as a prop and stuff it full of sphag and then cut the bottom out. Now, when you put it in the tank the moisture will capillary up the moss. Thread some strands of sphag through the drainage holes of the Nep pots place them on top of the exposed moss. That should allow sufficient moisture to wick into the pot for the Nep.

Pyro