What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

my 125 gal terrarium

i have the basic builing done now, heres the tank, was originally a saltwater reef tank, is drilled on one side too, very heavy tank!

125galtank_1.JPG


125galtank_2.JPG


this is the tank stand, its made out of angle iron, plywood, and presswood
125tankstand.JPG


this is my humidifier, it will stay in the tank, controlling the humidity, its automatic.
digitalhumidifier.JPG



i built this lighting, its made out of aluminum rain gutters, painted one side, 4 4ft sunshine bulbs 2 and 2 staggered, light covering only the planted part.
lighthood.JPG

lighthood2.JPG


anysuggestions on the drainage, or layers, drainage, ets?  going to be housing nepenthes, VFT's, sundews, sarr., worts, and some other plants that can do well in a terrarium for added color, what do you think of dendrobates going in?( poison arrow frogs).

   ccrider

dang! i cant see pics, heres the page they are on125 gal tank
 
i noticed something, the pictures was coming in fine, until i noticed i mispelled a word, i went to edit, put in the missing letter, then submitted, the pics werent showing anymore, could this be contributing to why my pics wont show? anyways, the link is up top here, please look, and any advice on doing the peat moss and what ever else i need to put with it, under it, in the hilled areas, which is wwhat i want to do
smile.gif
in some areas, should i raise it up an inch, then landscape? thank you for any help
smile.gif


           ccrider

hmm, now the pics are up, oh well, LOL!
 
I think you should add a drainage system. Ccrider19012, whenever I built a cp terrarium, I always put in a landscape form. (Seems so boring if it planted flat across the terrarium. )I guess you can start an inch and than work your selfup, creating a couple hills for the Nepenthes and the lowest level, probably add the small CP like Sundews, Cephalotus. And in a couple of areas,you could add Utric to spruce it up a little bit. Add pieces of wood and rocks to make it more natural looking. That's my opinion.
 
i plan on putting like mini walls, made outta rock fomations, plants being above and behind this, low land areas, a couple hilly areas, plants on top and the sides, should i put a 1 inch layer of pearlite, then peat moss on top? just over a foot on the left of the tank is where the humidifier sits, and the light grid it sits on, and a grid wall setup bout 6 inches, seperating it, i figure, the drainage will seap that way, and i can soak it up with sponge. there will be a screen covering the grid wall too, so no loose bedding coming through there, does this sound good? heres the link again

ccrider click here for the tank pics
 
I would suggest first you consider keeping all plants in their seperate pots and then bury the pot. This will make life a whole lot easier if you want to move something cause it doesn't work out, or if there is a problem with the plant and you need to remove it.

I have used lava rock as the base for mine, covered by peat, then covered by lfs; this has helped in the drainage issue The lava rock piled higher in the areas that I wanted a mound or hill look; I've also wicked some of my non cps planted in these mounds so as to draw up any water that is at the bottom of the tank.

I am working on re designing a portion of the tank, specifically where the cp's are. I'm planning on using a seperate non draining container and hope the affect to result in a creek that ends in a bog. This is not done yet, still in the planning stages.

Well, this is some starting ideas, good luck
 
heres some pics of the tank after i started filling, waiting for all the new plants to come, then position them, im still gonna be doing some landscaping, i am gonna keep the ones i have coming in their pots till i figure what im gonna do, so much room
tounge.gif
, i moved my VFT and purple pitcher plant from the 10 gal tank, they are not potted, but well watered, im using superthrive in my spray bottle, could i use it in my humidifier? would there be enough effect, since they do soak up moisture? also, the hilled areas, i plan on putting my nepenthes there, the bottom is over an inch thick of pearlite, and the rest is peat moss, where plants do get planted in the ground, i have petflytraps' bags of peat/pearlite mixture that goes around whats in the pots, theres a lot of room, so i can put a lot of small plants across to fill space, i want to target areas for some of the bigger plants, you can see i wrapped the tank in foil too
smile.gif
and theres high humidity and good air circulation, think the pearlite is enough for drainage? the place where the humidifier is, thats open on the bottom for drainage from underneath, and extra air curculation too.
125galtank_3.JPG


venusflytrap1.JPG


purplepitcherplant1.JPG


ccrider
 
Back
Top