Terrarium Topdressing

[Sundrew]

Hey everyone!

So for the holiday season I am making a sundew terrarium for a friend. I'm wondering what would be a good topdressing to cover the peat/sand mix the dews will be planted in. My friend is going to display the tank, so we were thinking of something showy. So far I (with the help of Lil Stinkpot) have thought of white sand, fine aquarium gravel, a "grass" of utrics, or sphagnum. The plants for the terrarium will be capensis, adelae, and spatulata, so nothing too tough. There will be a waterfall for humidity, and a powerful CFL for substantial lighting. I'd love any more suggestions or pros and cons of what has been brainstormed.

Thank you very much!

 

[cp777]

I like the spag idea, the utrics would tend to flower and make the tank look like it was the only thing in it IMO.

 

[tatorger]

I agree with sphagnum. you can grow anything in it, it grows quickly, and if you get a fancy species; something compact or not green i think it could look really cool. How big is the terrarium?

 

[jimscott]

live LFS

 

[AshG2385]

Red and green live LFS would look awesome! Maybe with some of those glass decorative beads you can get at Walmart or wherever...

 

[richjam1986]

While spahgnum would look awesome, it might overgrow the D. spatulata in particular. Also, it would take a while to get looking real nice. I love sphagnum as much as the next CP'er, but just some thoughts.
White sand could look really cool, then you could plant some utrics in it too

 

[Sundrew]

Thanks everyone! I was not to certain about sphagnum, because the species I have currently is touchy and not the puffiest for decoration. We were considering a light covering of black sand to accent the red capes and multifida extrema we're going to plant. The terrarium is a 20 gallon, 2' L x 1' W x 1.5' H. I have two reflectors with a 1600L, 5000K CFL in each. Thanks for all the responses, I may convince him to put some sphagnum around the little pond.

 

[Fish n Plants]

This is a little late but I just thought of something. You can use aquarium carpet/forground plants in emersed form like dwarf baby tears ("HC") or maybe glosso...just an idea and good luck!