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Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

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Alternatives to ABG mix?
#1
Hello, I purchased an Exo Terra terrarium kit for darts. It comes with "Exo Terra Plantation Soil" I am still a little fuzzy on ABG mix and really want to get started with substrate this weekend, so I was wondering will this stuff be good for plants? Has anyone had experience with it. The stuff comes in a brick and it says you have to add it to water and stir. Thank You. PS Should have the tank setup before July.
Cer Was Here!
0.0.3 "Chocolate" Leucomelas
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#2
Unless you want to cut corners, ABG mix is easy to make or buy and is best suited to beginning with Dart Frogs. Plants do well in it too.


As to why Ecco earth / CoCo fibe / Brick / ect is bad:

Go ahead and buy a clean 5 gallon bucket.

Break open that "brick" , dump it into the bucket and add water / stir.

Notice how it looks like coffee grounds and sticks to the bucket and sticks to your hands and sticks to the mixing stir stick.

It will most likely stick to your frog as well. This is not good for your frogs or plants.

You'll also need leaf litter.
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#3
Here's another very good source for substrate supplies.

http://www.vivariumconcepts.com/supplie ... -substrate
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"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
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#4
Agreed, I use a mix of the coco fiber and perlite to root my plants. when the plants are left in this stuff for around 2 months or more they seem to crash. I thoroughly believe this to be related to the fact that there are small amounts of salt in the coco fiber.

A better mix would be Long fiber Sphagnum (Orchid moss) fir bark, and clay. You can also toss in peat moss as well. Im currently experimenting with this mixture but with coco fiber instead of peat. So far the results have been mixed.

To be honest the mix I mentioned should cost you less than $25 buying the components at retail stores and should be enough for about 2 20H vivs.

Also Phil is right. You definitely need a bunch of leaf litter! The micro fauna love it and it helps the frogs feel more secure as well.

Todd
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#5
I mix up my own all the time and it usually consists of:

Small portion Peat
Small Portion Coco
Crushed up Leaves
Small Bark
Milled sphagnum or Brachythecium mosses
Porous aquarium gravel (Eco Complete or Flourite)

Top this off with a healthy serving of leaves!


I dont really do exact measurments. Its hand mixed and I go off of a feel, rather then portions or looks.

I like to 'scape' my tanks so this means there will be several small section where I have ground cover plants or mosses growing. The particular plants prefer more acidic soil and a more dense soil for growing. In these sections I mix up a 50/50 coco/peat mix. Peat is acidic and the coco hold water well, making it a great spot for moss. I sprinkle spores in this area or place colonies of moss onto.


(just realized how old this post is :oops: )
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#6
This isn't an old thread...2011.....

It's perfectly good to raise a long dead thread and revive it as well....easier to have a few threads with a similar topic than 100 small ones.
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#7
Ok good. Some forums get super pissy when you reopen old stuff, even stuff only a few months old.
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