My first Vivarium in progress

[Avarax]

ok so here are some shots of the moss process.
first a shot of the moss I chose

[Avarax]

After rinsing thourougly we toss it in a blender with some buttermilk,



Then Puree untill a smooth liquid,



then brush onto the surface you want the moss to grow on,



some shots of the mix added to the Vivarium,





I figured I would toss some on some rocks in the garden as well just to see how it would take,



Well that is the application of the moss-mix. It has been a week now and tommorrow I'll post some picks of the weeks growth.

[PGB]

Looks gr8, Does the moss butter milk mix smell? I wanna try it but the wife gets real mad if i do anything that has a smell to it (like greatstuff silicone flevopal)

cant wait to see a weeks growth

[TDoern]

Can't wait for the new pics! It's looks amazing so far!

[Avarax]

Yeah it does kinda smell, you will definitley want to do this outside. ok so here are some new photos, taken one week later. They look better in real life and the difference is not drastic but all the moss seems to be growing. I suspect that once I can increase and stabilize the humidity it will do much better.





The rocks in the garden one week later,



This is the new insert I ordered from First Class Aquatics fully installed.



Next I am testing the pump and adjusting for the waterfall flow. Should all go well I will start planting this next week or so. Keep checking for more pics!

[Avarax]

Ok so everything is working and I just had to keep going with this. Here are some shots of the eggcrate covered first with cheesecloth then fiberglass screen,




So once that layer is done I can add my stones and start creating the water feature. Here are some shots of this stage finished.






This photo shows the two piece driftwood waterfall (sorry folks no running water in the pic yet but soon I promise) the water streams out of the burl piece and onto the other twisting piece of driftwood.



Well next I am going to add the dirt and maybee a plant or two. Stay tuned!

[Avarax]

Well today I added the soil. I am using a peat moss mix totally organic and chemical free. So here is some near complete eye candy. Enjoy!





and as promised a picture of the waterfall in action.

[JadedRapport]

The tank looks really great! How is that moss coming along?

[Avarax]

well the whole tank has been covered in long whispy white mold for the past week. This totally freaked me out. All this hard work building and just getting to the finished stages. I lost it and forgot the most important universal rule, "Dont Panic"
So after talking to my friend who recommended the buttermilk technique and researching moss as well as posting the mold problem and getting feedback, I am fairly confident that the mold is normal and will eventually go away. I will post pictures soon and keep updating as it progresses.

[Avarax]

So the mold just wouldnt go away. It took over. I dont know what went wrong but it isnt good. Does any one have any real experience with this? Please Help.
For now I am drying the Viv out and cleaning it completley. I am hoping that the wood I have set into the back ground is not permanantly contaminated with the mold. Back to square one? or am I lucky and can get away with just a little backtracking.
Well wish me luck and I'll post more when I can actually get back to working on this.

[Mantella Guy]

I don't know about you, but I wopuldn't worry about it. The mold means the viv is doing what it is supossed too. Looks Great.
Brooks

[Avarax]

Havent posted in a while so I thought I'd give an update. The Mold completley took over! Everything is covered in a thick white gunk. It has been like two months and it hasnt gone away. The better half wanted it out of the house with all that mold so I complied. It has been outside for a month in warm weather and with the water removed to cut down on humidity. For now this Vivarium is scrapped and I will finish it when and if I can get this mold problem taken care of.
My theory is that the buttermilk-moss tecnique does work but that I used way too much buttermilk for such a small enclosed space.
IF YOU ARE USING BUTTERMILK TO BLEND WITH MOSS USE ONLY A FEW SPOONFULLS AND ADD SOME WATER!
Just a note so hopefully no one else experiences this problem. Well I will post more if any additional progress is made or when I start a new Vivarium.
Sayonara

[Philsuma]

Check out this odd shape plexi cube / corner viv.....really weird, but kinda cool.