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Hey guys I'm working on my very first vivarium, its a 75 gallon tank with cork bark background and eco earth substrate, also it has a false bottom. my question is what types of plants would be good in this setup. I also have a T5 lighting fixture.
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Zoomed's Eco Earth is only compressed coconut fiber. That product by itself, isn't really suitable overall. It soaks and clogs and covers frogs like coffee grounds.I think, while plants CAN grow and root in it....there are many better alternatives.
A much better substrate is ABG
Hit up "ABG" in this site (Dart Den) search function block at the top right of the page.
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Yes..."Jungle mix is better". You can even add some of that Coco coir / eco earth to it in small amounts.
Milled or Long Steam Spaghnum is found at all Lowes and Homedepot maybe even Walmart. You'll need some of that too.
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i have plenty of spaghnum moss, so should i just mix it all together?
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yet...mix it by hand in a large, clean / no chemicals, bucket or similar.
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what types of plants do you recommend?
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As stated, ABG and substrates like that are great. I tend to make my own mix:
Small portion of coco
Small portion of peat
Small sized bark
Small sized aquarium gravel ( the porous kind that hold nutrients )
Dried Sphagnum or Creeping moss
Crushed up leaves.
The ABG stuff is similar, but has charcoal and tree fern twigs.
You can see that the idea is something that doesn't necessarily compact well. Tropical plants like air to reach their roots so this medium provides those needs. Its also provides the right 'space' for your micro-fauna to go nuts! I nice bunch of leaves on top and you are set!
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Eco Earth is just BAD to use by itself for all the reasons above. NOW if you cut it, or combine several other 'ABG" type products, then yes....it's 'usable'.
It any event. Use a COUPLE layers of leaf litter in most all Viv designs. Your frogs will literally thank you for it.
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EntoCraig Wrote:As stated, ABG and substrates like that are great. I tend to make my own mix:
Small portion of coco
Small portion of peat
Small sized bark
Small sized aquarium gravel ( the porous kind that hold nutrients )
Dried Sphagnum or Creeping moss
Crushed up leaves.
The ABG stuff is similar, but has charcoal and tree fern twigs.
You can see that the idea is something that doesn't necessarily compact well. Tropical plants like air to reach their roots so this medium provides those needs. Its also provides the right 'space' for your micro-fauna to go nuts! I nice bunch of leaves on top and you are set!
I did much reading on these forums, and was going to do complete coco husk before I started. This group changed my mind.
This is similar to what I did, all components weren't easy to find in my area, so I used what I could find from the ABG, and improvised what was available. We are building vivs, not piano's, so the right elements in the right mix are more important I have found than the exact ingredients. My frogs actually dig around in mine, I can only assume trying to root out springs if I didn't feed them enough FF's, but it's 'fluffy' enough for them to do that. If you can't find some of the main ingredients, check a specialty type plant store in your area, they will probably have them, but listed by a different name like orchid bark. Which is how I found my fine bark.
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