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 #1818997


Gutted
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 Help with a vivarium setup for my FBTs

i finally got a big tank from my boy (at least a 75 gallon, ill get the dimensions tommorrow) and i really want to do a vivarium setup with natural plants. i want to do a body of water in the middle and land at the to ends so my fbt’s have a reason to swim. i read that alot of people use the "egg crate" from home depot/lowes to put under the substrate but after that im lost on what materials to use.

which substrate should i use?
what plants can i / should i use?
what should i do about filtration?

i found a site called www.blackjungle.com and they have alot of variety of plants & substrate to use. i was thinking of using their "coco bedding" which is ground up coconut fiber which they say is "Excellent water holding capacity yet drains extremely well". as for plants they have so many to choose from that i dont know where to start.

any advice/tips or links to sites would be great. thanks
08/04/08  02:52am

 #1821921


Battletoads
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   Message To: Gutted   In reference to Message Id: 1818997


 Help with a vivarium setup for my FBTs

Personally, I think any of the commercial bedding is fine. I use forest floor mix or something like that, even though I read that coco bedding is preferred.. I have my land area as follows:

Top layer: Forest Floor Bedding
Second layer: Organic Top Soil (I made sure to cover all of this layer with the bedding mix, because the soil still comes with the little styrofoam balls which are dangerous if ingested)
Bottom layer: Hydroton (LECA i think its also called.. for drainage)

This sits on an eggcrate with a window screen mesh in between the eggcrate and the substrate...

I ordered a moss-growing substrate from lllreptile.com, which I hope to replace all of the above with. Apparently, it is a mix of pulvarized charcoal (dunno), leaf-litter, and other soft nutrient-rich stuff to grow plants in... I’ll let you know how it is..
08/06/08  04:37pm


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