Soil or peat moss for a mini vivarium?

[will5]

Ok here is are some pics of the setup so far.




This is a canning jar and has an inch of clay pellets and plastic canvas on to of that to keep the soil/peat moss out of the pellets.

Because it's so small there will be no live stock. So I can use the soil from my side yard that has some moss growing on it that I WILL be using, but i am not sure if the crypt that I would also like to use would grow in it.

The peat moss would grow the crypt I assume, but I am not sure about the moss from my yard.

Any and all help, tip, and tricks would be great.

I am doing this to sort of test the water with vivariums before I go bigger

Thanks for looking.

[Merviso]

Hi bro,

I'm personally using Gex soil for all my vivariums. While it maybe a bit of an overkill, one thing I'm happy about is that I can now swap the plants anywhere among these tanks and not worried whether it will caused big problem to the fauna inside...

[Occellatus]

Hi Merviso,

Gex soil is suitable for emmersed plants rite? Are they also suitable for land plants?

[Merviso]

Hi Occellatus, I'm no land plant expert, but I'm will just use it anyway as long as there are any chances that I will ever move the plant into my vivarium or put my fauna with the plants. The downside is that it is much more expensive to use as compared to normal potting soil that you can get at NTUC.

[Occellatus]

Cool...Ive just done my vivarium and i don't think i will plant any land plants for now. Perhaps just concentrate on semi-aquatic plants first. So Gex is ok for emmersed plants, ya?

[Merviso]

So far so good for me... some of my plant are growing very well now...

[Occellatus]

Cool bro Merviso...so much to learn from you.

Anyway, heres my just completed setup. Nothing great...but im trying to learn and to add more plants into this super simple setup of mine.

[Justikanz]

William, that is an interesting thought... If you have some ADA or GEX soil, you can mix in with the peat... Better, in my personal opinion, than just 1 type of substrate. But try to understand what kind of substrate your intended crypt (or other plant) will like...

Hmm... Maybe I should try this bottle/jar method too...

[will5]

William, that is an interesting thought... If you have some ADA or GEX soil, you can mix in with the peat... Better, in my personal opinion, than just 1 type of substrate. But try to understand what kind of substrate your intended crypt (or other plant) will like...

Hmm... Maybe I should try this bottle/jar method too...

I did not put the crypt in because I fear that it maybe a little to dry in there for it. Even though there are big water droplets on the couple of plants that are in there besides the moss I took from my yard. Oh yeah the moss is growing like crazy.

The couple of plants that are in there are a guess what because I don't have a clue what they are. I'll try adn get a pic up today some time.

Any water I put in the bottom with a syringe gets absorbed by the peat moss very fast even though they do not come in contact with one another.

What do you think about the crypt?

[Jervis]

What do you think about the crypt?

I think the Crypt looks nice and healthy. Any hardscape in mind?

[will5]

I meat do you think that the crypt would survive in these conditions?

Is just one rock in the there, but I like it. I may try somethign else if and when I see it because I get my insperation from the item/rock it self. I have always been that way.

Well I don't have the best camrea for taking pics like these so please bear with me. Here they are.





This little one has made me want to set up a 5-10 gallong one under my 29 gallon fresh water planted aquarium. It will have to be set up while the wife is out of the house because she dose not want anymore aquariums set up untill after we move in a year or so. This way I figure it will be set up for a while before she even knows it there.

[Jervis]

This is cute looking... saw some nice jars at Muji yesterday... hehe

[will5]

I say go get a couple because they are a nice set it and forget it type things.At least that has been the case so far for me. I do see a need for some trimming of those two long plants what ever they are though.

[Justikanz]

Hey, William... Nice growth you have, with the moss... With the lid on, I am sure the crypt will not dry out. The only problem I can see is the crypt growing too tall for the bottle... I am inspired to try something similar and I had prepared a Sn***le glass bottle and will try out probable HC or moss with either C.walkeri or C.pava... Alternatively, you might also want to try small jewel orchids.

[will5]

As for the jewel orchids I would not know which ones you are talking about or where to find them. I know aquatic plants and thats it.

I am very happy that I have inspired some of you to try this. Just make sure you send or post me the link to it so I can see them.

[will5]

Well it seems that the moss is diying after growing like crazy. I guess it could not deal with all the moisture. I will soon be trying some aquatic moss to see if it does better.

[Occellatus]

Why not try opening up the lid alittle?

Im experimenting with a slightly drier environment for the moss that ive collected...maybe slight misting once a day.......and after 2 weeks...its still good....