# I need so much help 😫



## thenettiger (27 Jan 2022)

Hi everyone!

So I have a bit of experience with planted tanks and have decided to try my hand at a terrarium...

So I made a terrarium or something of the sorts yesterday. Got DOOA Neo Glas air 20x20x35, DOOA Magnet Light G, and the DOOA stand which doesn't really matters and the DOOA Lid. I used DOOA jungle base and soil... and yeah maybe I topped off with a bit of Amazonia soil because I needed a bit more soil lol... so I've attached a pic of the terrarium, Colorado sand at the front, seiriu stones  infront of the soil, then base, soil, Azalea wood. Now on the plants I used Buce, Taiwan Moss mini, Utricularia Graminifolia, and some orchids. Here are my questions:

1. As you can see I have quite a bit of water I there to create the illusion of a river bank. Is this still called a terrarium? If not, what is it?
2. As I have two metric tons of water in there, when I woke up this morning, I found white mould on the wood (which I actually boiled before so.. weird?) And treated with peroxide solution. I had the lid on  now the lid is like half off. So this is the question... should I keep the lid off?
3. Well if I take the lid of and do a daily spray of wabi mist and plain water... is it going to sustain the Buce and moss or is my Buce and moss going to dry and die at the top?
4. Would UG grow in this situation? I'm actually quite worried about it...
5. Can I add carnivorous plants like sundew and Venus fly traps in the substrate as well? And if I can must I keep the lid off?
6. Did I make something unsustainable?

Really looking forward to some help on this! Thanks a million!

Edit: apologies I forgot to mention I used zero terra tape to preserve the look of the wood. Please let me know if that's a big mistake or if I can get away with it by spraying water daily on dry looking areas?

Netti.


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## Courtneybst (28 Jan 2022)

Howdy @thenettiger !

To answer your questions the best I can...

1. This would technically be a paludarium with the inclusion of the water.
2. Moisture + wood + lack of air flow generally results in mold. It's not really a big issue and they often burn themselves out. The mold is likely feeding on the sugars in the wood, which won't be removed from simply boiling it. You can also add springtails to help with this but don't expect a miracle. You can potentially try to air out the DOOA regularly but that will also decrease the humidity which you need for your bucephalandra. Unless the mold is growing out of control I wouldn't worry too much, I can't see any in the photo!
3. You're going to need high humidity for those buce. Daily spraying won't really cut it unfortunately. I'm happy to be proved wrong if anyone has done it successfully but I've not had success with keeping buce in low humidity. Mosses are more resilient I find, but it depends on the species.
4. UG should grow perfectly in this environment, it loves humidity and grows great in emersed conditions.
5. I think you could add the carnivorous plants. I have very little experience there so someone else could help you better.
6. It's not unstable by any means! It looks very nice in my opinion.

If you're covering it with a lid and there's constantly water below I would think that the moss will be fine without Terra tape.


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## thenettiger (28 Jan 2022)

Courtneybst said:


> Howdy @thenettiger !
> 
> To answer your questions the best I can...
> 
> ...


Thank you very much Courtneybst! Really appreciate you taking the time to answer  so there's no mould on this pic because it's right after I finished scaping ^^ I'll look into spring tails, I am just a bit worried they will eat the plants.. I will tend to it while it cycles and hopefully I come right ^^ will just have to spray several times a day, which is what I've been doing every time I saw the top leaves getting dry lol


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## Tyko_N (28 Jan 2022)

Looks like a good start to me, I really like the moss embedded in the wood.


thenettiger said:


> 5. Can I add carnivorous plants like sundew and Venus fly traps in the substrate as well? And if I can must I keep the lid off?


Venus flytraps are temperate, so would be a hassle to give a sufficiently cold rest period in winter. Not sure about the sundews, there are some that are supposed to be very easy to grow, like the cape sundew, that could be worth a try. You could also have a look at hybrid _Pinguicula_s and smaller _Nepenthes_, but they need slightly drier conditions so might work better as epiphytes on the wood. Technically though, you already have a carnivore in there, the _Utricularia graminifolia_, and if you can source them there are some other bladderworts that could work too.


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## thenettiger (28 Jan 2022)

Tyko_N said:


> Looks like a good start to me, I really like the moss embedded in the wood.
> 
> Venus flytraps are temperate, so would be a hassle to give a sufficiently cold rest period in winter. Not sure about the sundews, there are some that are supposed to be very easy to grow, like the cape sundew, that could be worth a try. You could also have a look at hybrid _Pinguicula_s and smaller _Nepenthes_, but they need slightly drier conditions so might work better as epiphytes on the wood. Technically though, you already have a carnivore in there, the _Utricularia graminifolia_, and if you can source them there are some other bladderworts that could work too.


Thanks Tyko_N, right on time too, I'm going to head to a carnivorous plants nursery now. I'll also ask them what would work in there. Yes I know the UG is also carnivorous, I was actually thinking of doing fully carnivorous plants setup but decided to go with buce. I do think carnivores would bring a nice touch of color and danger to the scape though. Will definitely check for bladderworts, Pinguiculas and Nepenthes. I live in South Africa so hopefully I will manage to source something that will work!


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## Tyko_N (28 Jan 2022)

Wow, that is lucky:


thenettiger said:


> I'm going to head to a carnivorous plants nursery now


My local plant store look more like death-row for venus flytraps (and are more focused on interior design than plants for some reason). Depending on where exactly you live in South Africa there might also be some local species that could work, like cape sundews and _Utricularia bisquamata_, and Peter D'Amato even shows a mini-bog with only South African species in the second edition of "The Savage Garden".


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## thenettiger (28 Jan 2022)

Tyko_N said:


> Wow, that is lucky:
> 
> My local plant store look more like death-row for venus flytraps (and are more focused on interior design than plants for some reason). Depending on where exactly you live in South Africa there might also be some local species that could work, like cape sundews and _Utricularia bisquamata_, and Peter D'Amato even shows a mini-bog with only South African species in the second edition of "The Savage Garden".


So I got tropical pitchers and a sundew. I also got a venus fly trap anyway that I'm hoping will survive in winter. I have decided to be a hero and keep the lid off for the first month so I will be spraying several times a day to keep the Buce alive. Hopefully the carnivors like that too. And yeah, let's see what happens... but the look is good I think, it makes it look a lot more tropical ^^


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## Tyko_N (29 Jan 2022)

Should look very nice when the plants have filled out a bit, but unfortunately that is not a tropical pitcher plant. From what I can see it looks like a _Sarracenia purpurea_, which needs a dormancy period in winter, and if you have a garden it (together with the venus flytrap) would likely do better there. Otherwise, depending on how you have planted them, you could maybe remove them for a month or two and put them in the fridge for a substitute winter.


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## thenettiger (29 Jan 2022)

Tyko_N said:


> Should look very nice when the plants have filled out a bit, but unfortunately that is not a tropical pitcher plant. From what I can see it looks like a _Sarracenia purpurea_, which needs a dormancy period in winter, and if you have a garden it (together with the venus flytrap) would likely do better there. Otherwise, depending on how you have planted them, you could maybe remove them for a month or two and put them in the fridge for a substitute winter.


So I'm having a bit of a hard time with the terrarium, getting this white hair mould and the buce is drying fast. I've ordered terra tape and will try to attach some to the roots of the buce, hopefully it will help. Besides that if it doesn't work out I might take out the carnivorous plants and flood the whole thing. I'll give it a month and see. But it's well noted. We do get winter so they will go dormant. I don't heat the room the aquascapes and terrariums are in so it should be ok.


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## Tyko_N (30 Jan 2022)

thenettiger said:


> this white hair mould


I wouldn't worry too much about the mold, it should disappear once it has finished leaching nutrients from the wood.


thenettiger said:


> the buce is drying fast


I don't have any experience with Buces, but when I started growing Anubias emersed it lost its old leaves and replaced them with tougher ones. As long as you keep the roots moist I think you should be fine, if you have _Sphagnum _moss laying about you could try tucking some among the roots until the Terra tape arrives.


thenettiger said:


> We do get winter so they will go dormant.


Then you have much better chances to keep them alive, you might want to decrease light hours once temperature decreases to give them another hint that they should have a rest.


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## Courtneybst (30 Jan 2022)

thenettiger said:


> I'll look into spring tails, I am just a bit worried they will eat the plants..


They are completely harmless to plants 🙂


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## thenettiger (30 Jan 2022)

Tyko_N said:


> I wouldn't worry too much about the mold, it should disappear once it has finished leaching nutrients from the wood.
> 
> I don't have any experience with Buces, but when I started growing Anubias emersed it lost its old leaves and replaced them with tougher ones. As long as you keep the roots moist I think you should be fine, if you have _Sphagnum _moss laying about you could try tucking some among the roots until the Terra tape arrives.
> 
> Then you have much better chances to keep them alive, you might want to decrease light hours once temperature decreases to give them another hint that they should have a rest.


Awesome thanks, yes anubias will melt and pop née leaves, such a capricious plant lol .. so regarding light hours, how long should I keep them on in the paludarium? Is it the same as planted tanks 8h max?


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## thenettiger (30 Jan 2022)

Courtneybst said:


> They are completely harmless to plants 🙂


Then I'll definitely try go get myself some ^^ thank you!


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## Tyko_N (31 Jan 2022)

thenettiger said:


> Awesome thanks


No problem, keep the questions and updates coming, it's always interesting to see the development of a new paludarium. 


thenettiger said:


> Is it the same as planted tanks 8h max?


I go for about 11h in my ones, with no algae issues, but you might have to fiddle a bit with it to see what works for you. Although the temperate carnivores would appreciate a long photoperiod in summer (12+h), and a shorter one in winter (maybe 6-7h).


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## thenettiger (31 Jan 2022)

Tyko_N said:


> No problem, keep the questions and updates coming, it's always interesting to see the development of a new paludarium.
> 
> I go for about 11h in my ones, with no algae issues, but you might have to fiddle a bit with it to see what works for you. Although the temperate carnivores would appreciate a long photoperiod in summer (12+h), and a shorter one in winter (maybe 6-7h).


Perfect, it's summer now so the house gets to roughly 28° celcius. I am giving the paludarium 12h but will reduce if I start seeing algae.

I am sort of starting to figure out the maintenance on the paludarium. Whenever I can't spray it I keep the lid closed, whenever I can spray I'll open the lid by 1/5th and spray every now and then the buce if I see the leaves drying. It's a bit of a mission but it has been keeping the mould at bay for now. And I apply peroxyde on the hardscape when I see mould popping up... let's see how things go


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