Here it is my new viv

[Green Ghost]

I let mine dry each time I painted on a layer. Thanks for the info.

[mh32]

Well, I always thought of my self as pretty good at construction. I thought that building the viv was a lot of fun and really not to hard. But now I've definitely met my match.

In just a few short weeks all my plants are going down hill. The moss I planted dried up but had some white mold growing on it. To me that seems like not enough water and too much water at the same time. My turtle ate some my plants (which was expected) and others are looking pretty poor.

The soil seems pretty moist. Maybe the lights are too intense. I do have a heat lamp in for the turtle but it is pointing away from all the plants. My main light is a T12 20 Watt 24" florescent light. After looking at some other posts am thinking this may be my problem. It seems most people use T5 bulbs. I don't know the difference. Are these T5 available at Home Depot? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

By the way the temp is about 75 and the humidity is around 65%

[Waterkeeper]

I think T5 is pretty much pet specialty. they have the equivalent output of a metal halide at half the wattage and 1/8th of the heat output. so if good heat output is a concern T5 is not for you.

For a reference I sell hagen's 24" twin tube T5 fixture for around $120 without the bulbs.

[mh32]

I don't need the heat output just a good light for the plants. Should a T12 do the trick then.

[mh32]

Well since my moss had died I decided to pull it all out. While I was at it I decided why not give the whole thing a makeover.

So I added a few different levels. I put the carnivorous plants up where they couldn't be eaten and added a little lower level just to add some variety.

Here are some Pics.

Waterkeeper Here is a poor photo of the full front. The glass is pretty scratched but you can see the general layout.

Here is a top view. As you can see I've rerouted the hose to go behind the highest level and the water now just comes out from under the rock. Decided to use a waterfall in my next viv. Now I just need to cover the big ugly hole in the background and it will be all done.


This is a side view you can kind of see the different levels. I'm trying to grow some Kyoto moss in the soil in front. This is my third try we'll see what happens.


I still am wondering about the lighting. If you have any info pleas let me know.

[Waterkeeper]

The plants in my 10gal are growing like mad under just a single 18" repti glo 2.0(i am putting 2 24" 2.0 on my new tank cuz it's deeper) . I think substrate has a lot to do with the substantial growth. I have a 1" Layer of gravel, screen, then 1" of sphagnum moss, then I sealed it over with top soil.

lighting is important, but substrate has to supply a good level of nutrients. that's why i chose the organic sphagnum. got a small bag at the garden section at wallmart for like $5.
the top soil just helps keep the sphag down and keeps a cleaner look aesthetically.
I was careful to get only organic substrate so that I didn't wind up with some unknown pesticides that would kill my crickets or fertilizer that could burn the animal.

look at it like this. Most of our captive plants are ground cover(moss) or stay close to the forest floor(broms) under much bigger plants(trees). search google images for "amazon forest" and look at how lush the tree line is at the top. our plants are all living beneath that in shade. that is why substrate choice is so important.

[mh32]

The New plants are growing pretty good. I guess I'll just assume that by the lack of response that the T12 light will do just fine.

Doing a little more research on the internet I think what I thought was mold was probably webs from mites. Anyone ever have problems with tiny red mites?

[Waterkeeper]

T12 is just super, it helps if it's a good reptile bulb because they emit better radiation. if you really think it's not cutting it, add a second one.

[Green Ghost]

Originally Posted by mh32

I don't need the heat output just a good light for the plants. Should a T12 do the trick then.

I was away for the long weekend and just came back from a couple of days of really intense work, so I'm catching up on all the posts.

To answer your question, different bulbs exist for different lighting applications. Like waterkeeper said, T5's are brighter than T12's and consume less power. On an aquarium T5's are an advantage, not only because of the above reasons, but also thier compact size allows more lights to be installed in a fixture. Keep in mind T5's are more expensive than T12's.

Before I made the fixtures I have presently, I had T12's and my plants grew really well also. So yeah, no problem using T12's.

About your moss.... I had alot of problems trying to get moss to grow in my setups. I had to adjust the lighting so that it could get the right amount of humidity and shade. It was trial and error mostly. Right now I'm experimenting with sawdust directly under the moss because moss seems to grow quite well on dead wood.