Home collected substrate & wood question.

[theamish]

I went out earlier today and collected some cool pieces of wood (some actually looks like grape wood and one piece actually has some moss growing on it already). I also collected some forest bed/leafy substrate from the ground which consisted of several different layers of decaying leafs, some dirt and some twigs and tree bark.

I planned on using this stuff in my soon to be finished fire-belly toad vivarium mixed with some coco chips, expanded coco husk and some forest floor bagged stuff to make my own custom mix. I am a little confused to the benefits/negatives to using my "home found" stuff. My questions follow:
1) I noticed some ants/spiders living on some of the logs and i'm sure there are some in the leaves, is this good or bad?
2) How do I sterilize everything & should I do that because I thought the bacteria/fungus/insects were good for establishing a mini-ecosystem.
3) Right now I have everything sealed in gallon sized ziploc bags, is this good or should I be giving them air and stuff?
4) I also grabbed some rocks from the shore of the river, what is the safest way to sterilize these or is there benefit to not sterelizing them?
5) Is the existing moss on the one piece of wood good or bad?
I'm sure there are other issues/concerns I am not thinking of so please feel free to comment.

Thanks All!!

[Jason]

I have had it out with a couple members here about the addition of bugs to the tank and most say its a good thing an i can agree to a point in regards to Worms, Wood Lice and Pillbugs. The one thing that always bothered me is now your tank has to be set up to handle this new bioload and adds i guess what we can call a 4th dimention to your tank care. You need to know if one population of insect (A) will overrun your Viv or will insect (B) work as population control, Unless you know exactly what your putting in the tank i wouldnt add any " wild found " mats to your Viv the variables are great and many in this situation. Now for your questions

(1) Ants and spiders are good ways to keep pests other then themselves out of the tank but thay will both eat your crickets or whatever you feed the FBT's and depending on the ants thay may also destroy your plants, but both will most likely not alow for any other type of insect to thrive long enough to do any doog for your Viv as in worms and pillbugs.

(2) As your Viv cycles the necessary bactiria and fungus will all balance out no need to add your own. You can bake the dirt and litter in the oven and wood can be soaked in a mild bleach / water solution for a couple days just be sure to soak it in a larger amount of water and rinse it very well before adding it to your tank.

(3) Imho, nope, Kill'em all!!!

(4) Like i mentioned before, if you no not what your getting dont use it, bake those suckers as well.

(5) Moss may eventually grow on everything you add due to enviromental conditions within the tank or may not, I would try to figure out that kind it is and then figure out if you want it in your tank or not, it may grow like wild fire or may die off.

A couple other things you may want to take into mind is the area you got this stuff from and the use of chemicals in the water and surrounding woods, the native insects and the amount of light within the area your searching as this will tell you what conditions the plants and moss's will need to survive ( ie low light or high light, dry or waterlogged floor), is it neer a huge leaking nuclear reactor as you wont want your insects eventually eating your family dog or kids . i guess the moral of my story is when somebody asks me whats that thing im my tank i want to be able to tell them what it is and not just blurt out " oh that? why it a native "randomus wingdus bothermeloticus"..... god its 5 am and im getting retarded, i hope this makes sence and helps ya

[theamish]

Thanks for the reply.... so I guess im bleaching and baking everything!! In retro spec I really dont want spiders and ants running around in my tank because I was thinking about going with some worms/wood mites or something like that.

Is there a way to sterilize the "found substrate" so I can mix it with my bagged stuff for a more natural look?

[Jason]

Well seeing you cant wash it, the only other thing you can do is bake it in the oven. Place the dirt on a cookie sheet and crank up the oven to 250-350 and keep an eye on it for an hour or 2, you can take out the sheet and stir up the dirt if ya like if you pile it up thick. Take out any large leaf litter as you can just wash those by hand and dont want them to dry up and crumble.

[froggsong]

LMAO @ Jason's initial reply...

I do agree with Jason. One other thing you can usually do to sterilize (mostly for stuff you can't or really don't want to bake) is freeze the stuff. This might be good for your leaf litter. I have found that soaking some woods (that are more absorbent) in bleach is not always the best idea, so get an idea how much it is going to soak in before you start soaking with bleach. I have a WONDERFUL, absolutely PERFECT piece of driftwood that I cannot put in any of my tanks because when I soaked it in bleach, it simply drank the bleach solution and no amount of soaking I have done will get it all out, so I cannot use it now... It simply reeks of bleach, and I used a 5% or less solution (started with 5% and then had to add more water because it soaked up so much). So for super absorbent woods, I would recommend freezing or baking, or even both. Hope that was helpful.

[strange_screams]

the moss will die eventually but a bleach solution will either kill it or just set it back, temperate mosses need a cold dormant period to survive.

after soaking anything in bleach, rinse it well at least twice, then re-soak it and add aquarium water conditioner and it should neutralize any remaining bleach.

I agree with everyone else, freeze, bleach or bake everything. If you want pill bugs and spring tails i would add them independantly

[froggsong]

I did NOT think of adding water conditioner to the water that I am soaking the driftwood in, that is a very good idea... You have lots of good ideas! I have soaked and soaked and soaked that piece of wood trying to get the bleach out, to no avail. I actually soaked it for over a week once... I will try the conditioner and see if it works, thanks a ton!

[Jason]

I tryed to freeze a few things untill the wife came home and wondered why all her meats where in the fridge and then opened the freezer......id finish this story but i am going to attemt to retain some manhood ;P....

[theamish]

WOW... thanks for all the replies, question tho, can I just dump the leafy substrate into a bleach solution and then dry it a bit before I use it or would that be bad.

[strange_screams]

thankyou frogsong, I can't take credit for that one though, I learned that one at work from a girl I work with....I did slap myself in the forhead when I realized I should have thought of that one myself

the leaf litter would soak up to much bleach, id freeze it
it would probably become more brittle too