help with background please

[mrzoggs]

i applied some eco earth to my 10 gallon vert last night. since it was still a little damp i put it in the over on 250 degrees and left the door cracked. it dried up very well. i would keep an eye on it though so it doesnt burn up.


GE silicone is fine to use, and they make it in brown. Thats all i use for my vivs. Some argue against using I vs II but i use II. not sure of the exact differences. As long as its 100% silicone.

Honestly if you were using soil id bake it anyways. just because i bought a bag of soil and it had bugs in it and a beetle ended up in one of my bug cultures from not baking my soil. Eco earth worked great. Bricks are super cheap. I paid $7 for 3 bricks. 1 brick filled up a 5 gallon bucket halfway.

[arielgasca420]

I used a additive free sterilized topsoil. The exo earth took too long to dry out after expanding it. Ive also heard of eco earth and certain soils turning to dust while baking it. I didnt want a fire hazard so i got something that was sterile

[mrzoggs]

yeah thats why i baked mine. i waited 3 days and it still hadnt dried in the bucket. seemed to work great after drying though. the soil i bought was supposed to be plain soil additive free and everything but it had some beetles in it. maybe from sitting outside at lowes i guess.

[arielgasca420]

thanks for all the help.
mrzoggs: I should have used eco earth because it is softer. the top soil gave me some splinters, but it shouldnt harm my frog because I will be growing moss over the topsoil anyways. made my moss milkshake today and painted it on. it should be done in about two weeks and the background should be completely covered in moss.
If I need to do the background again I will just buy the eco earth that comes in a bag (instead of a brick) and apply that

[mrzoggs]

im excited to see i need to learn how to make a moss milkshake. not sure how im going to grow my moss yet.

[arielgasca420]

im going to post the steps and directions on my other thread for my viv build. buying zoo med moss cost me $7 for a good supply. I actually have some left over