150 Gallon Vivarium (Post as I go) plus looking for loads of advice

[BonnieLorraine]

On a tank that size, I might go with the egg crate instead, that much hydroton is going to be rather heavy.

For the background, I do plain peat moss and silicone, haven't had any trouble yet. I get the peat moss in bales from Lowes, the miracle-gro kind in bags has fertilizer added and usually grows fungus.

[ApxWingman]

I agree with Bonnie. The eggcrate is easy and light to deal with. I have used it on 3 tanks and it is great and cheaper too

[Rick Mazzante]

Alright doing a little update, I finished my 20 gal long tank have a pic below. That was hydroballs,mesh, then a mix of ecoearth spagnum mosh and orchid bark, just missing some leaves. little waterfall coming down the drift wood piece. Just have an issue with condensation, and I feel like my light is killing the fern and moss i put in there, any suggestions on that?

And for the 150 Gal, I decided to ditch the one half of the background and switch it to the great stuff, after seeing the 20 gal done it looked too nice to pass up the opportunity to do a real nice background.
As for having a eggcrate bottom how do you get the water out if there is a bunch of sitting water? and do you let water sit down there all the time or try to get it out always (Not drilling a hole)

[deranged chipmunk]

You'll need to provide yourself access to the water reservoir under the egg crate. You can do that a few ways, drilling the lower portion of the side of the tank and installing a bulkhead, or just silicone in a "vent tube" in a corner of the tank. The pipe should start below the egg crate and end somewhere near the top of the tank. Remember to cover it in some way to keep "food items" from crawling into it. Then run a length of airline down the pipe and into the water. The airline should be long enough that the end should hang .lower than your water line. Put a check valve and a gang valve at the end of the hose. Start your siphon then close the valve. Now anytime you need to drain water, just open the valve

[deranged chipmunk]

Btw....the 20 looks fantastic. What's gonna live in it?

[Rick Mazzante]

I'm thinking about putting in possibly a pair of thumbnails (I don't know what kind yet, new to the dart frogs), right now I'm trying to figure out what to plant in it, I have some ferns and moss I just put down but I don't know what would be good things for the pots since it's only a 20 Long.

As for the Drilling on the side of the tank, what is my percentage of me busting that damn side out, I'm so scared to ruin this big of a tank. the pvc airline seems like a very good idea, but just wondering on that

[deranged chipmunk]

Drilling a tank is not hard, and can be done safely if you take your time, keep the bit cool and use very little pressure. I know a bunch of guys who have done it. I was gonna drill my 125, but i didn't want to decrease it's value or usefulness. I built a maintenance area in my 60 so i can access my water pump, heater and do water changes. And i am doing the same in my 125. A little planning goes a long way
I'm no expert on terrestrial plants, but if you have a garden center near you that carries terrarium supplies, you should be able to find some smaller plants. There are some species of perperomia that are small, some pilea species like humidity, as do some species of fittonia. Of course, you can't go wrong with some tillandsia (air plants). I can pm you some decent links for plants if you like.