I thought I would revive this tread, and share a recent experience.
I am officially done building 3 dart enclosures simultaneously.
I babied ,wonderful, plant cuttings John Clare generously shared at the Hamburg show!

I completed the enclosures( finished about two weeks) using hydro, substrate fabric ( if you are interested in where I purchased this--- please PM me) and pounds and pounds of ABG. I seeded them w/ the spring tails and isopods that I started weeks ago. I held off on extending my Mist King so I could pay close attention to the needs of each newly planted little treasure I have collected for months.

I drove my self crazy during the time I was deciding as to which substrate barrier to use.
My final decision was fabric.

BUT- trouble started immediately.
For 2 weeks I watched the obvious problem of very poor drainage occurring( because of the fabric ? ) , despite the added expense of having a drain hole drilled in each of my newly purchased exo enclosures.

I ripped ALL 3 enclosures apart yesterday. Carefully pulling every plant! Only to find my suspicion to be correct.
The water was sitting on top of the fabric- yet the hydro layer had only a little water, despite lots and lots of hand misting to care for the plants?

I re-build all three yesterday. I changed to the following : (from the bottom up)
1-hydro
2-filter media ( 100% polyester) 3/4 " thick
3-fiberglass screen
4-ABG

Overnight, ( I hand misted twice yesterday ) the hydro layer is completely full!!! In, fact 2 of the 3 tanks have drained some.
Yikes ! This could have been a real disaster !


Lynn