Mossy Vivarium

[MikeM670]

I have completed my new vivarium. I have tried to model this one along the lines of lots of moss. Here is a teaser image of the mossy vivarium. I will upload a complete build article when time permits.

[Ebony]

Very nice Mike. Im a huge moss fan myself. I will look forward to seeing the build article.

[bshmerlie]

What kinds of moss do you have in there, what kind of lighting are you using and how wet are you going to be keeping it. Im doing a moss study here in the next few days so I'm looking to get as much info as possible from people that have kept it successfully.

[MikeM670]

What kinds of moss do you have in there, what kind of lighting are you using and how wet are you going to be keeping it. Im doing a moss study here in the next few days so I'm looking to get as much info as possible from people that have kept it successfully.

All the moss are from Josh Frogs from their moss offer you can find here on the website. I tried to design the background with two levels that are carved out and have a bit of a pool in them. The background is heavy silicone and peat moss. I put the moss in and around the pools on the background as I'm hoping to get a nice wet mossy ledges. I really don't know if it will work. I put all three type mosses at various locations in the hopes that one or more will take.

The water is pumped up to the top and spills down through each ledge so things should be very wet in some places and wet to moist in others. I was actually surprised how well the overall background was staying wet instead of just places where it flowed down. The only spot I see for a potential problem is on the right side where it flows into the one plant. I might need to move it and place some stones there. I did not get the water to flow into the corner pool but it's hard to get what you want sometimes. Water goes where it wants too!

The light I just took from my other build to take photo graphs. I'm still trying to decide what light and how bright it should be. Don showed me a 3 bulb unit like the 2 bulb unit I have. I might go with that option.

I still need to get some glass cut for the top to keep the humidity up. I plan on keeping a very high humidity in the tank. Don said when he went to I believe Black Jungle all the vivariums where very wet. I think I will try and follow that practice.

[bshmerlie]

I'm think I'm going to set up two tanks for the moss experiment. One with damp conditions and one with just light misting condtions. I also got the 3 mosses from Joshes so when I get back from a little trip this weekend I'll start my moss thread early next week. I'll do with different options to see which way grows the best...keep me posted how your different moss areas are growing as well. I'm going to be taking photos every week or so to see if I can see a difference over time.

[DonLisk]

Moss, moss everywhere, and not a drop to drink. hmmmmm Oh wait, that was water.

Nice work Mike. You Rock!

See what you started! All the vivs at Black Jungle were soaked and all the tanks were covered in moss. A lot of moss too. Substrates, glass, driftwood, it was all thriving with moss.

Did you check out their 24 inch hood? At 44 bucks I think I'll have to pick one up for the next build.

The pools should work well and look awesome. I wonder how long moss takes to spread. I'm sure it does not spread quickly but will look so cool when it does.

Again, that looks awesome.

[Leefrogs]

Man, u worked fast. I'm not keepin up at all!!! Great job!!!!