r/bioactive

I feel like i overwatered recently, causing this umbrella plant specifically to droop pretty hard. This blue/green plant in the first photo also appears to be struggling. Idk if anything should be done to preserve them, or if i should just let it dry out a bit and hope for the best?

For the fern on the far right, i have some fronds that are burnt at the top, losing some leaves, or browning at the tips of them. Other fronds look healthy, so idk if its going to be fine in the long run, or if im doing something wrong. It says 80% humidity around soil usually, but 50% up higher/ambient humidity. These plants have all been in there close to a month, snakes just introduced a couple days ago, for context.

That last green plant to the left of the fern (idk what these are called) just got planted 1-2 weeks ago, and some of the tips are in wonky shape, but im not as worried about that since its probably still settling in.

Any advice would be very appreciated, as i dont want to have to replace any of these. The umbrella might be better as a sturdier plant based on how much they are crawling all over it, but if it can come back to life id love to have it grow out.

it says to rinse, boil, drain, strain and soak these before using them but i’m not putting them in a aquarium i’m gonna put them in my bio active enclosure. i was wondering if i still had to go through that whole process. i’m sure i probably do, i just want to make sure because i’m lazy

I want to add more of a cleanup crew in the water of this tank…. There 2 snails in the water right now but they have a high waste load… so I was thinking of adding cherry shrimp or scuds/aquatic isopods. Thoughts?

I have built a couple of setups for my leopard frog. This is the first big bioactive option I have built. Still learning as I go!

I found these yellow circles on my plant,

I wiped underneath the leaves with a wet cloth but I saw no black dots or anything.

I’m moving my gecko in there soon but I just want it to be save

Now to wait a good 2 months for everything to grow in🫩. but im happy with the results since it's my first time ever doing this!

What do you guys think about this terarium I just finished? It's a bit stressful for me as I feel that many of the plants won't adapt, especially I had some trouble with the moss.I could only find aquarium mosses to order in europe like java and Christmas moss, and since I'm going for humidity around 80-85% I think there's slim chances that they will thrive emersed.It was difficult since I found many contradictory opinions about mosses and what works or not.

Any suggestions or options whether this could work, or mosses you would recommend for my setup?

Also, I'm not sure how much of the top mesh to cover with plexi, I'm trying 60% at this moment. The light is arcadia lumenize 18w

Thank you in advance for any input🙏🏻

I have 4 plants to put in, plus some pothos sort of plant, which I'm sure will take up space, but I feel like I need way more clutter. I have leaves as well, but I'm just trying to setup the hardscape before I plant the plants, I don't wanna uproot them later.

Feel free to post your enclosures here, I could use some inspiration. (Plus bonus picture of the little fella)

The first two photos are how it is now...RIP to the MANY plants I killed along the way, but things finally seem to have settled and are doing well.

Things I Iearned:

1. Don't cheap out on the drainage layer!

I used a Hessian sandbag, which I knew wouldn't last forever, but after about 2 months I realised it had disintegrated. Instead of ripping everything out completely, I piled the substrate up and placed some aquarium filter foam on top of the LECA (thankfully this enclosure has a nice deep base so it wasn't an issue).

2. The plants that I thought were dying due to lack of light (thanks to that massive centre branch) were actually over-watered. While adding the filter sponge I also added horticultural grit to improve drainage.

3. Having a lux meter and Solarmeter 6.5 makes things a lot easier (still need to invest in an irradiance meter.) I was using Barrina LED tube lights at first, but after upgrading to the Jungle Dawn I found it doubled the lux reading at the substrate level. Being able to check exactly how much light I was working with, what specific plants need, and what constitutes as "low light" was really helpful to me.

4. When preparing plants, split them and keep some in a separate plant bin.

5. Crazy fat ass lizards will absolutely stomp on everything. They are currently gravid so are particularly chonky right now.

I am fully aware that none of this is groundbreaking new info, but in case it helps other newbies.

First time bioactive build - just planted and used carbonized cork for the back ground. It’s an 18x18x24 and the plan is for a trio of oophaga pumilio dart frogs. Got springtails and isopods for cleanup. Any changes you’d suggest or feedback welcome!

I really thought I had this thing fully set up and perfect but the longer its going the more some leaves are dieing and im a little worried, i havnt gotten the lights i wanted yet but i read that daylight led bulbs will grow the plants fine, but what do yall think? Anything you would personally do different?

They jump rlly fast like a jumping spider

I found a bunch of these in my vivarium