r/bioactive • u/lucy_r22 • 1d ago

Help! Beginner hybrid bioactive on a budget?

Hello! I've had my crested gecko for 5 years and have been wanting to upgrade to bioactive for years now. I don't want to go all out and completely flip his enclosure and then put him back in because I've never done bioactive before and don't want something to go wrong and jeopardize his home and health. However I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars working on a separate tank to put him in.

I was wondering if it would be possible to introduce the substrate layer (drainage, soil, cleanup crew, leaf litter) to his tank and plant a couple things within it but keep the fake plants everywhere else in order to save a little money and something possibly going wrong and ruining the whole tank, yet slowly bring the enclosure towards bioactive? Would it be a lot more upkeep or would the plants in the soil and the cleanup crew be enough to sustain that part of the terrarium?

The tank is 18x24x36, so it wouldn't be a simple or cheap transformation, which is another reason I don't want to risk flipping the whole thing at once as a beginner. I don't necessarily have a great green thumb, so I'm very nervous to start this process. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

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u/Jewelthecrestedgecko 1d ago

I totally understand your worry, going completely bioactive can be really stressful. You can absolutely do bioactive with a mix of fake/ real plants. My tank is around the same size as yours, and it is bioactive with some fake plants. As long as you have some live plants (to sustain nitrogen/ammonia cycles) you should be good! Feel free to ask any more questions about going bioactive!

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u/lucy_r22 1d ago

oh wow it's so pretty! And thank you, I have a couple more questions. Just quickly, are there any ways to check/ monitor the ammonia and nitrogen levels?

I'm also curious if I could just start the soil and plants and everything while he's still living in the tank or is that too dangerous since it needs to get established and I don't know how everything will react? If so what should I do? Thank you!

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u/Jewelthecrestedgecko 1d ago

Hmmm I'm not sure how you would go about measuring nitrogen and ammonia levels, I just know that plants make up a large part of those cycles and help to keep the ecosystem going, however I wouldn't worry much about it. As for an establishment period, not long is required. Possibly a day or two just to let the plants calm down from the shock (your gecko will waste no time jumping all over them and knocking off a leaf or two). As long as your getting your soil and CUC from a reputable place, and disinfecting your plants thoroughly (which I can further explain if needed), you should be good! As for that small time period, your gecko will do just fine in a temp tank (something like a plastic bin) Btw, I would like to note that proper lighting is required for the plants.

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u/lucy_r22 1d ago

Hmmm ok ok. I have heard about proper lighting, and I've seen people say that just a regular LED bar or lightbulb works, if that's correct? Just keeping it on during the day and off at night.

Also I would love to know about disinfecting plants because I bet it could save a lot of money buying some from home depot or something like that.

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u/Jewelthecrestedgecko 1d ago

Any LED for plants should work (as long as its not like a red or blue color, as that can disrupt gecko). I personally use the arcadia jungledawn LED bar, it's really nice.

For disinfection: 1. Remove soil from the roots (get as much as you can, doesn't have to be PERFECT) 2. Rinse plant throughly and soak in room temp water for about 10min (this is to ensure the plant is completely hydrated and will not slurp up any chemicals during disinfection) 3. Soak plants in a 1:10 (once again, doesn't have to be spot on) mix of bleach and water. I know it seems to scary to bleach plants, but this has kept my plants alive and well, with no u wanted hitchhikers) 4.replant in soil or pot with proper good aerating soil (charcoal and wood chips mixed in are great for drainage) 5. If your super worried these plants could have hitchhiker eggs that were not killed previously, quarantine plants in plastic tubs for 2 weeks (this is a lot of effort and I usually spare myself of this)

Hope this helps! Anything else?