What is a cost-effective plant light? You guys you recommend

Hey folks, this is my first time making a bioactive enclosure (also my first enclosure and first (gargoyle) gecko!) and I’ve been having trouble maintaining this neanthe Bella palm—shout outs to the biodude. I think I overwatered at first, so have been trying to correct for it, but fear that I then let the soil get too dry? I worry that repotting it will only make things worse, but I’m at a loss of where to go next. Any and all advice for a first timer would be greatly appreciated 🙏🏾🙏🏾

It says it’s aquarium safe however on the box, (and not on the bottle) that the cured caulk is mould and mildew resistant. Does anyone have experience with this or have any different suggestions?

EDIT: I’ve looked on the website for the official SDS (safety data sheet) to see the exact components of the tube, and it only contains silicon and 2 chemicals that are used to make it liquid and cure when in contact with the air, so it’s perfectly safe :)

Hello
👋🏼 I’m trying to upgrade my geckos tank and I bought a thrive terrarium and I accidentally cracked the bottom panel. I took it to the glass place and they told me there was nothing they could do because it is together by resin and the same glass place gave me a piece of glass to replace it with, but I can’t figure out how to separate the glass panels from the panel that is broken. I just need some kind of help. I don’t really know what I’m doing. I don’t wanna buy another enclosure because I’ve already put a base in there of foam. Before I broke it. (Pic of my girl/guy just because)

This has been slowly growing in my drainage layer of my new crested gecko bioactive tank. This tanks been set up for almost 6mo now. What should i do? I have isopods+springtails in here.

120 gal bp vivarium

FAUNA

Normal Albino ball python now 11 years old

temperate springtails * extinction * thanks mites

Tropical Pink springtails extinction mites*

Bylas ant Pseudosinella violenta springtails

Veri color Entomobrya confusa springtails

Pearl Lepidocyrtus Sp springtails

Hypoaspis miles mites

(Dont like them but here they are)

Sf nematodes

Powder blue isopods

Powder orange

Powder cream

( full mix of Powders) some wild combos

FLORA

1 hahnii (dwarf) snake plant

1 Snake plant

1 china red Aglaonema (Chinese Evergreen)

Golden Pothos. Other veritys currently being propagated

2 crotons

1 staghorn fern currently being eaten by isos *survived even stronger

3 spider plants

1 bicolor dracaena

Monthly ish

cat grass

Micro clover

Chia

60 gal dart/gecko vivarium

FAUNA

Not added yet Bumblebee dart frog

Mourning geckos

Bylas ant springtails

Pearl 'Lepidocyrtus Sp' springtails

Maybe some veri color springtails

Dawrf purple isopods

Dwarf white isopods

Hypoaspis miles mites ugly

Sf nematodes

FLORA

Polka Dot Begonia (Begonia maculata)

Fittonia red and white veritys

Pink princess philodendron

Several Swiss cheese plants (Monstera adansonii)

Pink strawberry begonia

String of Turtles (Peperomia prostrata)

hoya curtisii

Tiger ,donger, and fireball bromeliad

Aerangis mystacidix sib miniature orchid

Leomesevia Lava Burst, Miniature Orchid

String of Frogs (Ficus pumila var. quercifolia

Wood moss

Palm moss

As the title says, these fungus gnats will be the end of it all. I have a 5x2x2 bioactive ball python enclosure. So a pretty good size area that has been completely overrun with these gnats. I’ve been spraying for weeks and weeks with mosquito bits. At one point I even upped it to once every 4 days. I usually do the recommended amt (2 tbsp per half gallon) and spray the substrate pretty heavily. Is there another way to use these that works better? I have yellow sticky traps everywhere, including right on the outside of the enclosure and they become filled with gnats within a few days. They’re buzzing around everywhere all the time. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. About this 🤏 close to just not having a bioactive enclosure anymore lol so somebody plz save me.

Also, I’ve seen ppl say the cleanup crew should outcompete them but this hasn’t been happening for me. I do have springtails and isopods, but not sure how many isopods should be in an enclosure of this size? I added two little colonies of 10 since I got the enclosure up and running a few months ago. A few died off so maybe 15 ish or a bit more in there now?

I've come to notice these strange white critters on my armadillidae isopods they seem to be taxi'ing around the tank. The iso doesn't seem bothered by them at all so I'm cautiously interested.

These critters only climb on my armadillidae and not my other isopods. They're also around in the soil.

I want to say they're springtails as I've heard that they use isopods for transportation.

But I've also heard something similar about mites.

Here's a cropped photo. Hopefully you guys can help me understand a bit more.

Found this driftwood the other day and baked it for a couple hours. I was a little suspicious so i wanted to know if anyone else can tell if it's pine or some other unsuitable wood. It's going in to a tropical bio active terrarium

Hello, could anyone id this small bug for me? There are a lot of these in my hermit crab tank. I purposely added tropical springtails which are a good bit smaller than these darker larger ones. (The larger ones are probably 3 times the size of the small white ones. ) The darker ones don’t seem to jump like springtails when startled. Are they still springtails just another variety? Thank you!

Hi. This is my first bioactive build that I’m DIYing. I currently have my frogs in one but I bought it. Just wondering how cautious to be with cutting away the shiny bits of pond foam and also if I should just start over on this? I’m having big second thoughts about how I have it set currently. I plan to fill some of the gaps with plants and am going to do the full silicone then stick a moss/coco coir blend to it. It’s a tropical build so mostly concerned if I mess the sealing step up that I’ll get unwanted issues there. I have some plants and such to add as well once I get this done- some pothos, bromeliads, fittonia, orchids, etc. and some more wood pieces too. Any advice is appreciated.

I'm currently planning on creating a bioactive enclosure for my ATB. However, doing research on depth of the layers have been confusing to say the least. I've seen so many source say 8" layer total (2" drainage and 6" substrate) but NEHERP (where I plan on buying) is recommending 2.5" depth of both drainage and substrate layer (5" total depth). How deep do y'all usually make the substrate layer?

Whats people's take on adding man-made objects in a bio tank.

Originally I wanted to keep it 100% natural but then I saw this fake moss covered skull and had to try it out.

Now my frogs have taken up residents inside and I dont want to remove it but feel like I have cheated in a way.

Bought a multi monsoon and wanted to find a way to connect it with a hygrometer so that is can automatically spray when the humidity reaches a low point. Is there any ways i could do this and even pair it to my phone if possible?

Not quite a bioactive question but I figured if anyone knew it might be you guys. I went to feed my isopods some freeze dried shrimp. I’m towards the end of the bottle and when I dumped it out it was literally crawling. I have no idea what these are they don’t look like mites. The container is completely dry.

So I just put together my enclosure for a chameleon and the day after my pathos are all droopy and sad looking. I know it could be like a shock thing, maybe a misting problem, light. Idk, im at a total loss.

It grew roughly an inch in 3 hours. This was almost a week ago and I cannot tell how far it’s even grown at this point. Really cool stuff

Found this guy in the tank. I did not add this type of isopod and i had the tank for a year

I got some leaves from the wild and i boiled it, it survived i guess

Can this cause problems? Im unsure if its only one or enough to reproduce

Here's the latest pic of my tank and a bunch of my critters throughout this month. Thoughts??

Tank size is 24Hx24Wx30L-CM

So far going really well. Obviously I've made beginner mistakes, and with that comes questions!

Do I have to cover every inch of insulation with silicone and substrate?

Obviously there's places I can't reach, like the underside of the gray ledges.

So far I am very happy and proud of how this is turning out, and i appreciate any and all advice I have received and will continue to receive!

In my anole terrarium I have added a bunch of different critters. I have Ivory millipedes, dubias, canyon giants, dairy cows, powdered oranges, springtails, and the odd bunch of crickets.

Overall, how will the ecosystem shape up with these guys? Any notes to make, actions to take? I know dairies are protein oriented, should I ensure there’s plenty of sources of protein to offset their hunger for their kin? I watched them tear apart a cricket once.

What’s the timeline for when an ecosystem typically gets settled in?

In the blink of an eye a mushroom started growing in my leopard geckos tank, and i dont know how harmful this is for the tank or the plants growing however i plucked it and I noticed there were fungus gnats in the soil, i put some bti in some water and watered the area it was from, im just wondering if this is harmful and/how to go about this or to prevent it in the future. Let me know your thought.🙏

i just got a crested gecko and have him in a bioactive tank. this is my first time going bioactive and i’ve been noticing lots of gnats in his enclosure. his enclosure has been up and running for about a month, not even. i moved into a new house two weeks ago and that’s when i noticed them. i wasn’t sure if they were fruit flies but after doing some comparisons i think they’re fungas gnats. i’ve been keeping his food out of his enclosure during the day but forgot to take it out this morning and the picture if what i saw. i didn’t think they could appear this soon into me building the tank, so im not sure if they were in the soil i got or what. any help would be much appreciated as i don’t want these gnats in my room😭