My terrarium is almost 3 years old now and i know the soil is getting old, it's hard to get the water down into it now. How do I rejuvenate it? Do I have to tear everything out and replace it? or can I just put new stuff on top like you'd put compost on a garden bed?
Thank you
Lee Anne
How do you rejuvenate the soil in a terrarium?
I would think it was fun to tear it all up and use the same plants..............just think how happy the plants will be to get new charcoal, new mix and some fresh spaghnum moss to boot!!!!!!!!!!!
true Gail, true...this is a 35 gallon aquarium we are speaking of though.....no easy task.......right here in the middle of the living room cause I know Hubby will not be able to lift it....lol...he can barely spin it to make sure both sides get equal light. But...I guess that is what I'm gonna have to do...better buy a package of great big garbage bags tomorrow.
I would just leave it right where it is and get lots of trays from my kitchen and the garbage bags ready and maybe even cover up the floor with tearing up some big garbage bags..............now that would be so much fun for me...........
gonna be a lot of fun for the 6 cats and 1 dog helping me too :)))
OH my goodness..............this may be a recipe for disaster (LOL)
Oh, what fun! I would get a painter's tarp ..... use an old bedspread (we have lots of these for covering plants outdoors during cold spells in winter) .... then I would take all the plants out and lay them on the floor .... get a bucket and scoop all the old soil out into garbage bags and dump it in the yard. Wash down the inside with wet paper towels if necessary and then start all over from the bottom with new drainage materials, soil, plants and spaghnum moss.
Can you post a photo of your Terrarium before and after?? Oh, how I would love to have an aquarium that large to plant up! Hubby won't let me use his 150 gal Salt Water tank .... he likes his fish & corals too much! I have a little 10 gal tank planted and bunches of jars ... but, oh how I'd love to have a large aquarium to turn into a terrarium!
Can you take it outdoors under some shade? This way you can hose it out after you remove the plants and most of the soil. Two people should be able to carry it fairly easily.
Lin, that is one big tank (150 gallons). I have a 120 gallon and I dread the day cleaning it up. I have one episcia that has taken over most of it. I wonder if I can find my begonias, African violets, and selaginella amongst the episcia.
hcmcdole: Yeah, it is a huge tank ... full of salt water and fish .... hubby's toy! All I do is feed them once a day since he works! It's really an undertaking with all the stuff he has to do every so often, with all the filters and having to do partial water changes, mix up new salt water to add etc. I keep telling him it would make a great terrarium but he doesn't want to give up his fish & coral that have been in there for years!
Salt water tanks are beautiful when stocked. We tried a smaller one for our daughter a few years ago with sea horses, anemones, and clown fish but they are very sensitive to contaminants. The house cleaners killed the first set up and we told them to never spray any cleaner in her room again. Well the second tank eventually bit the dust as well (probably the cleaners again but how do you prove it) so now I use that tank for a small terrarium (39 gallons if I remember right which is close to the minimum size for a salt water tank).
It seems like it took six weeks or longer to go through all the nitrogen cycles before you could introduce the more exotic sea life. Maybe one day I will try a salt water tank for myself and lock the door against cleaning people.
They sure are sensitive ... and any kind of aerosol stuff that were to get in the water would surely kill the fish and any sea life in a Marine tank! I can't spray air freshener or furniture polish or anything near the tank! Can't put my hands in there if I have any lotion or perfume's on hands or wrists ... even rinse real well to get soap off before going near the water in the tank! So much contaminates the water. Oh, I would love to have seahorses but they require a very quiet environment ... can't have lively, boisterous fast swimming fish in with them from what I understand. I've heard they will quit eating and starve to death. I love a fish called a Bat Fish too: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spadfsh.htm and have heard that they require a tank environment with slower, quieter fish also. They are just so pretty.
When my three children were in the 8th grade, they had to take marine biology and maintain a 50 gallon salt water tank..........my kids were a year apart, so fortunately I only had to buy one and help maintain for 3 years...........it was fun and she was a fabulous teacher...............
Wow, Gail .... 8th grade and they taught Marine Biology?! That is wonderful! I had no idea that jr high or high chools taught marine biology! I just figured it was only offered in college!
They were in a crummy public school in New Mexico, but this one teacher made up for the rest of the bad ones........................she even took them on a trip down here to Port Aransas to the big state wide salt water museum thing............I know............i went on the trip with them..........................