r/bioactive

im in the process of setting up a fully bioactive chameleon enclose but im a bit stuck on the substrate part. I have a drainage layer and all set i just dont know what to picking know they can't have any thing like fertiliser or perlite or wood bark chips or anything so now my main focus is on arcadia earth mix. is there a difference between those 2? would one be better than the other? or is there better alternatives out there?

TLDR at the bottom. I am literally at my wits end with this silicone.

I used ASI aquarium silicone to adhere a cork bark background to my 18x18x36” tank. It requires at least 50% humidity to cure. Since my house had been at 20% humidity, I filled a large foil tin with water and put it inside the tank and covered the tank’s mesh top to keep the humidity in. It stayed at 50% humidity this way (I checked with a hygrometer). The silicone skinned over and was hard in less than a day. I kept the tank covered for a week (it’s supposed to take 24 hours to cure a 1/8-inch bead, but my silicone blobs were bigger than that), then took the tin out and aired out the tank in my room. Windows open, fan on. After multiple weeks of airing out, I could still smell a vinegar smell when I put my nose up to the bark. It’s not the strongest smell, as I have to get close to detect it, but the inside of the silicone blobs were clearly still off-gassing.

I put the water tin back in, and let it sit for months, routinely refilling the water in the tin because weird blobs of silicone were forming inside the tin that kept eating holes in the foil, which leaked the water into the tank! I was periodically checking and of course, still a vinegar smell. I then aired out the tank for several weeks. Same thing.

I bought the silicone new on amazon and used it 1-2 weeks afterwards. It wasn’t hard in the tube, it was the perfect texture. There isn’t an expiration date on the bottle unfortunately, just a lot #.

I think the only conclusion is that it’s expired, because this didn’t happen when siliconing cork bark to my other two tanks years ago. I used the same kind and brand for those.

TLDR: silicone for cork bark background hasn’t cured for months, must have been expired when I bought it. If anyone has ever had to tear down and start over, any advice on how to get the silicone off? Can I salvage the cork bark? And how do I ensure I’m not buying expired silicone this time around….

Hello! I’ve recently bought a crested gecko from Tiki’s Geckos and I have been trying to build an appropriate shopping list for a bioactive terrarium for him. I still need to figure out what I want to do for hardscape but I’m planning on looking around in person.

If you have the chance, please look over my current shopping list. I’ve done a bunch of research on various sources and products for each category, but if anyone has better suggestions or ideas I’d love to hear them. Let me know if I’m missing anything!

I’ve also attached my recipe for DIY substrate, I’m following SerpaDesign’s mix on youtube. https://youtu.be/bmSr17J2jho?is=H7IwptMYWwMyUINY

Thank you!

Prefacing by saying I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb is. I’ve never had good luck with plants.

The substrate and plants were put in on Sunday, June 28th. The first two pictures are from when I got the plants. I did switch the two higher up plants after I took the first photo but did not take a photo after switching them.

Today, July 4th, I noticed some leaves are dying and turning brown/yellow. That’s what the rest of the photos are. I tried googling but it seems like both overwatering and underwatering can cause them to turn the same color so I just don’t really understand. I seriously mean it when I say im terrible with plants 😂 I just wanna try and figure this out before the plants are too far gone.

In order I believe it’s a sword fern, spiderwort, creeping fig, and an emerald ripple.

All plants except the fern are potted in sphagnum moss. That’s what my local reptile shop recommended. They have all their plants that are built into their backgrounds potted in sphagnum moss.

The fern is planted in the substrate which is that same shops tropical blend substrate. It doesn’t list the exact ingredients used but from what I can tell it’s some sort of coco coir type substrate, sphagnum (?) moss, charcoal bits, and repti bark.

I’ve been spraying the tank at least once a day, either at night or in the morning it just depends on my schedule for the day. Some days it’s gotten sprayed twice, once in the morning and again at night. I really couldn’t tell you exactly how much I’ve been watering. The sphagnum moss in the pots is a little bit wet but it’s not soaked. If I tried i don’t think I could squeeze any excess water out. Same goes for the soil. It’s slightly damp to the touch.

The light is a 24 watt jungle dawn LED from Arcadia which is on for a little over 12 hours a day. I’ve been turning it on when I leave in the morning around 5-5:30 AM. Then it gets turned off before I go to bed which varies from 7-9 PM.

Tank will be for a gargoyle gecko but he is not in there yet.

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Fractus was pretty thirsty this morning. Never underestimate how much these guys drink. He drank for about 3-4 minutes this morning taking short breaks to lift up his head, Im assuming to aid in swallowing it all. All 3 of mine do this on a daily basis. Make sure you always have fresh water for them.

I’m seeing this mold ground around the bottom of my bioactive. Not sure if it’s bad or if there is something I need to do about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is my first one so still learning.

EDIT**** bug friend said it’s a Scymninae Lady Beetle larva. It’s NOT safe to put in our tanks. It’s a predator.

I found this guy after harvesting for moss outside my apartment. What is it??

My Jackson's Chameleon's enclosure

I just took these out of my terrarium. Its been roughly 1 year since ive set it up

So ive been concerned and removed SOME isopods from under 2 hides but i think most eluded me in the corkbark

Its a 120g terrarium. I read that the food keeps them in check, but idk if thats true for me. I didnt give any extra food for months now

I didnt notice injuries on my animal but it might be a matter of time

What can i even do? Is this normal or should i be concerned?

The second picture is crusty but its before i gave them anything

I got my sweet baby Tegu a Dubia Enclosure and curious on if anyone has gone bioactive with said enclosure. I know I have to take aquarium glue to the seams and joints. Any advice on plant lights that can withstand the humidity? Its PVC. Picture of gu and enclosure below! Thank you!

Hey! I have a pothos I was thinking of putting in a bioactive setup at a much later date that currently has mealybugs. I’ve just washed the plant and I am about to repot it but I was wondering if the use of a neem oil spray would be harmful later on. I bought this spray in the picture and I’m going to spray the plant and quarantine it for a few more weeks. Can I use it in my crested gecko tank later on?

They keep jumping out of this deli cup.

I am undergoing an experiment with a bioactive bird enclosure because it seems there's very little readily available information on this.

I know some people think it can’t or shouldn't be done, but they don’t seem to have a compelling enough reason to why it shouldn’t be tried. I'd at least like to give it a shot. If it fails, at least I'll have more information to work with.

I have a giant Borneo 2 cage for a single European starling.

It's cleaned about every other day, and not more than three days between cleanings. I don’t mind this schedule, and I understand that bioactives require upkeep and don't eliminate my needs for cleaning. I just hate how wasteful it currently gets.

Also I think a healthy bioactive floor is a step up husbandry wise, and will look cool as hell.

In the bottom of the cage, I can fit three storage bins lined up to develop into a bioactive floor. They can be easily removed if needed.

I currently have one bin with rosemary, thyme, and some sunflower seeds ready to sprout (sunflowers are most likely going to get destroyed and that’s the point).

There’s about 3 inches between the top of the soil and the top of the bin. The soil layer (no fertilizers) is about 4-5 inches deep.
I have a small drainage layer underneath the soil and so far so good with watering, nothing is too moist.

I have wild isopods and springtails in here and want to develop a super robust cleanup crew.

I have some ideas for the other two bins, was also considering having one bin with just play sand and I could spot clean the poop out.

Would love to hear thoughts, good or bad, and would love suggestions on how to achieve a clean up crew that would be up for the job.

Does anyone know how i can stack my exo terras, im moving somewhere smaller and so id need to stack them ideally like this, i am im the UK

There are 4 45x45x90s and 4 45x45x60s
They are bioactive and weigh roughly 50kg - 60kg per enclosure

This drawing was based on a heavy duty tufferman unit as loads of people in the aquarium world use them to stack their aquariums but i spoke with the company and they advised against these modifications :(

So i just need something that can support them, can be a shelving unit that has the 45x90s on the base and 60s on top

OR

can be a table like design thats tall enough for the 90s + 30cm for for the heat lamps and can support over 200kg (ideally wayyy more than 200kg so its super secure and safe as in nothing would ever happen)

Hi everyone,

Lately I’ve been dealing with a mealybug infestation in my bioactive crested gecko enclosure. It has live plants, cork bark that’s permanently siliconed into the tank so its really hard to clean everything.
Today I also noticed a large number of very small, thin red ants running around inside the enclosure and in the food of my gecko…..

I’m really hoping to avoid tearing the whole enclosure apart, as removing all the plants and hardscape would be nearly impossible without destroying the setup.

Has anyone successfully dealt with both mealybugs and ants in a bioactive gecko terrarium? Are there any safe predators or methods that won’t harm my crested gecko, springtails, or isopods? Or is there another approach you’d recommend?

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!