Best plants for bio active viv

kelii

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I set up my foots' home last January with bioactive soil and cypress bark. I planted some spider plants an aloe and a tiny Palm. All the plants except for one spider plant aren't doing well. They're turning yellow, and slowly fading away. I think it's be cause the soil is constantly moist. What plants can I use that will do better? I already cut back on my listings to try and dry things up a little more.
 

Anyfoot

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I set up my foots' home last January with bioactive soil and cypress bark. I planted some spider plants an aloe and a tiny Palm. All the plants except for one spider plant aren't doing well. They're turning yellow, and slowly fading away. I think it's be cause the soil is constantly moist. What plants can I use that will do better? I already cut back on my listings to try and dry things up a little more.
Can we see your enclosure please. If you don't have drainage and your soil is too moist constantly the roots will eventually rot.
 

kelii

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the mister was on every 4 hours for a minute, yesterday I changed it to every 6 hours for 20 seconds.
 

Anyfoot

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the mister was on every 4 hours for a minute, yesterday I changed it to every 6 hours for 20 seconds.
I have my 3 juveniles in a closed system too. I ended up having fake plants because all the live plants died. I eradicated the theory of them being too moist by putting them in pots within the closed system. They still died, and my substrate wasn't over wet anyway, just moiste.
So I can only think mine died because of either not enough light or low oxgyen levels for the plant life because of the closed system. I suspect low oxygen levels was the culprit.
Next time I raise some juveniles I'm going to try an open system with an extreme amount of plant life to create the humidity.
For this time round I have to follow my experiment through.
I'd try not covering the entire enclosure, but keep an eye on your humidity levels.
Hope someone else chips in for you.
 

kelii

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It's a 54 gallon. I'm going to be getting their adult enclosure soon.
 

SarahChelonoidis

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The size may be part of what is making keeping your plants happy a challenge. Deep substrate with adequate drainage below is incredibly important - as well as distance away from the hot lamps so they don't desiccate. Is that lamp the only real lighting for the plants? You potentially don't have enough light for your plants to thrive. Spider plants, pothos, and Boston ferns are probably the easiest to keep alive, but your enclosure may not be well suited for plants in to begin with.
 

kelii

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The only light is the uvb strip. The one in the dome is a CHE.
 

kelii

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Should I add another plant light and deepen the substrate with pebbles on the bottom for drainage?
 

Pearly

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I wouldn't worry about "low oxygen levels" because plants thrive on CO2, and put off oxygen into the atmosphere, that's the reason (aside from esthetics) I wanted heavily planted nursery for the babies' closed system. I too was worried about them (the babies)not having good breathing air. That's why I wanted heavily planted tank, so that plants would consume co2 and put out more o2 for the hatchlings. I had this same problem with my plants at the beginning, also had aloe, bunch of succulents, parlor palm (only mine was much bigger than yours). They all kept withering away after a while. I had them planted directly in substrate. My parlor palm is the only thing that is still there. I got bunch of new plants and buried their pots in substrate plus got plants that thrive on medium to low light and like moist environment: pothos, purple waffer, creeping jenny, mother in law tongues and few others. I think adding more light is good option. I didn't do it thinking mine are forest species so in nature they spend most time on forest floor. I think that once they move to their bigger home I'll definitely have more lights there. For now I have UVB strip 36 or 38(?) inches and 100 watt basking bulb during a day all day long and switch them off to a 100 watt CHE at night. I too was thinking of putting something coarse on the bottom of the tank for drainage/aeration but pebbles were to heavy, I put 2 inch layer of orchid bark instead and about 4 inches of coco coir mixed with little organic soil (5:1) and moss covering on top. I have earthworms and all I could find was 4-5 pill bugs in my garden. This is a first year they haven't been plentiful for some reason. I see earthworms all the time when lifting water dish or cleaning/stirring substrate, but haven't seen pillbugs. Maybe they became snack?... I also noticed tiny soil centipedes in there, they are tiny and don't seem to bother the babies nor do they seem to want to come out of the tank so I'm letting them be for now.ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447076292.565998.jpg this picture was taken before plants started dying. Cause of death: ROOT ROT! I have pics of the current set up on another device. I'll try to post those in a little while. Hope you get this figured out, I know how frustrating it can be
 

Anyfoot

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I wouldn't worry about "low oxygen levels" because plants thrive on CO2, and put off oxygen into the atmosphere, that's the reason (aside from esthetics) I wanted heavily planted nursery for the babies' closed system. I too was worried about them (the babies)not having good breathing air. That's why I wanted heavily planted tank, so that plants would consume co2 and put out more o2 for the hatchlings. I had this same problem with my plants at the beginning, also had aloe, bunch of succulents, parlor palm (only mine was much bigger than yours). They all kept withering away after a while. I had them planted directly in substrate. My parlor palm is the only thing that is still there. I got bunch of new plants and buried their pots in substrate plus got plants that thrive on medium to low light and like moist environment: pothos, purple waffer, creeping jenny, mother in law tongues and few others. I think adding more light is good option. I didn't do it thinking mine are forest species so in nature they spend most time on forest floor. I think that once they move to their bigger home I'll definitely have more lights there. For now I have UVB strip 36 or 38(?) inches and 100 watt basking bulb during a day all day long and switch them off to a 100 watt CHE at night. I too was thinking of putting something coarse on the bottom of the tank for drainage/aeration but pebbles were to heavy, I put 2 inch layer of orchid bark instead and about 4 inches of coco coir mixed with little organic soil (5:1) and moss covering on top. I have earthworms and all I could find was 4-5 pill bugs in my garden. This is a first year they haven't been plentiful for some reason. I see earthworms all the time when lifting water dish or cleaning/stirring substrate, but haven't seen pillbugs. Maybe they became snack?... I also noticed tiny soil centipedes in there, they are tiny and don't seem to bother the babies nor do they seem to want to come out of the tank so I'm letting them be for now.View attachment 155050 this picture was taken before plants started dying. Cause of death: ROOT ROT! I have pics of the current set up on another device. I'll try to post those in a little while. Hope you get this figured out, I know how frustrating it can be
Hi pearly. I was under the impression that plants need both oxygen and carbon dioxide. They absorb oxygen and give off carbondioxide. But during photosynthesis (daytime) its the opposite way around.
Do you have any air inlet at all in your closed system?
 

kelii

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Pearly, that tank is beautiful! What size is it?
 

Pearly

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Hi pearly. I was under the impression that plants need both oxygen and carbon dioxide. They absorb oxygen and give off carbondioxide. But during photosynthesis (daytime) its the opposite way around.
Do you have any air inlet at all in your closed system?
Hi there! No, all the green plants (chlorophyll) need to photosynthesize is water, light and CO2, oxygen is a byproduct. They thrive on co2, that's why the folks with the most beautiful planted fish tanks have CO2 diffusers. My tank is not air tight. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447082818.294055.jpg there are openings cut out in the insulation material for the light fixtures and foggier hose
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447082893.281345.jpg this is where I place fixture after switching back and forth from CHE to basking light, etc. when the bulb is still very hot. On warm day I leave that "flap" open, but when room air is cold or tank humidity needs boost I close it as soon as the bulb cools down. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447083109.818810.jpg
This is my daughter did for the light fixture placement
 

Anyfoot

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Hi there! No, all the green plants (chlorophyll) need to photosynthesize is water, light and CO2, oxygen is a byproduct. They thrive on co2, that's why the folks with the most beautiful planted fish tanks have CO2 diffusers. My tank is not air tight. View attachment 155054 there are openings cut out in the insulation material for the light fixtures and foggier hose
View attachment 155055 this is where I place fixture after switching back and forth from CHE to basking light, etc. when the bulb is still very hot. On warm day I leave that "flap" open, but when room air is cold or tank humidity needs boost I close it as soon as the bulb cools down. View attachment 155056
This is my daughter did for the light fixture placement
Thank you. Im not saying your wrong, I just need to know that you are correct. Lol
You are saying at night when it's dark that plants don't take in oxygen and give of carbon dioxide, and they take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen as they do in day light hours.
In my next enclosure I was intending at night when it's dark to drop the temps by 2°c and have 2 vents open to allow air(oxygen) flow.
I THOUGHT as long as I didn't create any cold drafts this would be as good as it can get in a closed system with regards to plant life.
Now you got me thinking all sorts. Does a plant give off enough O2 during the day to survive the night, then if you add animals in there draining the O2 through the day what impact does it have. Mmmm :eek:

Thank you again
 

Pearly

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Pearly, that tank is beautiful! What size is it?
Thank you! The tank is small, only 40 gal breeder. The larger enclosure is in planning phase. For now the babies are fine, get plenty of exercise outside and for the winter cold days I already have a large shallow bin for them with lights/heat where they can get their walking and interact more with the family yet be safe from ingesting something, being stepped on or some other terrible thing.
With all the other expenses related to the essentials of initial set up, this was all I could afford. I, like many others out there fell victim to uneducated impulse to get my sweet child a pet without doing sufficient research. I mean, I did do my reading, but didn't find TFO till after the fact. The babies started off on large shallow container (hides, live plants and all), but very soon I learned that keeping consistent temps and humidity was not possible, so with the help of the forum members here I kept making changes till I was happy with my parameters. There are many awesome threads here many of which I have yet to read, not enough awake time to read now.
Many knowledgeable and experience keepers are willing to share their knowledge and just hand it to us-newbies. That's one of the things I love about TFO. I spend a lot more time reading on it than my daughter who is the "tort mom":) but I don't mind, this is a nice way to get my mind off daily routine. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447084332.562789.jpg
Here are couple of plants that so far seem to be doing ok
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447084426.777689.jpg
The tiny round leafed plant is (I think) creeping fig of some sort. It lost some leaves initially but now seems to have settled down.
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447084524.057047.jpg
Purple wafer plant
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447084558.305127.jpg
Parlor palm and creeping Jenny to the right, the plant to the center with almond shaped striped leaves died (think it was too humid) soon after planting. Too bad because it was Brazilian native plant (forgot the name) I thought my little cherryhead boy would enjoy having it thereImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447084796.705714.jpg
Here you can see that plant little better
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447084912.595388.jpg
There are 2 different Pothos plants and I planted live moss around the water well on one side, but think it's GONE due to high temps, it used to be much greener☹️
The light green is a center of romaine lettuce. I stuck it in there and it's growingImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447085334.429315.jpg
The substrate is at least 6 inches thickImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447085403.213160.jpg
Here is the water dish well with moss on one side and pebbles on the other to keep the water clean, works great! Once a day water changes are sufficient now. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447085516.789407.jpg
Water well with couple of earthworms, they look pale here but in daylight they are pink. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1447085636.302988.jpg
The newest hides modified with lot more moss inside and on top. Babies love to burrow and moss keeps their faces cleaner, and they love to climb on top of their hides, there are 3 different hides, 2 in warm (85F) part and one on a cooler side (80f). I LOVE moss! The babies love to walk on it and burrow/nestle in it for the night.

I think that's all I have for you for now. Hope this helps. Keep us posted with your progress
 

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kelii

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Thank you so much! That is definitely inspirational.

What size tank is it?
 

Pearly

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Thank you. Im not saying your wrong, I just need to know that you are correct. Lol
You are saying at night when it's dark that plants don't take in oxygen and give of carbon dioxide, and they take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen as they do in day light hours.
In my next enclosure I was intending at night when it's dark to drop the temps by 2°c and have 2 vents open to allow air(oxygen) flow.
I THOUGHT as long as I didn't create any cold drafts this would be as good as it can get in a closed system with regards to plant life.
Now you got me thinking all sorts. Does a plant give off enough O2 during the day to survive the night, then if you add animals in there draining the O2 through the day what impact does it have. Mmmm :eek:

Thank you again
At night, when there is no light available, the green plants don't photosynthesize. And no, they do not consume oxygen, they GIVE oxygen, they only consume CO2, light, water and nutrients nitrogen based i.e. Tort pee/poo missed in my spot cleaning is food for green plants, so it's win-win situation. I haven't figured out how to include links from my mobile devices, but there's tons of easy to "digest" info on plant life on the net. Just google PHOTOSYTHESIS and you'll find all kinds of easy diagrams as well as detailed scientific stuff on it.
I totally understand your concern about the air quality with closed chambers. That was my worry too. That's what drove my decision to aim for heavily planted chamber with all live plants and substrate containing tiny "clean-up crew"
 
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