Closed Chamber Substrate Hygiene/maintenance

thecrawlingchaos

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So, I've been using a greenhouse for a closed chamber for about a year and a half. Everything seems to work fine, but there's one issue that annoys me to no end.

It seems like after about 2 months, my orchid bark substrate starts to stink. I spot clean daily and scoop when I see waste or excess food. It doesn't seem to help a lot. The water at the bottom of the sub just starts to reek in a couple of months. I don't mind cleaning and replacing, which I do. That said, it seems like I recall other keepers telling me that replacing the bark wasn't something I'd need to do too often.

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong here?
 

Tom

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So, I've been using a greenhouse for a closed chamber for about a year and a half. Everything seems to work fine, but there's one issue that annoys me to no end.

It seems like after about 2 months, my orchid bark substrate starts to stink. I spot clean daily and scoop when I see waste or excess food. It doesn't seem to help a lot. The water at the bottom of the sub just starts to reek in a couple of months. I don't mind cleaning and replacing, which I do. That said, it seems like I recall other keepers telling me that replacing the bark wasn't something I'd need to do too often.

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong here?
I don't have that problem. Is the substrate too wet?
 

Maro2Bear

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It does sound like the substrate is too wet. Id mix in a few new bags of substrate and mix it all around & get some air circulating about. You need moist substrate, but not a bog.
 

thecrawlingchaos

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It does sound like the substrate is too wet. Id mix in a few new bags of substrate and mix it all around & get some air circulating about. You need moist substrate, but not a bog.
I did a full change yesterday. I'll keep an eye on it and see how long it takes to dry out/accumulate water.
 

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