vivarium substrate setup

[txg8gxp]

Anyone have any experience with vivarium substrate setups? I'm planning a new project and was curious about charcoal layers. I plan to add one above the "aquifer" layer to help filter the water. There is charcoal sold for this purpose, but I was curious what/if any the difference between the charcoal sold for vivarium use and all natural wood charcoal for cooking is. From what I can tell they are the same thing just ground up into smaller pieces. Where my confusion come in is you can buy all natural cooking charcoal that is made out of different woods. I'm unsure if there could be issues with prolonged exposure to different style of charcoals. If anyone has any info or could post me some links on the subject that would be great. Thanks.

[txmike]

What do you plan on putting into the viv?We have a few and do not run layer of charcoal in any of them.we use hydroballs /eggcrate/finemesh/substrate.

[txg8gxp]

I'm planing a breeding trio of pygmy chameleons. So far I plan to run hydroton/hydoball, nylon screen, maybe charcoal with another layer of screen then a mix of various substrates. Do you keep a CUC in your vivs. I plan to order some springtails cultures and maybe some other goodies, just not sure what yet.

[pepper]

We do not keep a clean up crew in the vivs, but on our vivs with water features, we do have a charcoal bag to help with filtration. If you use live plants that will also help with filtering the water as it sinks through the water table. Another thing to keep in mind is if you use soil, it can't have any fertilizers or perlite (sp?) in it because that will definitely harm the critters. Plants and roots need to be rinsed well before putting them in the viv. Are you planning on creating a water feature or is this just for drainage? If it is just for drainage then you don't need charcoal. Also, I don't think you should have a water feature for them because they can drown. Perhaps a dripper and a mister. Check out this website for some info: http://cherisse44.webs.com/housing.htm It was the first one I hit to get you some information. Seems to have some basic information on there. Hope this helps!

[txg8gxp]

Thanks for sharing some info. Yes all plants will be removed from the origanal dirt and cleaned good. There will not be a water feature for the pygmys just a layer or hydoballs for drainage.

[pepper]

If all you are doing is drainage then you really don't need a charcoal layer--we haven't done that for any others that don't have a water feature. We use the hydroton, mesh screen, and then cocoa fiber mixed with moss, etc. You can also add another layer of fine gravel on top of the screen, but that will add to the weight on the viv. In regards to the CUC, I get very nervous leaving critters in the vivs because a lot of the reptiles I am keeping can be sensitive and some of the feeder insects may bit them (i.e. crickets). I also get worried about bad mites, etc. so I would rather not see anything in there but the feeders we have put in and the reptiles themselves. The feeders only have so long to be eaten and then they are gone. Spot cleaning their waste, removing/replacing dead plants, and wiping down the leaves and glass should be enought to keep things tidy.

[txg8gxp]

After making a few posts on chameleonforums I have decided to not go with the charcoal layer. It will only be effective for short term, them can release toxins back into the water just like carbon. I may also hold out on springtails, or just do a outside culture for feeding babies etc. So my plan now is hydroton/hydroballs, screen, then coco fiber/forest floor(or something similar) mix with collected oak leaves on top. Don't worry, I will collect leaves at the creek away from pesticide use and bake them at 350 to kill off any hitch hikers.

[Jarob]

. We use the hydroton, mesh screen, and then cocoa fiber mixed with moss, etc.

Thats all I use too, I have a nice viv with a water feature and a few red belly frogs for the moment until I can actually affort the dart frogs.

I wanna see pics when you set it up! I did ALL of mine with greatstuff so that I could sculpt an awesome texture, waterfall, creek, etc. into it. I love it and want to make another now.