My first terrarium

[mikeb210]

Hello. I was fishing the other day and came across some beautiful moss in the woods and I decided to put my empty 5g to use. I collected a few moss species I came across, and ended up with a few hitchhikers also. I only set this up yesterday, so the jury is still out on whether anything will live or not.

I was hoping for some pointers on making things work. I've used soil from the area where I collected the mosses, with maybe .5" of gravel at the bottom of the tank for drainage.

If anyone can ID anything in the tank, I would appreciate it, especially the feathery stuff on the left side. Any tips on getting them to flourish, or experiences would also be great.

I weather stripped the top of the tank and covered it with a panel of glass, cut to fit. I misted with a little bit of tank water, but I understand that overwatering is usually the killer of setups like this. I'm using a 27w desk lamp to light it, not sure if that would be too much for the mosses so I raised it up ~8" from the top of the tank.

It was kind of a quick decision to start, kind of "Hey, wonder if I can get that to grow?" but now I'm looking at other plants and little critters to keep in there. Just what I need, another addictive plant hobby

Thanks for looking, I would really appreciate feedback and helpful tips.

Mike

 

[dundadundun]

very clean water like r/o or distilled would be best to mist with.

 

[Ozymandias]

yup all the reading i've done agrees with that Ro water, distilled, or Rain water if you use tap water the moss is most likely going to die in a couple of months.


also here is another site that goes into the care and propagation

 

[jpappy789]

that's a pretty sweet setup!

 

[Vicious_Fish]

It's coming along nicely.