1. ⁠I set out to make a terrarium, but I love moss and have so much of it (lots still left and more on the way) that I decided to leave the plants out. Should I remove the substrate that I put in for plants? It’s a GBA(?) mix of orchid bark, tree fern, charcoal, peat moss and earthworm castings. I have clay to go vertical but don’t want to go crazy if I need to take out the soil
   
2. ⁠Some of the moss is a little brown, along the back and the tree moss on the right side. I just put it together last week and initially had it in a north facing window but second guessed myself and moved it here with a small grow light more than a foot above the lid. I’m using distilled water and have the lid slightly cracked open

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Anybody know why my begonia has turned white recently? I believe a nerve plant has gotten a bit lighter in color as well but I dont have anything to compare it to. In a closed terrarium for about 5-6 months now. Mother plant beside terrarium facing the same conditions as the terrarium so I dont think its a lack of light but I’ve been wrong before.

Edit: Pilea not begonia

I'm turning this big gumball into a terrarium and starting the build this week. I may eventually use the bottom portion as well, but will be starting with the top. I cant afford the "true" retro style we had when I was a kid, but i felt this was a strong alternative. Wish me luck!!

I have a question on Ficus Quercifolia substrate. AI told me that it's a plant that needs a nutritious substrate, but I've seen it growing in all sorts of media. I'm planning on growing utricularias as well, which prefer nutrient-less substrate like peat moss. Do you think I can grow this Ficus Quercifolia on the same peat moss substrate or will it develop nutrient deficiency?

fungus gnats of course!

i have completely changed out the soil, all live plants, moss, leca, mesh, EVERYTHING.

i have scrubbed my terrarium clean with neem and peroxide, I've added springtails, I've placed traps in the terrarium and it seems as though these freaks never go away.

they are torturing me with their existence.

i've become used to their presence in my domicile. they pay rent, in fact, but their rent money is not enough for me to allow them to continue living inside of the damp of my terrarium.

i refuse.

i must eradicate them. but how. what do I even do at this point. do I just let them win

these freaks are going to be the death of me..please god help..

A little bit of mold forming in my terrarium (only seems to be forming on or near moss or leaf litter), setup is only 2/3 days old and was given a good spray on the first day (which i now think i sprayed too much) there are also some springtails in there which were put in on the 2nd day as well os some woodlice. I know this is a common thing with new terrariums but i was just wondering what my next best action is?

I have created a few terraria in the last few months but I'm running into a mold problem. This terrarium is about a month old and there's a white hairlike mold that is spreading in it. Every where the mold touched the plants in that region begin to yellow and brown overnight. Why is this happening and what can I do to prevent it next time? I've heard that this may be because of excess water but there is no water collected in the drainage later, so I couldn't understand it. Edit: I do have springtails inside and the terrarium is near a window where light is indirect. In this season light is moderate, not very bright.

I recently bought this as second hand. Need help to improve it! I want it to be a paludarium with a watherfall. My inspiration is a rainforest style. Not against some animals inside maybe (Shrimp? Frog? Lezard? Nothing?), but not at first. The dimmension are 24*18*24 inch (Front, back, top).

Hi! I got a terrarium kit from a plant shop for my birthday about a month ago. It came with all the layers for the soil and 3 plants. I put it all together following the instructions but for some reasons it seems to be dying. One of the plants have completely died now and the other two look like they’re on their way out :(. Any ideas as to what I’m doing wrong/ what is going on? Any advice is much appreciated :))

bug info:

- red/brown color

- smaller than pinky nail, bigger than a mama springtail

- 6 legs

- abdomen about twice as big as head

- found crawling slowly on glass last night, slowness possibly due to high humidity.

- have only ever seen it last night

terrarium info:

- high humidity

- moss was harvested from the wild in june

- terrarium was made in june

- my terrarium soil mix is stored outdoors

- large springtail population

- moss is from the west coast of the USA

- terrarium is closed and stored indoors

Recently acquired this clear glass terrarium (second photo has standard size pop can for scale). Currently full of fake plants and smooth black rover stones, I have done a leak test and it doesn't leak!

Looking for suggestions for an aquarium, vivarium or terrarium. If I did an aquarium, I wouldn't be able to run filtration into it, so it would probably have to be more like a Walstad method tank, or plants only.

Open to thoughts of what you would do with it!

Unfortunately the container is not fully sealed (there is a gap when closing, how would you suggest to seal it?

In addition, how do I know if I watered it enough?

Howdy all. This is my first build. I love how it looks but I have questions. It’s in a 2.5 gallon fish tank (I’m on a tight budget) it’s not air tight there’s a finger size hole on the lid and it’s open along the top in the front and back. Like just less thank a pinky widths gap. How often should I water a build like this? I know it’s all about trial and error but I’d love some pointers and help.

My terrarium at 8 weeks. I've had to trim some things already and take out a couple of plants that didn't do well and added a couple. I put the before pic at the end for comparison.

I used a tutorial from https://www.youtube.com/@TerrariumDesigns for building the waterfall and design.

Took some moss, dirt, and a small fern from our backyard, added some old aquarium gravel and substrate for drainage, and a chunk of mopani wood. This is after three weeks, pretty happy with it. Also some isopods and springtails tagged along, so I'll be adding some foods every now and then for them.

So this just happened…
I was just opening the door and it just kind of popped out, really unfortunate.
It’s an exoterra 45x45x90, is there any website where I can buy a new door that ships to EU?
I have a creatie waiting in a backup tank but I wanna get her back in this one asap :(

I have a large sealed mason jar with a sprintail colony in it. I only made this jar a few weeks ago (trying to prep it for a snail) and the first week there was a single gnat in there and now (2weeks later) theres at least 15 dead on the walls of the jar and i saw 1 or 2 larvae in the soil (without digging it around). I'm wondering if i can just stop putting food in the jar so the gnat larvae has nothing to eat or will that kill the springtails as well? I dont want to damage my colony bc this is tuning out to be one of my more succesful ones. How do I get rid of the gnats and larvae?