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Post by vraev on Apr 15, 2007 22:56:44 GMT -5
Hmmmm where to find rocks and some wood. Maybe in the forest? Creek bed. Neighbors yard. but u can't find wood or rocks like those.....I mean....don't i need to get nice water resistant wood like cyprus or something like that ?? and where can i get like nice tropical moss for covering over the wood and so on?? I guess I will see if I can order some from equilibrio when I go over to buffalo in august.
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Post by brian on Apr 16, 2007 10:41:15 GMT -5
Any wood would last for a few years and end up covered in moss. For interesting wood get a root chunk of an old shrub or a piece of drift wood along the lake shore. Is it the black colour of the rock or the way it fractures flat you like? Check a good pond supply place for decorative rock. The pieces would be too big but maybe a few broken bits would be lying around.
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Post by martin on Apr 16, 2007 11:48:30 GMT -5
Cork is water-resistant, can be bought at pet shops but can be pricey.
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Post by funkytechnician on Apr 16, 2007 11:53:12 GMT -5
man, If I have one piece of advice to give you about setting up a terrarium with a living ecosystem, that is to MAKE SURE everything that goes into that tank is not going to affect your desired PH target (>5) Get one of the PH test kits from the pet shop, there pretty cheap. Then anything you want to add to the terrarium, submerge in some RO water and leave soak under the water overnight. The next day, test the water and make sure the PH hasn't changed, if it has, don't use that thing in your terrarium. I'm telling you this because I went through a NIGHTMARE with my terrarium setting it up. It took me 1 YEAR to finally find everything in the tank that was driving the PH up (finally turned out to be small pieces of lime in the underlaying gravel ) Now that everything in the tank is non-PH affecting, the levels are around a PH of 4
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Post by brian on Apr 16, 2007 12:11:07 GMT -5
Excellent point. Do not use sedimentary rock for sure, stick with igneous.
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Post by daniello on Apr 16, 2007 15:45:33 GMT -5
holy crap, that vivarium is gorgeous!! maybe someday i will design something that pretty...
the "pipe" tree is also insanely cool... what a good idea!
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Post by vraev on Apr 16, 2007 15:46:19 GMT -5
Thanks soo much for all the advice guys! i appreciate it. tHe problem with all kinds of wood is: I tried getting like small wooden casket thingy from michaels for decorating in my terrarium....but at the end the moment it touched water..the wood started becoming like rotten. ABout the rock....its again....black and flat as you say which is responsible .... hmm....pond supply places...I got to check if any are in mississauga! hmm......driftwood pieces locally look pretty expensive and a bit too big for my tank. I will go check out this store called as the "Big Al's aquarium" they have a big selection. I'll see if they have something for my tank
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Post by brian on Apr 16, 2007 16:55:38 GMT -5
The rock looks like a safely igneous rock called basalt. Next time I go to Bancroft I'll see if there's a roadside cut with something similiar. I thought there were beaches in Mississauga along the lakeshore where you could find interesting pieces. The casket thingy was probably basswood, easy to carve but soft and quickly rotted. Why not see if the nursery has a dead cedar hedge shrub? Cut off the top, wash and clip the fine roots off then whittle the large roots to a pleasing smooth sculpture. Cedar is forever.
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Post by vraev on Apr 16, 2007 23:01:38 GMT -5
cedar......cedar.......hmm.....I will look out for that. Thanks brian!
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Post by Flytrap on Apr 17, 2007 1:27:12 GMT -5
I think cedar is toxic to most plants and animals. Do a google on it ... make sure it's safe.
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Post by vraev on Apr 17, 2007 1:48:35 GMT -5
aaah.......hmm.....I guess I'll check both cedar and cyprus! Especially I'll see if I can get cyprus as its the known driftwood.
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Post by mabudon on Apr 17, 2007 10:11:56 GMT -5
Cyprus seems pretty safe, Jay uses it in many of his CP mixes with great results
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Post by barvinok on Apr 17, 2007 17:38:04 GMT -5
"Big All" have nice driftwood for very reasonable price.
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Post by vraev on Apr 17, 2007 18:16:05 GMT -5
yeah! I am going to make the trip there very soon next week....along with trips to sheridan nursaries (hopefully find some moss), rona lansing, and IF THINGS GO as planned......Toronto Botanical Gardens
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Post by Syble on Apr 17, 2007 20:32:25 GMT -5
just curious if you're planing in having an inhabitant that isn't a plant in there aswell or if its just plants, cause you may want to limit plant material you get from the stores, or atleast wash it well. You can find moss in any forest, thats where mine comes from Now for me, the stone looked alot like the stuff we get in the "flag stone pallets" which is like 4 differnet types of rock but it's all sheet type rock. I'd recommend going to a stone yard/ landscape supply yard and picking though their left overs. Because the sizes you need will be small you may be able to get them at little or no cost. And theres lots of cool stuff out there! Sib
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