Drip Wall Terrarium Update (and lessons learned!) 

You asked for it, I delivered - it's the drip wall tank update video! I hope you learn something :)

'Feature creep' is an awesome phrase lol

There are some snails which are usually found near ponds, like Succinea putris. They aren't aquatic snails but they can maneuver around wet environments and they need lots of moisture too. They, or some similar (tropical) snail might be helpful with cleaning up, so you don't get mold as easily. I bought a pond plant (some kind of Cyprus grass) from the garden center. They had it in a pond there and these snails came with it, accidentally ofc. They are living in my bathroom with the plant for almost a year now. All open (just a water bucket with the plant) and they are doing just fine and even reproduce.

My new 4 foot one has a double waterfall and going to put a T on the return hose from a huge canister filter (can't understand why people do not use canisters, they are fantastic for this type of purpose), one split off going to the waterfalls and with a ball valve to a garden weeper hose, so I can totally control the flow. Have made many paludariums in the past, never had mold. With tall tanks consider double layer lighting. Create an over hang and you can buy submersible lights to go under the over hang. I love using sphagnum moss or cuba for walls. If you want some help ever, please send me a message and I will be most willing to help. I love helping new people to the hobby. I build most of my setups from the bottom up. Thanks for the video and explaining how you learned from the experience. Subbed!

The retro look at a project like this is really valuable. Interesting and enjoyable. Thanks!

Love seeing other peoples DIY experiments! Although it might be difficult to initially culture, it would be really interesting to see how a smaller Fissidens species like obtusifolius or bryoides does on select wall sections since you were looking for a replacement for the riccia. It's also a close to perfect mixture of wetness/humidity for them to thrive in.

riccia , a planted tank nightmare as well , good that you learned

Thanks for this great series of videos. I'm considering setting up a drip wall for a dart frog setup and you've given me a nice perspective on things to consider!

The most natural tank I have ever seen!

You should make it bioactive and add springtails! They thrive in moist environments, actually they die if it’s too dry. They eat mold and bacteria. People use them in terrariums and vivs to control mold and fungus For the slime and algae in the water- you could get an algae eater- shrimp or fish. However, if you run out of algae, then you’d have to feed it algae wafers or boiled lettuce/cucumbers

super glue some hinges on and add it to a door, very easy and cheap!

If you don't mind about plumbing and add a false bottom as well as gravel/dirt in the bottom, you can have the pump inside of the build itself. I'm doing that on a slightly smaller terrarium right now, it's less work but depending on how you put the pump inside, it could be hard to reach it if it ever breaks.

I also see tiny snail (4:46mins lower left) ^.^

I always learn so much from your videos!❤️

You are watching the symbiosis of nature at work. Well done. Fogponics for humidity control.

Great videos! Look up dendroboard, loads of front opening conversions. Some are premade and just need to be siliconed in

you should have added a clean up crew for the algae and mol e.g. . springtails, shrimp in water (amano shrimp), mini snails and woodlouse etc, the drip wall should act as a natural filter, you could reduce the lighting even more for the algae and the buce at the bottom should be fine. You cal also add aquarium bacteria to the water to help with the natural filter.

Good tips. I was planning on using some buce's for a terrarium but I was already skeptical on how well they would adapt to being placed on driftwood. It is for a closed terrarium with mostly emersed freshwater plants. I know most will grow well in the humid environment but buce's are a bit too expensive to experiment on.

Your next built should be a Bornean river side vivarium

Super nice video! Thank for all those feedback. Definitely not building this kind of terrarium 👍

this is like a dream.... how do you manage ventilation here ?

You could put a false bottom in it and make it bio active to solve the mold problem. You would have to put doors on it, though, but they would solve the low humidity issue.

You coulda added springtails for the mold and maybe next time see the videos serpadesign did of the conversion.

How about misting system?

Condensation wont make the glass front look better, I believe

Clean up crew will solve a lot of your mold and algae growth .

where do i research to find plants that need lower humidity?? I want to create a tropical plant tank but add a tarantula which requires ventilation. I am going to use an old exo terra 24x18x24. plan on using a plexiglass top drilled with holes. I am familiar with tarantula care but the plant stuff I need help with please.

I would like to try this, does the sound of water dripping get annoying over time?