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[slaytonp]

Ricca or Java moss are good substitutes for "grass." I do have some grasses in tanks, but they are all tall and don't have the mowed look of a lawn by any means. They also require better drainage and more light than the mosses. You can consider other ground covers such as the Ficus pumila quercifolia or other mini-pumila ficus varieties, which will form a solid mat of flat leaves on the substrate, and also climb up everything else, including the glass. (This is easily controlled, however.) For backgrounds, I still prefer cork bark, (albeit combined with some Great Stuff to fill the hollows before attaching it to the glass with silicone.) Cork bark lasts "forever" and supports all sorts of growth from bromeliads to it's own odd mosses and even some ferns that have cropped up. Fern tree panels make great drip walls, but in my experience need water dripping through them or they don't sustain much, as they are loosely fibrous and tend to dry out without a constant drip. They last a long time, and sprout ferns "spontaneously," which have to be controlled, because they can overgrow enthusiastically. They will support Ricca or Java if they remain wet. The pressed coconut panels in my experience deteriorate and sag within about three or four years, but this might be quite acceptable to most people. They will support about anything you want to grow on them, and even sprout a few surprises you didn't plant. The pressed panels are very expensive, or at least they were when I last purchased them.

My own advice, although I haven't always followed it, which is why I keep saying it, is think small when choosing tropical plants to use in a vivarium. Scale it down, even if you have to forgo some beautiful tropicals to do so. Even with the smaller ones, you may be doing a lot of ripping and trimming to keep them under control.