Introductory Offer: 12" X 24" Forest Floor Terrarium Kit

[hydrophyte]

12" X 24" Forest Floor Terrarium Kit

It took a while to get them cut, but I just received the laser-cut plates for the 12" X 24" Forest Floor Terrarium Kit. Forest Floor Terrariums are a novel method for terrarium plant care that feature easy set up, modularity and other compelling features. You can read more about the Forest Floor Terrarium concept in this thread...

A New Way to Grow Terrarium Plants

I have also been offering custom Forest Floor Terrarium kits, but this first standard kit is designed for use with regular glass fish tanks having 12" X 24" footprints. Popular models include the 20G High, 25G High and 30G Extra High. This picture shows a false bottom plate with spacers inside a 30G Extra High.



The plate design has improved in comparison to the prototype in that photo--it has more holes--and it is cut from a black, not gray, plastic sheet.

The kit includes several more components. Here is a quick list of everything included...

• 11.5" X 23.25" (fits 12" X 24" aquariums) Forest Floor Terrarium false bottom plate
• Forest Floor Terrarium fitted screen
• FIVE vertical spacer pipes
• FOUR 2" net pot planters
• SEVEN 3" net pot planters
• ONE 3.625" net pot planters
• 24" black airline hose

I would like to offer these kits for the low introductory price of $40 shipped. I am still calculating costs of manufacture, but the eventual retail price will be around $50, so this is a good value. The kit will eventually also include a detailed instruction sheet--I am still working on this too--but in the meantime I can offer personalized guidance for setting the kit up with your glass enclosure.

I recommend using a sharp drainage pro mix in the net pot planters, or more preferably fine orchid bark mix or ABG mix. I have a small amount of (non-sterile) ABG mix that I can include with orders at about $7/gallon, but I hope to order more substrates to make larger quantities sometime soon.

I will have more updates with additional photographs on the way soon. Thanks for reading!

[hydrophyte]

Another important point that bears repeating as that the whole Forest Floor Terrarium false bottom assembly is covered up with natural leaf litter to create a convincing scene inside of the terrarium. I do not currently have extra leaf litter to offer with the kit, but I will eventually have dried oak and other kinds of good leaves to offer in 1-gallon bags.

This picture shows the wonderful Pinanga "Thai mottled" palm seedling nestled in a natural leaf litter that I made with oak leaves.

[hydrophyte]

...more pictures on the way if I can resolve my camera issues.

[hydrophyte]

Here's a quick shot of that 30G after I got it planted up and with leaf litter. This terrarium is still developing and it will look more convincing when the plants get more of a chance to grow in.



You can see that with the leaf litter in place it looks just like a real forest floor.

I painted several inches of depth around the bottom of this tank to hide the void space beneath the false bottom plate.

[hydrophyte]

This picture shows how the fitted screen is positioned with the false bottom plate.



The holes in the screen match the ones in the false bottom plate. The screen is an important component because it seal the gap all the way around the false bottom plate and prevents leaf litter and livestock from falling through.

[hydrophyte]

Look at this!

[hydrophyte]

Don't forget to ask me about plants too. I can suggest or source some really cool selections and I have a few good ones here too.

Here are some of the plants from my collection of semi-dwarf and true miniature palms. These plants are perfect for growing with the Forest Floor Terrariums system.

[hydrophyte]

More pictures pretty soon if I can ever resolve my hosting problem.

[hydrophyte]

Cheers and good morning!

[hydrophyte]

A quick shot of set up for that 30G tank showing a few plants being arranged with the kit.

All of the plastic parts will disappear with the addition of the leaf litter.