Had a perfect terrarium week after 6 months of failures

Last week I finally got three closed terrariums to stay alive for a full 7 days with no mold. My trick was switching to a plastic container for the false bottom instead of rocks. I added a thin layer of charcoal from my grill, then sphagnum moss I boiled for 10 minutes. The humidity stayed at a steady 80 percent the whole time. Has anyone else tried using charcoal briquettes instead of the expensive stuff from the store?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma30629d ago

Have you checked if your charcoal briquettes have any lighter fluid or additives in them? Cause I tried that once and whatever they put in there to make them light easier ended up gassing my plants. The humidity thing is interesting though, I been using a little fan inside my open terrariums to keep air moving and it cut down on mold way more than I expected. Maybe the plastic container for the false bottom helped trap moisture better than rocks cause rocks have gaps that let air dry things out. I bet if you crushed up some old clay pots for drainage it would work even smoother than the charcoal.

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maxm5029d ago

@uma306 charcoal briquettes have additives, you want plain activated carbon for terrariums.