FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

and what do you do?

I only just scrub it down, pour some hot water, dry it, and thats' it.

is that enough?

I've never cleaned mine lol.

I don't have a terrarium but judging from my hydroponic experience, I would think there would be some beneficial bacteria for the roots of the plants and soils that help. Even though they grow in nutrient poor soil, there is still beneficial bacteria that help the roots process what nutrients are available and oxygen. That's why high nutrient soil, like miracle gro, burn the roots, it kills the bacteria and overloads their system. If you were to clean it, I would suggest what I did with my hydro systems (because it is an enclosed system as well) and use a diluted hydrogen peroxide mix. A standard bottle from a drug store works great and dilute it 1/4 into water. Then simply scrub the inside with a Brillo pad or sponge. That way it cleans out the bacteria growth without harming the good bacteria too much. Although someone with some terrarium experience can chime in, that's my take on it.


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Hmmmmm, the point on healthy bacteria is very interesting.

I only cleaned my tank after the first month of setting it up. That was back in October. Which means it's been 4 months since I last cleaned it. I felt kinda lazy which is why I wanted to ask everyone

I should have mentioned my large terrarium houses potted plants, so its not a planted terrarium. But I do have a "planted" shizandra terrarium.
I could just take ever potted plant out of the larger one and scrub it, but I'm not sure how you would clean a planted terrarium other that just the sides of the glass...

Hmm. Good question. Seeing as I am going to do a terrarium in the fall, I wonder too. I think the best option would be to keep the walls clean, and whenever you do a group repotting (obviously in a soil terrarium) you would take all plants out, clean them up, replace the soil and put them back in.

For a potted terrarium like what you have (I think) you could probably just clean the walls if they get buildup on them, but that should not be a problem for CP water.

As Bvalente said, definitely it would be best to sterilize with only Hydrogen Peroxide. It is that way for aquariums, the guy at the aquarium store near here said he uses that for each no host in the tank because they are there for only a bit. No bleach or other harsh chemicals.

Well, i have 2 terraria at the moment, my heli tank and my pygmy tank, the first is cleaned every 2 weeks or so (meaning i just drain all the water collected below the grid the pots are on, so the roots are never in standing water, and thats it).

For the second, i do nothing at all..