FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi

Eventually I sat down with pen and paper and drawing a draft of how my Lido (that's a name of a fishtank modell) will look like when finished.

The Lido is 60cm in length, 40cm in widht and not quite 50cm of usable height.
on the side/back walls some plants will be grow, but the floor is mainly for 3 or 4 pots of Sundew pots. There should be sufficient food available in this enclosure as Tropical Springtails, Dwarf Woodlice and a slightly bigger tropical Woodlice (Porcellio laevis) will be inhabitants too.

The draft has already one amendment (not put in drawing): instead of Clay pebbles it will be all fine Grit/pea gravel/holticultural grit. As the other substrates will be Spaghnum moss, Orchid Bark and Beechwood chips (need some drier space for the woodlice), nothing is in risk to sink down into the grit. This saves me the use of very fine netting to keep soil from getting into the drainage layer. This would allow to set pots deeper if needed, i.e. if a plant wants to have wet feet all the time.

There will be some water flow as the waterlevel will be at least 7cm as there is back wall being watered using a small submerged pump.
It's a variation of the tray method, isn't it?
But how deep are the plant pots actually in the water with this method? The bottom of the pots at water level, deeper or above the water level or depends?

I have some plastic pots spare from plants for the garden, different sizes, mostly circular ones, but I think also a couple of square ones (was about to check just know, but in the light of the torch I saw a spider sitting in the keyhole, looking at me with all its eyes, so I will wait until daylight and evacuate the lock guardian).

I have more experience building terrariums for nepenthes than I do for sundews, so my help may be a little limited. But I'll see if I can at least give you some pointers:

- I wouldn't worry about any food. Sundews have a striking ability to find it themselves. And if you want a little boost, you can always spray them with some MaxSea. A whole lot easier than incorporating insects into some type of biodiverse container.
- All of the sundews I've ever grown have preferred a substrate of peat moss, sand, and perlite. I've never had much success getting them to grow in orchid bark, sphagnum moss, gravel, or anything else. Your mileage may vary.
- Some sundews have much more expansive tap root systems than others. I've had some sundews that grow elaborate root systems through the bottom of the pot while others don't. So depending on what type of sundew you grow, you may find they extend their roots beyond the pot and make it challenging in the event you want to repot later.
- What you described is generally a take on the water tray method. Plan on watering up to 4 cm or so above the bottom of the pot. The problem is, over time, the bottom layer will get nasty grimy. You'll need to clean it out occasionally. I usually pull this out yearly and soak in hydrogen peroxide. Occasionally when H2O2 isn't readily available and I'm too lazy to go buy it, I'll soak it in a weak bleach solution and thoroughly rinse it after words (although I don't recommend this). But because you'll need to do this yearly, semi-annually, you'll want to consider the bullet point above.
- In the end, keep it simple. Find substrates that work, and replicate it. Too many inputs means too many possibilities for failure.

Good luck!

thanks for the input

The bark will be not the substrat the Sundews will be in. The bark is the hideaway for the little critters which will live in the Lido. The sundews will be potted in a Spaghnum/Sand mixture.
Peat Moss is getting harder to keep hold of in the UK. And me living up north have even more difficulties as I depend on online buy and delivery (with the delivery being more expensive than the bag of peat moss).

What you mean with nasty grimy? I had tropical fishtanks for years, until I gave it up due to do moving into another country. I'm used to "dirt" in filters and corners in the fishtank with barely water movement. But I never cleaned any of it with chemicals. Either it was removed with a hose when changing the water or left where it was as some fish larvae and shrimps found suitable and sufficient food in there. None of my tanks or equipment ever saw anythink like bleach or H2O2.
This dirt, sometimes it can be slushy, is an ecosystem. It needs time to build and to develop a balance. If using rainwater, collected in a tank and left there before using, I'm sure over time a nice fauna would be there which would be great for Utricularia.

In the end it will be something like a Vivarium for Dartfrogs, just without dartfrogs

I was just wondering how deep the pots need to be in the water, as what I found about the tray method so far, somehow I never saw the water level mentioned. I wondered whether the pots are just being watered and stand on trays, so that the water can drain. Or just stand in some millimeters of water, so that dry soil can wick up the water.

WestCoastGirl wrote:What you mean with nasty grimy?

Green algae, moldy, slimy gunk. Best I can describe it.

WestCoastGirl wrote: Either it was removed with a hose when changing the water or left where it was as some fish larvae and shrimps found suitable and sufficient food in there. None of my tanks or equipment ever saw anythink like bleach or H2O2.

Except this isn't a fish tank. Water remains stagnant. Things grow in stagnant water.

WestCoastGirl wrote:This dirt, sometimes it can be slushy, is an ecosystem. It needs time to build and to develop a balance. If using rainwater, collected in a tank and left there before using, I'm sure over time a nice fauna would be there which would be great for Utricularia.

Except, it isn't a complete ecosystem. It's part of one. Which means by nature it will get out of balance and require intervention. Be prepared for the intervention, that's all.

the water will not be stagnant. The back wall is being watered, the pump is on one side. Water is going up a vertical pipe, going into a horizontal PVC pipe which is punctured over the whole length. hence water is circulating, more towards the intake of the pump and less in the far corner.

Green algue or rather Blue algue (which looks most times greenish)? It has a very distinctive smell, It's slimy and not an algue but a bacteria which is able to photosynthesis. This stuff is a pain, but I know a method to get on top of it. I had this tried out in a paludarium with a watered back wall in the past and it worked a treat.

If it would be real algue: I don't mind as it doesn't do harm to anything. some green algue are actually rather pretty and even sold as Moss Ball.