09-13-2011, 08:31 PM
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Newbie
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 123
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You're going to have to separate the area where the drip wall runs down from the rest of the soil, otherwise you're going to have constantly soggy soil and rotten plant roots. I'm currently building a 3' Exo Terra with a back drip wall, and my solution is to create a raised bottom using egg crate that will go under the area with soil, so that the soil is never touching the water, and dividing the soil area from the drainage area with a piece of acrylic, placing gravel into the area that will collect water from the drip wall. You're going to need to have a water level of close to 2" under the false bottom, to make sure the submersible pump is always submerged. If you didn't want the drainage layer to be at the same level as the soil, you could always just use rocks or some water resistant wood (mopani, manzita, malaysian drift wood) to section off the soil area, and have a lower gravel area. Kind of like the pond area here  but along the back wall instead of up in front.
For soil I use ABG mix: 1 part milled long fiber sphagnum, 1 part peat moss, 2 parts fine charcoal, 2 parts fine tree fern, 2 parts fine orchid bark. I usually top it with either a thin layer of peat, or in that picture eco earth, to make it look more finished while it's growing in.
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Last edited by BonnieLorraine; 09-13-2011 at 08:35 PM..
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