Bioactive Ckean up crew

[Kcoop2012]

Hello! I am getting a beardie next month and am setting up his enclosure so everything is perfect before he comes. I am wanting to set up a bioactive enclosure and have the substrate I am going to use (mix of organic fertilizer free topsoil, play sand and sphagnum peat moss). His enclosure is a 4x2x2 pvc enclosure. I plan on having live plants as well (aloe, basil, rosemary, and the spineless prickly pear.) I know I need a clean up crew and have seen isopods and arid spring tails suggested but had a few questions.

How many of each do I need?

How do I know if I have enough?

How do I know if I have to many?

Is there anything else besides those two things I should include in my CUC?

 

[Chris.]

Hey there
Keep in mind that you want your humidity fairly low inside the tank. Too much moss might just raise it unnecessary.

What kind of isopods will you use?

Springtales will be only visible if you flip some rocks or dig a bit. If you don't find some in your "microbial hotspots" (under rocks or wood) you have too little.

In general you just need enough to get the population going, they should breed and regulate by themselfes. Provided the right enviroment.

 

[Kcoop2012]

Hey there
Keep in mind that you want your humidity fairly low inside the tank. Too much moss might just raise it unnecessary.

What kind of isopods will you use?

Springtales will be only visible if you flip some rocks or dig a bit. If you don't find some in your "microbial hotspots" (under rocks or wood) you have too little.

In general you just need enough to get the population going, they should breed and regulate by themselfes. Provided the right enviroment.

I’m not really sure which isopods I should use. I’ve seen people suggest the mini white dwarf but I’ve also see people suggest either the powder orange or blue. I didn’t know if one was necessarily better than the other or not.

 

[Chris.]

I’m not really sure which isopods I should use. I’ve seen people suggest the mini white dwarf but I’ve also see people suggest either the powder orange or blue. I didn’t know if one was necessarily better than the other or not.

For me the white isopods work really well but are harder to keep alive in an arid setup than some of the bigger species. Those might get eaten by your dragon though.

 

[xp29]

There are some really pretty variety of isopods, but remember beardies see well so pretty may = easy targets lol.

 

[Kcoop2012]

There are some really pretty variety of isopods, but remember beardies see well so pretty may = easy targets lol.

That’s why I was thinking maybe doing the orange powder because I think they will blend in the most with the substrate so maybe he won’t find them as easily