Bioactive Terrarium?

[RagingBunny]

Hey everyone! I first posted when I brought Sobek home, he is around 5/6months old right now and he's doing really well! You guys were amazing at helping this beardie mom make sure he had everything proper

So I currently have Sobek in a 40gallon tank that I am planning on upgrading later on to hopefully a 120 gallon tank instead.

I've been doing some research and I thought this would be the best place to get hands on information.

I am considering a bio-active terrarium. I will only go forward with this if it turns out that is actually not harmful for him, and is actually more beneficial! He currently gets a loooot of outside cage time, since his terrarium is right next to a long window and the sun come right in;once he starts glass surfing he knows imma get him out and have him walk around as he pleases. He is quite active as well, I currently have a background that came with the tank (rocky looking Styrofoam thing) and I am not going to lie, at first when he got in there he was going crazy! He would climb the wall, jump on to the tree prop I have in there, down to his net and just running around the entire place! His color was bright and no signs of stress (besides the crazy climbing around lol). This actually made him more active during feeding time as well, he seems to enjoy to climb after a cricket or two that manage to climb the thing.


So that was a bit of a backstory to his behavior. The only time he ever gets sluggish is when he is shedding. Other than that he's quite active.

Thank you in advance!

 

[CooperDragon]

Bioactive substrate is a good option when done properly. It requires a lot of space to allow for proper drainage layers. It's certainly worth looking into. There are a few people on here who use them.

 

[RagingBunny]

Bioactive substrate is a good option when done properly. It requires a lot of space to allow for proper drainage layers. It's certainly worth looking into. There are a few people on here who use them.

I've been looking around on here as well to see what would be the best options! I found a channel on youtube, I think the name was something like "the dude" and he has his own company foe bioactive enclosures. Would you be able to give me a rough estimate of how much I'd be spending?

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Probably more than 400... I can sure tell you that. I spent 400+ on a 50 gallon bioactive tank for a leopard gecko using his products... I'm guessing you'd need at least a 4x2x4, personally I'd do a 6x2x4 but the 4x2x4 enclosure I saw seems to be working for this one person.

With a 4x2x4 you'll provide more climbing space so they don't have to just sit in the substrate, plus they're semi aboral so the height is also good. And you can provide even more temperatures and UVB level with a larger enclosure.
The minimum tank in my opinion for just a regular setup is a 75 gallon or a 120 (4x2x2) gallon.

I'd love to go bioactive for my beardies but in my opinion its not worth them possibly dying just so I can have nice enclosures as captive beardies are a bit weaker than their wild counterparts. I'm sure they would enjoy a bioactive enclosure to some degree but its just not worth the risk... plus I dont have that much space left over for 3 4x2x4's or 6x2x4's.

 

[RagingBunny]

Probably more than 400... I can sure tell you that. I spent 400+ on a 50 gallon bioactive tank for a leopard gecko using his products... I'm guessing you'd need at least a 4x2x4, personally I'd do a 6x2x4 but the 4x2x4 enclosure I saw seems to be working for this one person.

With a 4x2x4 you'll provide more climbing space so they don't have to just sit in the substrate, plus they're semi aboral so the height is also good. And you can provide even more temperatures and UVB level with a larger enclosure.
The minimum tank in my opinion for just a regular setup is a 75 gallon or a 120 (4x2x2) gallon.

I'd love to go bioactive for my beardies but in my opinion its not worth them possibly dying just so I can have nice enclosures as captive beardies are a bit weaker than their wild counterparts. I'm sure they would enjoy a bioactive enclosure to some degree but its just not worth the risk... plus I dont have that much space left over for 3 4x2x4's or 6x2x4's.

Ooh I see! Yeah the main reason for the interest on these types of setup isn't really aestetic related, I want to provide him with the best I can. Regardless of it being bioactive or not I will upgrade to either a 90 gallon or hopefully a 120 instead ? thank you so much for the input!