Do any of you run bioactive and if so how well does it work? I saw some of the videos and equipment to buy for it but it doesn't look like there's very much in the kit and I'm curious to know how often you have to re-buy stuff to keep it going? I guess, how much more work is it than just a regular enclosure?
That guide is pretty unclear, so I would want to use the bio dudes substrate, it looks like he only sells in 1.5 cubic feet bags and I need three or four or five in deep? So that's a couple hundred in substrate material, it talks about using other types of substrate but doesn't list what they maybe?
What about a soil sand wood chip mixture? I could get all of that for twenty bucks versus 200 through the bio dude
I've been running a bioactive setup for just about a year now. I'm happy to share my experience with it if you have any questions. There was a bit of a learning curve with it for me but I feel like I've got things running smoothly now. I would definitely recommend getting everything set up and allowing some time to work out the temperature and humidity before moving your beardie over.
I ended up buying a bag of the biodude's substrate and combined it with a mix loosely based on the one in the video. I found the biodude' stuff to be more dirt-like overall whereas the homemade substrate had a denser more clay-like consistency so I messed with the mixture a bit until they were more similar. The main thing that you need aside from the soil itself is leaf litter and other organic material - sticks, bark, moss, etc... for your isopods and springtails to feed on and hide under. Scatter them over the top and mix them into the soil a bit so they can start to decompose. I also used pieces of cork bark to create little hides and humid areas. The biodude and some garden stores sell that stuff as well or you can just go out and collect your own if you live near any foresty areas. If you do the latter, I would soak and/or bake everything to get rid of any unwanted passengers. Lastly you'll need isopods and springtails for your cleanup crew. Your local pet store may carry them or you can order them online. I ordered mine from reptiledeli.com and they all showed up in good shape. Hope that helps!