DIY tree trunk terrarium!

Remember this container from the DIY desktop waterfall? Well, I think it's about time I use it again, don't you think? I'll start by mixing up a good amount of aqua soil. The first step is to get a container and pour in the aqua soil, in this case, I'm using Fluval Stratum. Next I'll add a small amount of water, I ended up adding way too much and had to drain quite a bit of it. This step doesn't need a whole lot of water to get wet and mix up properly, so make sure you don't use a lot. After adding the water, I started to mix. You can see here that the aqua soil looks pretty wet and you want it to look more like clay. After mixing up the aqua soil, I could add it into the container. My vision here was to create a sort of tree trunk running up the back of the container, so I used a layer of aqua soil to cover a good area. This first layer was pretty thin so that I could at least stick materials into it and I'll add a little bit later to thicken it up. One of the biggest issues I had with the last time I tried using this technique is I stuck rocks into it and they were way too heavy. This time I'll be using a much lighter material. Aqua soil is a great technique for small terrariums like this as it's very moldable and sticky allowing you to add other materials into it. Plants and moss can also grow on it. Anyway, here you can better see how I laid down the aqua soil, just a thin layer covering the back of the container. To make this look like a tree trunk, I'll use cork bark. I have this big piece that I'll break into smaller pieces. Cork bark is great for this technique as it has great texture and color and is very light. After breaking up about 16 different pieces of cork bark, I was left with a good selection. I started to add them into the container starting from the bottom. Like I said earlier, my goal here is to make something that looks like a tree trunk. I also want it to be covered in moss though so I'll make sure to leave big gaps in between the pieces. I should also mention that there are a few times where the aqua soil starts to dry up a bit and it makes it easier to work with if you give it a little spray. Anyway, I continued adding cork bark, working my way up. You can see here how well this technique works for a container like this as I can add as many hardscape materials as I want while also adding plants and moss. I've used this technique two times before in the past with a 50% success rate. I think it all depends on the materials you're using so something like cork bark that's nice and light works perfectly. You can see how the tree trunk is starting to take shape now but I need to cover the exposed area with some moss. I'll be using three different kinds of moss that I had left over from another project. I started adding it into the container in the areas where the aqua soil was still showing. Again my goal here was to create a tree trunk that's being taken over by moss. I've never really done wooden backgrounds like this, I usually just use the XPS foam but I really enjoyed this technique and I think I'll be using it again in the future. I had to wipe down the glass a few times though as the humidity got a bit high. Other than that everything was going smoothly. I also occasionally sprayed down the moss so it wouldn't dry up. As you can see here some of the moss is super thick which made it hard to place so I had to be strategic about it. I love the variety that I have in the moss and after placing it all in here's the final result. The next thing to take care of is the false bottom for which I'll be using white sand. I poured a thin layer into the container. I then laid down a piece of mesh and set the container on top of it. I then went and run it with an exacto knife and cut out a piece. I also cut one of the sides of the mesh to make it flat so that it could sit against the background. I then placed the mesh into the container. I then went on to adding the substrate which is just a typical ABG mix made of one part coco fiber, one part play sand, one part reptile bark, and two parts sphagnum moss. I added it into the container in a thin layer. It doesn't need to be too thick as there won't be that many plants here, mostly moss. Like usual I sloped it up towards the back to create depth. I then wiped down the glass for better visibility. Then I started to add the remaining moss. I also wanted to blend the tree trunk look a little bit so I added a few more pieces of cork bark here and there. Normally for this kind of thing I would use stones so it was kind of weird not to use any. Anyways I continued adding the moss. With all of the moss and remaining cork bark in place I can now move on to the hardscape using some spiderwood. I wanted to create a sort of dead vine look over the tree trunk. Like usual I started with the largest hardscape element and worked my way down all the way to the smallest. Keeping in mind the way that all of the branches were flowing helped me achieve that vining look that I mentioned earlier. There were a few pieces like this one in the middle and one that I decided to place on the right side that I needed to attach with a little more aqua soil. Again the aqua soil is super nice for little fixes like that. Here you can see me just adding a small piece and sticking the branch to it. Very rarely do I ever get a hardscape right first try however this was one of them. I decided to take it apart though just to see if I could get anything different. I ended up going back to the original one and I tried adding a few more pieces of cork bark but those didn't work either. Here you can see me reconstructing the original scape while still trying a few different things. Added a small piece to the bottom right of the terrarium and that finished the look. I think it looks amazing. It has that tree trunk covered in dead vines look that I really wanted. I decided to further embellish it with a few botanicals. I'm really glad that I added these as I felt like it was looking a bit bland and these add a lot of visual interest. I also decided to add a few small leaves to create a forest floor effect. I wasn't planning on adding any of this stuff but I'm really glad I did as it further enhances that tree trunk feel. Now it's time to fully bring this thing to life with the plants. Nothing special here just a few trimmings from other enclosures. I started by placing the ivy towards the bottom left. Took a little bit of work to get it in as the moss in this area was so thick but eventually I got it done and I think it looks great. I then added the ZZ plant to the bottom right. The final plant I added was a little cutting of a palm. You can't see it though as I decided to do it out of frame to build suspense. I then misted down the terrarium and moved it onto the shelf. The tropical tree trunk terrarium. Honestly I had no intentions of making this project until I was in the animal room just fiddling around with some things. I'm really glad I did make it though as I really love the end result. It's something that I've never really tried before but I really love the way it looks. Normally when I make a terrarium I just use a rocky background covered in plants so doing something out of wood felt really good. Anyway that's all I have for this week. I hope you all enjoyed the video. Don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you all in the next one.