Let's set up the all new 180 gallon vivarium! I believe that I said previously it was 190 gallons... not sure where that came from, but it's definitely 180. If you remember I just recently took down my old 125 gallon vivarium and this is its replacement. I think that it turned out great, but it's an unfinished canvas. There's still so much work to be done. Regardless, I wanted to share my progress thus far.

Since I've explained most of the things I've done in this video before, I wanted to take a different approach for this demonstration. I thought that it might be helpful to give more insight on how I make aesthetic decisions (placing plants, hardscape, etc). I didn't want to bore you, so I did my best to keep it at a minimum... I know, I can get quite “ranty” about it!

I also want to circle back to something I talked about in the video, that I may not have elaborated on well enough. Originally I had two lights in the enclosure, an LED shop light and a CFL heat lamp. I accidentally left both lights on for the first day and I quickly realized that the plants were getting cooked! So any acclimation issues with the plants happened in less than 24 hours! Everything has been fine since then, but unfortunately I lost a few plants and others took a beating (ficus pumila and anubias). However, they are already showing off a lot of new growth. I'm sure the change in humidity (70% to 95%+) took its tool as well.

Anyways, after I removed the light and added some more ventilation holes (I will show those in a different video), everything has been great. I was pretty bummed about all of this, but I try not to have unreal expectations about my work. Stuff happens, you just gotta take it and find a solution. Also, in case you're wondering, I'm keeping this setup at a consistent temp of 76° F and a humidity of 95%+. I will talk more about that and how this vivarium works in the follow up video.

Let me know down in the comments what you think about this setup thus far. Do you like it better than the old or did you like the 125 better? I suspect that many of you will miss the 125, but give this one some time. That setup didn't get that strong overnight!

Plants Used:
Acorus gramineus
Alocasia amazonica (dwarf)
Aluminum Plant
Anubias barteri
Badge Moss
Bucephalandra (red)
Bulbophyllum antenniferum (Orchid)
Calathea lancifolia
Callisia repens
Cryptanthus bivittatus
Cryptanthus 'Mars'
Cryptanthus 'Red Star'
Dieffenbachia compacta
Dwarf Baby Tears
Ficus pumila
Ficus pumila 'Quercifolia'
Fittonia 'Pink Vein'
Fittonia 'White Vein'
Java Moss
Pellia
Peperomia campylotropa
Peperomia fraseri
Pilea 'Creeping Charlie'
Pteris cretica 'Mayii'
Pilea glauca
Purple Passion Plant
Neoregelia 'Fireball'
Neoregelia 'Tiger Cub'
Rabbit's Foot Fern
Rosy Maidenhair Fern
Sphagnum Moss
Strawberry Begonia
Syngonium podophyllum
Syngonium podophyllum 'Mini Pixie'
Tillandsia ionantha (orange)
Tillandsia velutina
Wandering Jew 'Fuzzy'
Wandering Jew 'Rainbow'

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