# Any Luck with Hygrolon Alternatives?



## Pb25 (Feb 12, 2021)

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I am beginning to construct my dart vivarium (an 18x18x18 exo terra), and I want to achieve the "cork-bark-tubes-coated-in-plants-and-moss look." I also want plants/moss coating the back wall of the tank, and I'm thinking siliconing hygrolon to the back wall would be a good idea - I really like the aesthetic, and hygrolon takes up much less space than other backgrounds. I want a few cork tubes spanning the length of the viv going across or diagonally across as well. Can I use "hygrolon-like" material? I will not have any water features, and I will be misting by hand. I bought a large piece of "3d spacer mesh" for around $20. I'd like to know if it would be suitable. I will attach pics. The second picture shows the reverse side of the fabric. My questions are is it ok to use this, or do I need real hygrolon (expensive)? Will it work if I'm just misting it by hand? If it's helpful, my false bottom consists of an egg crate square that's about 13x13 and around 2.5 inches tall, and I will surround it with those clay balls. I've just been researching obsessively for months, and I want to get started on the tank. 
Thank you so much for any advice! 

My main inspirations are these two builds, which I really want to recreate. 








Cork tube tank build


Wanted to show you guys what I'm working on. Last week I got myself a new tank (18x18x24"), unfortunately it leaked so I haven't been able to start with the fun stuff until yesterday. The design is based on this tank, but better:p Not too much to show right now, but this i what I've got so...




www.dendroboard.com












10 Gal. Epiphyte Branch Vivarium


Since seeing this http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/81754-log-vivarium.html, made by boardmember mitcholito, I've been wanting to build something similar; something outside of what is commonly seen with the 3D cork bark/Great Stuff backgrounds of most vivaria (and along the...




www.dendroboard.com


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

I have heard that Hygrolon wicks and retains moisture better than other “3D spacer” fabrics, but as far as I can tell none of them retain moisture very well. Personally my experience is with Spyra, which looks like the fabric you have but supposedly has properties similar to Hygrolon. In any case, with any of these fabrics I think you will find it very difficult to keep the fabric moist enough to grow anything using just hand misting. But you could do some experiments before you fully commit, to see how long a single layer (say, wrapped around a tube) stays moist after misting in an enclosed, high humidity environment.

If you discover that hand misting won’t work, you might have better luck trying to create a sealed chamber inside each “branch” and keep that filled with pure (distilled, RO) water with a wick that transports it to the exterior.


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## jgragg (Nov 23, 2009)

Personally I think you'd be much better off finding some thinner cork flats and breaking them up into pieces for a cracked-cork mosaic. That will visually mesh a lot better with your cork tubes, than a synthetic-fabric back wall. Which would take a while to fill in, if it ever does. Here's why:



> none of them retain moisture very well


That's an understatement. they're dry as hell. You need to reapply water very frequently, or tap into a standing water supply that can provide wicked water. But it won't wick 18" up, more like 12 if you're lucky, so...you'd need an elevated reservoir anyway.

Screw that plastic shit, man. My suggestion...


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## Pb25 (Feb 12, 2021)

jgragg said:


> Personally I think you'd be much better off finding some thinner cork flats and breaking them up into pieces for a cracked-cork mosaic. That will visually mesh a lot better with your cork tubes, than a synthetic-fabric back wall. Which would take a while to fill in, if it ever does. Here's why:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advice. I think I will go with a cork mosaic.


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## jgragg (Nov 23, 2009)

Cool. I really do think you'll be happier in the long run. 

Meanwhile you can certainly pick up a little hygrolon and start playing with it to learn its characteristics and behavior. No doubt, for certain specific applications it kicks ass. But I have come to feel its uses are more limited than I originally envisioned. Honestly I think it's best in situations where you are trying to support plant life but are unconcerned with naturalistic appearances. For example, imagine a circular plastic tray, with a terra cotta pot flipped upside down sitting in the tray. The pot is lined on the inside with hygrolon - just using maybe a dozen thin vertical stripes of silicone as adhesive. The tray holds pebbles and RO water (use RO or you'll get ugly salt buildup, most likely). Coat the pot (which will always be cool and damp, as long as you keep water in the tray) with a moss slurry and maybe also superglue on a few cuttings of an epiphytic fern (just a few inches of rhizome and 2-3 leaves). Put it near a window and just wait. Pretty cool houseplant, I think.

Anyway - good luck on the build. You're probably gonna get addicted, but it's wholesome.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

jgragg said:


> Cool. I really do think you'll be happier in the long run.
> 
> Meanwhile you can certainly pick up a little hygrolon and start playing with it to learn its characteristics and behavior. No doubt, for certain specific applications it kicks ass. But I have come to feel its uses are more limited than I originally envisioned. Honestly I think it's best in situations where you are trying to support plant life but are unconcerned with naturalistic appearances. For example, imagine a circular plastic tray, with a terra cotta pot flipped upside down sitting in the tray. The pot is lined on the inside with hygrolon - just using maybe a dozen thin vertical stripes of silicone as adhesive. The tray holds pebbles and RO water (use RO or you'll get ugly salt buildup, most likely). Coat the pot (which will always be cool and damp, as long as you keep water in the tray) with a moss slurry and maybe also superglue on a few cuttings of an epiphytic fern (just a few inches of rhizome and 2-3 leaves). Put it near a window and just wait. Pretty cool houseplant, I think.
> 
> Anyway - good luck on the build. You're probably gonna get addicted, but it's wholesome.


Wicking fabrics are so frustrating! I just built a Spyra log with a reservoir to imitate this famous one, hoping I could have a mostly self-supporting little moss and fernery, and instead of slowly wicking over a week or a month it just drains the reservoir within hours, overflowing the tray it's on, and then dries up. I have tried making the wick only 1/4" wide, no dice.

I also have a tiny twisted "tree" of PVC covered in Spyra inside a glass lamp with a reservoir of RO in the bottom, and it keeps everything wet enough that only moss, _Peperomia emarginella_ and Bucephalandras will grow...anyway, wicking fabrics do have some very specific uses, but don't work out more often than not.


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## jgragg (Nov 23, 2009)

> I also have a tiny twisted "tree" of PVC covered in Spyra inside a glass lamp with a reservoir of RO in the bottom, and it keeps everything wet enough that only moss, _Peperomia emarginella_ and Bucephalandras will grow...anyway, wicking fabrics do have some very specific uses, but don't work out more often than not.


Exactly. Exactly. Not much Goldilocks happy medium there, it's either too wet or too dry for most plants. Too dry is easy as hell to achieve many other ways, but too wet is a rare bird. That is where the wicking fabrics _can_ excel.



> instead of slowly wicking over a week or a month it just drains the reservoir within hours, overflowing the tray it's on, and then dries up. I have tried making the wick only 1/4" wide, no dice.


Seems the variable needing alteration is either the reservoir size (reduce it) or the tray size (increase it while keeping reservoir size constant). I'd keep playing around with it. Sounds lovely, potentially.


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

jgragg said:


> Exactly. Exactly. Not much Goldilocks happy medium there, it's either too wet or too dry for most plants. Too dry is easy as hell to achieve many other ways, but too wet is a rare bird. That is where the wicking fabrics _can_ excel.
> 
> Seems the variable needing alteration is either the reservoir size (reduce it) or the tray size (increase it while keeping reservoir size constant). I'd keep playing around with it. Sounds lovely, potentially.


Right, it's so hard to find that "Goldilocks" with wicking fabrics.

At the risk of derailing this thread (we can take this to PM or something if we continue, I think)...no matter how little water is in the reservoir, it wicks it out and dries up fast, like within hours, so I don't think reducing the size will accomplish what I want - a self-watering system that lasts at least a week. The tray is really not meant to hold standing water, it's meant to prevent moisture from getting onto other surfaces - tray humidifying systems don't work very well in the desert, they evaporate quickly and don't raise humidity much even in the local area. Hence why I wanted to try an enclosed reservoir. Perhaps a diagram is in order.


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## Pb25 (Feb 12, 2021)

All of this is exactly what I wanted to know. I will not have a misting system or a drip wall, or any water feature, so I based on what you're saying, it seems hygrolon is not the right choice for me. I want to have a lush, green overgrown (but still reasonable) tank, with walls covered in plants and moss. It looks like a cork mosaic with long fiber sphagnum moss stuffed between is the way to go.


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