# Coco Fiber / Peat / Tree Fern



## Nath514 (Jul 8, 2012)

I am doing a background of GS and then going the silicon + (Something) route of covering it. I was going to do straight eco-earth but have read a bunch of really good things about tree fern. Any opinions on what would make the best back. I want something that plants will grip to easily!

Here is my build log so far:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...18x24-exo-terra-waterfall-complete-guide.html

And my blog where I am giving more detailed descriptions:
Vivarium Construction

Thanks,
Nathan


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## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

I have typically used coco husk to do my backgrounds but most recently used some of the exo terra tree fern. (Exo Terra : Tree Fern Substrate / Soft Tropical Terrarium Substrate)

to be honest... I REALLY liked it a whole lot better than the cocohusk. You have to do a bit of work depending on the look you are going for. The bag comes with some decent sized pieces that need to be broken up to be used in a similar fashion as the coco stuff. 

However, you can just leave these pieces as is and silicone them flat against the background to cover large spaces easily. BUT it may be tough to do this on uneven surfaces. It only worked well for me directly on the glass.

As for the smaller loose particles that make up a bulk of the stuff, it can be applied just like the eco earth but there are just some larger particles and sticks that give the whole background a bit more variation.

The best part about it was that when I was trying to add some Dischidia and other vine-like plants... all I had to do was weave the stem through some of the sticks poking out from the background. No other effort required for mounting.

I'll try to get some pictures later cause I know this description is probably tough to follow... haha


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## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

ok so I figured I have some free time and took a few pics now... haha

This is what I was talking about for mounting it. There are some sticks that you can see are pinning the stem to the background. 









Here is a little farther away shot of that wall. This tank is only a 12x12x18 exo so I didnt want to do a thick background. The Tree fern fiber allowed me to get more variation in the background without taking up much space. It is literally just Glass-Silicone-Tree fern.








That bromeliad was literally just mounted to one of the "chunks" of fern fiber with bent paper clip. I made it into a U shape and pressed it into the fern. It was mounted like 10 days ago.

Here is a picture with some arrows drawn to kinda show you what the "Chunks" look like.








If you are going to mount the chunks you will need to use extra silicone. I just put a giant blob on the glass and pressed the chunk in, then filled in around it with the loose stuff.

hope that helps


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