# CoCo Panels or corkbark



## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

I am building a vavarium and can't decide what to use. Are there any bennefits to one over the other? :roll: 

Are there any other options for backgrounds?


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

I would go with Coco Panels. They are *a lot* easier to fill a tank with, and it is also easier to attach plants to. Also, plants seem to really take off on these panels.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

coco panels...

a lot easier to work with


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2004)

I love coco panels! But I also want people to make sure this is a different product than the coco fiber. Cork bark curls are nice to add depth to the tank.


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

Sounds like coco panels are it!


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2004)

I just want to make something clear here. You want coco*s* panels. Coco panels are just coconut fiber weaved into mats. Cocos fiber is this schtuff: http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=Cocos-Panel

Cocos panels are awsome. Coco panels are not as good.


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## brbarkey (May 15, 2004)

hicksonj said:


> I just want to make something clear here. You want coco*s* panels. Coco panels are just coconut fiber weaved into mats. Cocos fiber is this schtuff: http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=Cocos-Panel
> 
> Cocos panels are awsome. Coco panels are not as good.


Hicksonj, I thought that those are Coco panels in the link you gave. If that is coco fiber what are coco panels?


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Those are coco panels. Joe probably mistyped it.

Unfortunately, the link on Black Jungle's site to the images of coco panels if broken, but here you go http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Store_Code=BJTS&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=B

If you look 1/2 way down this page on Rolanka's site, you can see what they look like http://www.rolanka.com/index.asp?pg=coirliners



brbarkey said:


> hicksonj said:
> 
> 
> > I just want to make something clear here. You want coco*s* panels. Coco panels are just coconut fiber weaved into mats. Cocos fiber is this schtuff: http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=Cocos-Panel
> ...


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2004)

Id go with cork bark over coco panels, ive seen one coco panel product a friend used and it fell apart from the high humidity very quickly. Im not sure of the composition or who made it so there may be higher qualitys out there that work great, but cork bark works great and as mentioned adds acertain realistic texture and depth to the tanks .


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## Cindy Dicken (Feb 29, 2004)

It makes for an interesting background if you will mix it up with the corkbark and coco panels, say 2/3 corkbark and 1/3 coco panel.
It is also easy to fill in around the corkbark with the coco panels.
Plants will usually root quicker to the coco panel than the corkbark also.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
http://www.vivariumconcepts.com


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2004)

I may be totally wrong on this, but I have been lead to believe that there are 2 products out there. There is run of the mill craft store coco panels, which are simply thin woven coconut fiber, and cocos (notice the "s") panels, which are manufactured by vivaria.nl, with some type of glue compound.


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

It looks like there are 2 different pannels. I ordered the cocoS. I think they will work the best. I have 2 tanks to set up. Maybe I will do a little experiment!!!


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## Cindy Dicken (Feb 29, 2004)

Oops, my bad. It is CocoS panel.
That's what I get for staying up past my bedtime!
Those are very easy to work with Jason.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
http://www.vivariumconcepts.com


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2004)

Has anyone ever used the mats that you can find at the nursery for holding plants? they come in large disks? Theyre made out of a woven coco fibre? You have to cut them down a bit and maybe get a little creative to cover the back. Then there are the coco mats that i've seen at pet stores for "climbing backgrounds for hermit crabs." These are super cheap, and similiar to what I mentioned previously, just thinner/denser. Both are much cheaper than what you will find online for vivarium backgrounds. 

Plants seem to attach to them just fine, but it doesn't look as nice as cork bark IMO. 


-Tad


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## TimsViv (Feb 16, 2004)

Another vote for Cork Bark or a combination of the two.

I like the cork bark for the look, and I found it pretty easy to work with. The cork bark will also outlast the cocos panel.

Tim

Front View of tank after Cork Bark installation. I siliconed spanish moss in the cracks between the cork bark flats, in hind site I should have used Cocos panel to infill the cracks.









Rear View of tank after Cork Bark installion.


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2004)

I just did a tank with a mixed background of cork/cocos panels as well. I really like the options it gives me for mounting things (whether I want them more moist or let them dry out more. I still am strugglng with a drip wall in this tank that goes slow enough, but when that's done, it'll be an awesome tank. I just used a big half tube in the back of one side and filled the void with spray foam. As the foam got tacky I packed it with sphagnum moss and then added some java to turn terrestrial on top of that. 
j


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Hmm, I wonder where you got some of that idea.......


Ed


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