# Springtails & eggcrate false bottom



## serial hobbiest (Mar 5, 2017)

My viv has an eggcrate false bottom covered in screen door mesh separating it from the substrate layer, as many of you have as well, I'm sure. To hide it, I have aquarium gravel all around the perimeter, against the glass. Lately, I've noticed that there's not so many springtails in the substrate, and gajillions of them in the gravel against the glass, below the substrate. I imagine there must be a nice blanket of springtails, dead and alive, floating uselessly on my water layer. An issue that would be absent in vivs using hydroballs (or similar) as a false bottom, I imagine, as the springtails can escape via climbing the hydroballs back up into the substrate layer.

While building the viv, I assumed this would inevitably happen, but wrote it off as a non-issue as lots of people build vivs this way. So now that's too late for me to do anything about it,  I'm curious about potential issues this may cause, and if I should be replenishing the viv with springtails more frequently than vivs with hydroballs false bottoms. 

My take on springtail use so far has simply been to replenish the viv whenever my cultures are swarming, figuring they'll either starve or multiply based on available food, but maybe this is too much??? Am I asking for a terrible funk in my water layer? I already get to enjoy the fragrant aroma of mold every time my fan kicks in, and don't really wish to add to it.


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## Fowlertoad (Jun 23, 2017)

I think you could try a finer mesh like a landscaping fabric. I'm just setting up my first tank and the day i bought a springtail culture and I realized the fiberglass window screen stuff wouldn't be enough. I got mine at home depot for $10 and it's 3'x 50'. From what I've seen and read it is fine to use them, but I'm no expert.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Start watching that water layer at various times of the day and night. I find that there could be hundreds of live springtails that have gone down to the water at the bottom, and jumped out on to it on purpose. There is a bio-film growing on the surface of the water, that springtails love to feed on. A few hours later, there may be only a couple dozen down there.
I find they come and go as they please, and have no problem escaping the water surface.


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## serial hobbiest (Mar 5, 2017)

Pumilo said:


> Start watching that water layer at various times of the day and night. I find that there could be hundreds of live springtails that have gone down to the water at the bottom, and jumped out on to it on purpose. There is a bio-film growing on the surface of the water, that springtails love to feed on. A few hours later, there may be only a couple dozen down there.
> I find they come and go as they please, and have no problem escaping the water surface.


If only I didn't build my viv with that aquarium gravel sight barrier, I could shine a light in there and see across the surface of the water. I'm skeptical of their escape abilities, especially considering a "subterranean pond" with a 324 sq. inch surface area. It's not like springtails have the cognition to make decisions like, "Okay, it's time to head back to the glass now, so I can climb out." I know you're not implying that they have such cognition, I'm just trying to illustrate my point of view.

I'm really curious if you're correct, however. I suspect that if you are, that if tested, we should be able to see a blanket of springtails floating on a pond moving toward the edges of the pond as the changing conditions (whatever that may be) draw them there. Have you actually seen such a thing, Doug? Have you an eggcrate false bottom with an unobstructed view of it, & the surface of the water layer?


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## serial hobbiest (Mar 5, 2017)

Fowlertoad said:


> I think you could try a finer mesh like a landscaping fabric. I'm just setting up my first tank and the day i bought a springtail culture and I realized the fiberglass window screen stuff wouldn't be enough. I got mine at home depot for $10 and it's 3'x 50'. From what I've seen and read it is fine to use them, but I'm no expert.


I was going to go that route as well, initially. Oh well- too late now. Besides, if Doug is right, as I hope he is, the pool-partying springtails are doing my water layer some good anyhow.


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## S2G (Jul 5, 2016)

Pumilo said:


> Start watching that water layer at various times of the day and night. I find that there could be hundreds of live springtails that have gone down to the water at the bottom, and jumped out on to it on purpose. There is a bio-film growing on the surface of the water, that springtails love to feed on. A few hours later, there may be only a couple dozen down there.
> I find they come and go as they please, and have no problem escaping the water surface.


I agree. I freaked out when I first switched to false bottom, but they seemed to come/go at will.


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## Fowlertoad (Jun 23, 2017)

I'm glad you guys pointed that out. It makes sense. It should have been more obvious considering they are called springtails. I'll skip the fabric or maybe just keep some near the pump. Thanks. I feel like all this reading will pay off


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

I guess I only implied that I have seen that. Absolutely I have witnessed in the 10 or 12 of my vivs that were accessible from the side. I can only verify that they can obviously, quite easily escape from the center of 24" x 24" square water surface. Have I seen them move in mass and watched them climb the glass? No, I haven't. Here's what I witnessed, why I began checking.

I can't find the thread, but I came across a thread with a similar question, years ago. Somebody, and I'm going on a failing memory, possibly James67, gave an answer very similar to my reply. He stated in the thread that he had witnessed the same thing. Hundreds there at "x" time of day, and in only a few short hours, not a one.
I don't know about his vivs, but some of the vivs I checked had very clean water. With my clay substrates, the water doesn't turn to tea. It can drain through clean, and in fact clay actually clarifies water and is used by pond keepers. Plus, four vivs in particular were very recently set up. They did, however, have huge populations of springtails. When I was doing bugs, I was able to spike my new vivs with hundreds of isopods, and thousands of springtails. What I'm getting at is this, virtually crystal clear water with only a couple dozen remain on the surface. No dead bodies. There are not many explanations. They either went back up, or they went down the drain tube. Either way, they were very mobile on the water, and obviously come and go as they please. Misting was put on hold, so they were not washed down the tube. There were no tads under the eggcrate to munch on springs, and it was impossible for frogs to get anywhere near it.
There is only one other possible explanation and believe it or not, I have an uncle that may argue this as a very real possibility. I suppose they could have all been beamed up, anally probed by alien frogs, and turned loose back in the upper substrate. That explanation, however, would involve nightly visits by said aliens, for a good week or so. Once or twice, maybe...but every night for a week? Besides the unrealistic commute, do you have any idea what the price of space fuel is?


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## Elsongha (Dec 19, 2013)

I was about to make a new thread about this subject, as I have come across a similar issue. All of my springtails have migrated to the water in my false bottom! I can see thousands of them.
The problem with this is, I do not see a big population of them in the substrate. And secondly, the sides have been sealed with silicon and I am worry that once they cross the false bottom threshold, they are there forever.
I have observed when I add a new culture to the tank, they can be seen for a few days later but then disappear to the bottom... 
Is there any way to maybe entice them to stay up in the substrate to help clean the tank and sacrifice themselves to the beautiful pums I have waiting for them??
Anyone have any additional thoughts?


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

Elsongha said:


> I was about to make a new thread about this subject, as I have come across a similar issue. All of my springtails have migrated to the water in my false bottom! I can see thousands of them.
> The problem with this is, I do not see a big population of them in the substrate. And secondly, the sides have been sealed with silicon and I am worry that once they cross the false bottom threshold, they are there forever.
> I have observed when I add a new culture to the tank, they can be seen for a few days later but then disappear to the bottom...
> Is there any way to maybe entice them to stay up in the substrate to help clean the tank and sacrifice themselves to the beautiful pums I have waiting for them??
> Anyone have any additional thoughts?


One thing that I would try is sprinkling a little bit of yeast underneath the leaf litter and recover the yeast with the leaves. Check under the leaves where you sprinkled the yeast the next day to monitor for signs of springtails. You should see them.


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## jgragg (Nov 23, 2009)

> I'm skeptical of their escape abilities, especially considering a "subterranean pond" with a 324 sq. inch surface area. It's not like springtails have the cognition to make decisions like, "Okay, it's time to head back to the glass now, so I can climb out." I know you're not implying that they have such cognition, I'm just trying to illustrate my point of view.


I'm guessing the little buggers just don't have the mass or velocity to punch through the surface tension.


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## Elsongha (Dec 19, 2013)

varanoid said:


> One thing that I would try is sprinkling a little bit of yeast underneath the leaf litter and recover the yeast with the leaves. Check under the leaves where you sprinkled the yeast the next day to monitor for signs of springtails. You should see them.


I will try that today. Thanks.


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## Efciem (Nov 4, 2017)

In curious what the latest update is 🙂


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