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Hey everyone!

So for the holiday season I am making a sundew terrarium for a friend. I'm wondering what would be a good topdressing to cover the peat/sand mix the dews will be planted in. My friend is going to display the tank, so we were thinking of something showy. So far I (with the help of Lil Stinkpot) have thought of white sand, fine aquarium gravel, a "grass" of utrics, or sphagnum. The plants for the terrarium will be capensis, adelae, and spatulata, so nothing too tough. There will be a waterfall for humidity, and a powerful CFL for substantial lighting. I'd love any more suggestions or pros and cons of what has been brainstormed.

Thank you very much!
 
I like the spag idea, the utrics would tend to flower and make the tank look like it was the only thing in it IMO.
 
I agree with sphagnum. you can grow anything in it, it grows quickly, and if you get a fancy species; something compact or not green i think it could look really cool. How big is the terrarium?
 
live LFS
 
Red and green live LFS would look awesome! Maybe with some of those glass decorative beads you can get at Walmart or wherever...
 
While spahgnum would look awesome, it might overgrow the D. spatulata in particular. Also, it would take a while to get looking real nice. I love sphagnum as much as the next CP'er, but just some thoughts.
White sand could look really cool, then you could plant some utrics in it too :)
 
Thanks everyone! I was not to certain about sphagnum, because the species I have currently is touchy and not the puffiest for decoration. We were considering a light covering of black sand to accent the red capes and multifida extrema we're going to plant. The terrarium is a 20 gallon, 2' L x 1' W x 1.5' H. I have two reflectors with a 1600L, 5000K CFL in each. Thanks for all the responses, I may convince him to put some sphagnum around the little pond.
 
This is a little late but I just thought of something. You can use aquarium carpet/forground plants in emersed form like dwarf baby tears ("HC") or maybe glosso...just an idea and good luck!
 
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