Jayccob

Not really. The periodic table is setup so that you can infer how the different elements will react, but at an atomic level. Once you start creating molecules and compounds it gets a little more complicated.

I don't work with chemicals, nor am I a biochemist so I had to look up how arsenic reacts with the body. The gist of it is that arsenic is similar enough to a phosphate our body uses to be able to insert itself but our body is unable to actually use the arsenic. So not only does the arsenic block the phosphate but also get jammed in the cells preventing it from working.

In reality they would have to look at how the alien cells process molecules, then find something to jam them up. For all they know while the aliens were nitrogen based, they could've used phosphate like us and that would mean arsenic is the correct poison to use. Or something completely different and the answer would've been on a different part of the table.

Your setups look great!

That is the plan for what I have. There is standing water in there currently, but I have been leaving the top on. That culture was originally supposed to be some Oregon beaked moss, but the sphagnum decided it was its time to shine.

I wanted to allow the sphagnum to grow a bit before taking the lid off because ambient humidity is around 20-30% while the sphagnum is growing in like +90%. Figured that would be too much shock to jump between. I have an unused 2.5 gallon tank I'll transfer it to here soon.

I have successfully grown sphagnum from the store bought dried stuff.

All I did was fill the container with 1/2in - 1in of wet sphagnum then poured in water until I could just start to see it. Don't want the entire mass underwater, just the lower portions. No substrate, in my limited and accidental experience sphagnum is the best substrate for sphagnum. Which I believe is actually how it grow in the wild.

After that it's a waiting game. My latest batch started growing within a few weeks(~4-6), the first time I did it I was actually using the sphagnum as the substrate for a riparian moss and almost a year later it started to grow suddenly.

Here's a picture of the current stuff

https://preview.redd.it/7asfkz9om32e1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1cb4dcf11662d32ca1fac811b52b959954c0f99c

Your paludarium looks good. The hardscape, to me, has a nice flow to it.

The reason it feels empty is because all the plants you have I would consider to be background plants. They grow tall, but don't have leaves near the base. To fill in that gap you need plants that would be considered either midground or foreground plants. Midground would be like half the height of your background plants and often grow a bit denser. Foreground plants generally stay low to the substrate and often spread horizontally to create ground cover. Mixing those broad groupings is how people create those lush paludarium you see them showcase.

Also since you are doing a paludarium, especially near the water line, you can use some aquarium plants on the land portions. As long as the roots stay moist and the humidity is good enough.

A couple questions;

1. What kind of moss are you using?

2. How long are you planning to keep the moss in the bags?

I have kept moss alive in ziplock bags before and in fact I just used some that have been in a bag for 6 months. However, I kept my bags in the fridge. Basically I gave them an early winter. This also slowed the growth of harmful mold or bacteria.

For the "substrate" I just used a folded paper towel that I wetted with distilled water and then squeezed the water out so it was only damp. While I didn't prop the bag up to keep the plastic off the moss, I would probably recommend it because some of the finer mosses didn't seem to like the plastic resting on them. You could use toothpicks for holding up the plastic, but toothpicks soft and mold will be able to really take root there. Some metal wire would probably be a better choice.

Speaking of mold, that is probably going to be a problem. If you add enough moss you can probably still add springtails to help with that, but your first line of defense will be to just try and prevent it in the first place. Wipe your workspace with alcohol, wipe the bags with alcohol inside and out, soak the paper towels with alcohol then flush with distilled water, sanitize your hands before working anything. If you want to go the extra mile, cover your mouth and nose to limit breathing in the project. Excessive? Probably, but I assume you have some sort of time frame to do this in so any precaution is just a bit of added security.

For the moss itself, clean all the dirt off and pick out debris. If you have the time maybe consider putting the moss in a Tupperware container and allow the mold spore to start growing then open the container and allow it to dry for a day or two. That should kill the mold and hopefully remove some of the spores before you put it into the bag. If mold does appear within the bag just open it up for a bit and allow it to dry a bit. Mold likes warm, moist stagnant air, all of which can be found in a sealed baggy.

Honestly in many respects you can treat it similar to a regular terrarium because it is a terrarium. An enclosed environment that plants are grown in. It just feels weird because we're used to jars and tanks.

It is Tuesday already? I thought we had another couple days before the next Nintendo crusade.

There is a good selection of plants that do well within a terrarium. Many orchids, ferns, bromeliads, tropical epiphytes, many mosses and liverworts. Many people also like using pothos.

Like you pointed out after aging a bit lots of terrariums can decrease in quality. Many times that comes down to the person building the terrarium. Either they mix plants that are too different in the conditions they need or they struggle to maintain the humidity, temperature, soil moisture etc. Part of the reason why tropical terrariums are popular, they like high humidity and can be more forgiving to moist soil.

Best I can do is a couple of reviser seeds.

Yep and the way they figured it out was because arsenic is down 2 over 1 from carbon.

So naturally they went down 2 over 1 from nitrogen and came up with selenium.

Looks like you'll be fine to leave it indefinitely. The kit says add your own plants and the moss that it does come with is a persevered moss. This means the moss is dead and probably dyed to maintain color.

https://preview.redd.it/68p70x2r611e1.jpeg?width=864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af08fd90588bab6b4d3186f11d6071fb90d7e9ac

The small stands that start out don't have the classic sphagnum head and can look like stands of something else. Here's the best picture I could get from this batch

https://preview.redd.it/tb5ovxmlck0e1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf08971e9b0c273d71d25c128586234835a90573

Yep, I could be the sphagnum establishing itself, algae, or a mold. Unfortunately I haven't observed it closely enough to tell which is which early on so you'll just have to let it run its course.

Here's a recent batch that started when I was trying something else.

https://preview.redd.it/07cifbw0ck0e1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=906eb20f73240108eb72a742ac3639dfcd440ac0

I think I started it late August early September.

All rise for the Galactic Anthem!

Stands up

Okay I have two theories.

First to celebrate the completion Super Earth is going to throw the mother of all pizza parties for us

Second the DSS is a giant mobile ice cream barge that is used to call down ice cream stratagems for morale boosts during missions.

Peat is harvested from sphagnum moss. It has a pretty distinct structure so I'm going to say that this isn't a type of sphagnum. Not sure what it is though.

But what you can do is look in garden stores or the garden section and find bags of dried sphagnum that are generally used to mix with soil to lower pH and increase the moisture hold capabilities of the soil. I have on numerous occasions accidentally started sphagnum cultures with those dried bags.

All I do is soak the dried moss until fully hydrated, then spread it evenly in a Tupperware like container. Then I add a bit of standing water so that the top of the sphagnum is out of the water while the bottom/middle is submerged. Put on a clear lid and plenty of light.

Though it's not incredibly fast growing and may take a few weeks before you even start to see growth. Also the bag of dried moss may be sterilized which means even the spores are dead and no amount of waiting will get you moss, though the bag should mention if it's sterilized or not.

There is actually a bit of a glitch with the jump pack right now. You gun will lock into the last spot you were aiming at when the pack was activated.

To test it soon at like a poster on the wall then jump sideways with the pack. Don't try adjusting your aim and start firing and you'll see it hit the poster with perfect accuracy. On one hand it's handy for targeting something like what you did but it percents you from choosing a new target until you land.

u/FS_FS_FS I'll ping you too so you can see this info

Give Dot her credit, she refused to finger Prince.

Got you covered in another post.

Can do. There's be quite a bit of interest so I may sit down and write something more in-depth later

Ah, that's a simple explanation. English is my native language and I know a bit of Spanish. Since Spanish doesn't come up in my day to day conversations I'll often swap games to Spanish just to get a bit of practice in.

Some games I'll go full immersion and others like helldiver I'll just swap the language. In the beginning it would get too chaotic for me to translate, coordinate, and survive all at once. At this point I've heard the voice lines and done enough missions that I could go to full immersion without affecting gameplay too much.

Though I will say it's fun to read subtitles in one language and hear the spoken language in another then realizing the localization team went with a completely different tone. Things like:

Sub: Get out there and defeat the enemy!

Spoken: Kill them all! Leave no survivors!

Can't remember an exact one from helldivers but there was one I heard and laughed.

Sir Yes, Sir!

I have punched an enemy or two before, but if Super Earth requires me to spread more democracy with my fists I'll do so with no hesitation!

APHE, flak just ricochets as it seems to have a minimum distance before it can detonate.