Hi Chris, Its a poly Rubbermaid tank that's darkish grey. Would it work to put clear plastic over it until it warms up?? Or would that cook it? No fish, but tadpoles. Would the heat hurt them? color=green> I was really wondering if it was metal. Since it is "plastic" and gray I'd say it is probably "drawing" a little extra heat on sunny days. (Now that you described it I have seen these in our local Tractor Supply store.) I've noticed this year in my area it has been more cloudy than in previous years. I think that factors into the mix, too. I'd hesitate to cover it with plastic now. It would probably heat up......possibly TOO MUCH for the tadpoles. And I'd hate to see you lose the tadpoles/frogs. Now the waterlilies would take the extra heat. :-) I have fish in both my ponds so I wouldn't cover them with plastic either. My two ponds are above ground. I built treated lumber frames, covered them with treated plywood (inside) and then dropped liners in each one. The smaller pond is 4' x 6' and has been going for 6 years. I bought a pond kit on clearance at Walmart for $35. My larger pond I built last May. It is 6' x 11'. I'll include a link to my Facebook page if you want to see pictures of last year's ponds. I haven't had time to take pictures yet this year. I had Green Smoke last year. I wasn't real impressed with it, as far as color. I have Dauben this year, and it reminds me of Green Smoke.color=green> I first saw Green Smoke at Longwood Gardens in PA. I love the coloring on the first two days. LOL! After that the petal tips "throw" the colors for me. That purple/deep raspberry on the tips just doesn't work with the rest of the flower. But I do love it. I've grown it two years in a row. I've seen Dauben at Lilypons and it is a little to pale blue for my taste. But it is a blooming fool! I do intend to grow it one year. This year I also have Panama Pacific again and its doing well. I also have a Fire Opal from Menards. I've had good luck with their water lilies, but this year I was a sucker. I should have known that there aren't any hardy purple lilies, but the picture on the container was purple, and they wrote that the color was Purple. Well, its light pink that turns to white the second day. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.color=green> I've grown Panama Pacific. Probably two years ago. Lovely color!!! Of the hardy waterlilies I have Attraction, Sulphurea, and Pink Grapefruit. LOVE the Pink Grapefruit. It blooms and blooms. Attraction (red) is not really a deep enough red, but it grows vigorously and quickly helps provide coverage in the spring. Haven't see Fire Opal. Sorry it wasn't purple enough for you. So many of the catalogs "lie" about the colors. GRRR! What do the McClane and St. Louis Gold look like? Where did you get them? color=green> McClane is a deep blue/lavender. The flowers are HUGE. The foliage is nicely striped and splotched. These stand up pretty high, too. St. Louis Gold is a deep yellow. And I've not had a tropical that flowered this much! The plant is a little less vigorous with foliage, but it just pumps out the flowers. I'm about a hour from Lilypons in PA. I either drive up or order online from them each year. Wonderful water gardening company. They also have a location in Texas, too, if I remember correctly. Do you overwinter your tropicals. If so, how? I've tried a couple times, but it hasn't worked. I was thinking of digging a deep hole with the post-hole digger and just keeping them down in there.color=green> I've tried without much luck. I have had the tropical set seeds, which I saved, and then raised from seed the following two years. Seeds were from a blue (un-named) waterlily that I had purchased at Springdale Water Gardens in VA. The seeds produced flowers in shades of blue, pink, and lavender. I think the first year I had about 15 that I grew from seed. I had 20 gallon tubs sitting EVERYWHERE that year. LOL! Lilypons and Springdale offer a "heated" pot that the catalog blurbs say will keep the tropicals warm enough to overwinter IN the pond. But I think only through zone 6 or 7. It sells for around $50. My problem is I wouldn't want to grow the same tropicals every year.......well, other than Green Smoke. I got my tropicals from William Tricker.color=green> I've seen their online catalog and they have an excellent selection. I'm tempted to try them one year. Lilypons is so good at getting stuff to me quickly that I just use them most of the time. I placed an order on Wednesday morning earlier this year. I had the order at my front door on Thursday! I'm spoiled! My leaves on the Juno and Red Flare are huge. I wonder if the leaves get larger, as an attempt to get more sun. I'm thinking I should find more sun for it. If it wasn't blossoming 'cause its not warm enough, you'd think it wouldn't put out so many leaves either. It looks very healthy. I have a volunteer butterfly bush that grew up in the rocks around my lotus bog. Its shading the lotus too much, but its so hard getting rid of the bush, since it attracts such beautiful butterflies. Ooohhhh....so many plants.......so little sun! haha Thanks for your help.color=green> I lost my lotus this year. I'm going to try to raise another one from seed next year. I've had good luck growing my own. I have a friend in Malaysia who sends me lotus seeds occasionally. I've grown a white and a double pink from seeds she sent me. Good Luck, Chris Here is a link that might be useful: Facebook Account....Click on Photos to see pond pics

What are the wattages of your lights? What is the spectrum/colour temperature (in degrees K, eg. 6500K)? Exactly how tall is your tank? How old are the bulbs? A 40 gallon tall sounds like a very nice tank to make into a terrarium! I asked the questions above because we need to find out if you have enough light or not. Would you be able to add more light if you need it? I mean, is there space in the light hood, or do you know how to make your own light fixture? As for plants, think about what you like best about a woodland scene. Is it the lush greenery? The peace and calm atmosphere? Some obvious suggestions would be a fern or two and lots of moss. Interesting bits of driftwood are also quite nice, as are interesting rocks. Would you want a little stream or pool? Think about the nicest spot of forest floor you have ever seen, and make that the vision for your terrarium. BTW, I would go with a mini fern. This doesn't mean a fern in a small pot, it means one that is genetically predisposed to staying small. Even these 'small' ferns can grow to be 12" in height and spread. Nephrolepis 'Fluffy Ruffles' is one of these minis. You might have to order it on the Internet, so I've linked one place that sells it below. Do you like orchids at all? Not all of them look tropical. Paphiopedilums are low-light (for orchids), and are native to woodland areas. Do you have any other supplies so far? I would recommend a bark chip/mulch substrate. It's more open and airy than potting soil, and smells nicer, and Paph. orchids love it, as do ferns. It's important to have an open substrate to avoid root rot, which can occur when it is constantly moist, as it is in a terrarium. Other than that, read some old posts on this forum, check out the FAQ, and brainstorm! =) Here is a link that might be useful: Rob's mini plants

Totally keep the halides! Most of us only dream about that kind of lighting! =) Of course you will need fans to take the heat away from those babies, and don't bother replacing the actinic (as already mentionned), or even the VHOs, since the halides will be plenty. If possible, you could run only one halide. This would enable you to put extremely high light plants on the side with the halide, and normal high light plants on the other side. You could also try raising the light hood above the tank several inches (this would also help keep the heat down). The spectrum is just about perfect (10,000 K). If you find it to be too white of a light for your tastes, you could try adding a normal 'warm white' fluo (the really cheap ones at Home Depot and similar stores) to balance the colour out a bit, but that would only be for aesthetics, not valuable to the plants at all. And of course you can't put a normal fluo. in a VHO fixture, as you'd blow the bulb. =) For plants, forget moss. I think that is way too strong of lighing for moss. You could try 'spanish moss', which is actually a tillandsia, and being one of the silvery ones, it would probably like the higher light. Think full, blazing sun plants. If your tank was big enough, you could grow vanda orchids! Speaking of that, you may think of getting a bigger tank eventually. You could have a very tall tank, and you'd be all set with the lighting. If you build the tank yourself from plywood and scrap glass, it becomes even cheaper! =) But anyways, back to plants. . . you could try cacti and succulents, as gary said. You'd need some really good fans going to keep the humidity down though, especially in Florida. Perhaps alpines? Or tomatoes, so you can have them year-round? The possiblities are nearly endless! But you really would burn broms, most orchids, and mosses to a crisp unless you hang the fixture from the ceiling, about 3 feet above the tank. That, of course, may be a possibility, but then you may as well just not use the tank and set up a growing area for more plants! I think you need a bigger tank. . . =)

i like the 'slow growing' part a lot :))). cleo is quite breathtaking, no doubt! i am a total sucker ;) for multi pink-cream-green variegation, so i buy up all caladiums in sight that can fit on my balcony :)...and i have Stromanthe and Crotons 'Petra' indoors and a few others and even found a dwarf Hibiscus cooperi with that sort of coloring too. They are a riot - but very hard to mix with other variegated foliage plants for grouped arrangements. your tank arrangement is very successful in that respect - drifts of smaller plants with quieter colors hold it together. I really love it! i was into quilts a-ah... a few decades ago ;)..so love playing with color. can't resist to boast about my balcony wards from last summer :)