Changed my mind about using pea gravel for drainage in closed terrariums

I always put a thick layer of pea gravel at the bottom of every build until one of my jars started smelling like a swamp after 2 weeks. Turns out the gravel just traps stagnant water if you don't have a real false bottom setup, so now I use a mesh barrier with activated charcoal instead. Has anyone else had trouble with that method failing on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew91625d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the swamp smell hit me too, I used pea gravel in a mason jar once and it just turned into a stink bomb.

thea24625d ago

Totally agree @andrew916, I had the exact same stink bomb issue with pea gravel in my first jar...