So I am high as hell right now and I wanted to work on the new worm bin.
20 gallon tote now. No holes, no drain, no lid. My worms have zero reasons to attempt to leave and I keep them in a dark, cool side of the basement. My bedding of choice is newspaper. Even colored newspaper is ok just as long as there's isn't a glossy finish to the ink or paper. I prefer to use brown paper mostly but for this I'm going to use both.
I start with my shredded material, and make layers. Brown, white, and a couple handfuls of potting soil. I like to sprinkle powdered garden lime in the layers too. Not too much, just literally a pinch per layer. (Like your adding salt to your meal)
I choose potting soil because it's peat humus, sand and well aged compost. All worms need grit in their gizzard to grind and churn up the food. Worms don't have teeth silly, so grit is a must!!!!
Then as each layer gets added, I wet it down with a microbial, humic, fulvic, EJ catalyst and age old organic liquid kelp. I prefer to use a spray bottle but any method really will work. Just make sure bedding is DAMP and not SATURATED. No liquid should be dripping off!
I like a pH of 6.0 that's a tad low but it will even out closer to 7 once things get mixed. That's some dark dark water.
I don't add lacto bacillus to the water because it's so acidic, but instead I prefer to feed the worms bokashi compost and that's where the lacto comes in and shines.
Once all the bedding is added and hydrated, you dump in the worms. They will immediately burrow as they hate light. It's important to add a solid layer of something on the top. Worms feed from under the food scraps. I like to use a piece of cardboard cut to fit. This also helps to reduce evaporation of the bedding and maintain moist conditions.
If you feed them too much you can spoil the farm and kill them off. So weighing your worms is a very good idea. The general rule is to feed them 3x's their weight. 1 lb of worms, 3 lbs of food weekly. Avoid citrus, meat, dairy and grease. Bokashi composting says you can include all of the above said, but I don't and I'd advise you not to also.
Well there you have it. A quick tutorial on making and preparing a vermicompost bin. ***Always use Red Worms for composting***