Large Vivarium Construction

[rcteem]

are you doing rays in both lakes???

[Energy]

The two lakes are connected by a stream that runs in front of the tank. I will only have one at the most two rays and they will be able to swim through the narrow channel to each end where the lakes are located. The rays you get are they the leopoldi or the henlie by any chance?

[vrmarkii]

Originally Posted by Energy

Was that when Julian Sprung came over? Or one of the other times with Mike Palletta or Eric Borneman?

Thats quite the guest list! The reef Aquarium volume one was my first reef book. If this viv even turns out half as nice as your reef was... This is going to be awesome.

[rcteem]

I believe they were henlie

[Energy]

Henlie? So they are black with white or yellow dots? If so when the system is running I will take one. Can you check on that for me?


Here is a progress shot. I used 2 inch polystyrean over the back wall. To make the Great Stuff go further I sprayed a little out and then quickly troweled it over the surfaces. It turns back into a really tacky glue and go's a lot farther. Then for texture and dimension I would add some globs here and there. The holes in the back drop are for plants. Hiding the overflow boxes was tricky but I basically did the same thing as the backdrop. I used about 8 cans of black great stuff to cover the entire 15' span. The future plan is that the backdrop will be totally planted over so I didn't bother adding driftwood etc. I did put in a few pieces of Oak bark just for fun until it grows over.

[midget]

wow man your rays and frogs are gonna love that. and your goona need alot of plants lol. any updates on what your gonna use for subtarte i'm ording the stuff to make it tonight i'll let you know how it goes.

[Energy]

The substrate will be COIR- coco fiber, sand and fir bark. Pretty simple stuff but it seems like quite a few people on here use it. If it ain't broke- don't fix it!

[midget]

ight cool. good luck

[VivariumWorks]

I would seriously consider adding some regular soil to that mix. Regular cheep potting soil. Preferably the stuff that comes in the dirt cheep bags at walmart/lowes/hd without any foam additives or fertilizers. If you can get good quality black loam looking soil, all the better. This is pure potting soil/loam here not manure or the additive stuff.

I know there’s been a vigorous debate about this but your not dealing with a normal sized setup and your looking at log factor differences in the soil and plant composition. I would add at least an 1/8 of this potting soil to your admix for the purpose of a few things:

1. What your going to use has almost zero nutrients. The coir has very little usable product in it from the plants viewpoint, the sand has zero, and the fir bark wont have enough as it only can release nutrients as it breaks down. Your going to find that your plants are going to grow deep root systems, as they have the space to do so, get large, and become nutrient deficient. Even just basic potting soil will have enough nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and trace other elements you'll need to help stave this off unless the soil is completely boggy and stagnant, in which case it will become 100% nutrient deficient in a short while as the anaerobic bacteria will use the available nitrates/phosphates as an energy source and leave you with nothing the plants want. (hence why some bog plants have evolved means of catching these sources).

2. All the bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and other soil critters will not be in your system. GREAT you froggers say, but keep in mind these animals live in the worlds most bacterially active and diverse regions of the world. A large portion of the rainforest species were looking to protect, are the microscopic critters. If the frog is healthily and eating its going to be able to fight off these natural soil microbes with no problem. Adding natural soil to the mix will aid in your system as a whole. I fear that by going with your current soil mix will be like trying to setup a reef tank without a single bit of live rock to start the coraline/algae growth. Most vivariums get this bacterial inoculation by the potting soil that tags along when they add their plants, and this might just be enough for yours, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

3. I’ve used regular potting soil as an ADDATIVE in many, many setups with no ill effects the frogs or the system. Plus think of the soil as a natural buffering system of checks and balances that will help create competition and reduce the speed at which any one disease, fungus, parasite, problem, progresses through the system.

I've built a system to do what your looking for with regards to the lighting, sound effects, and such. Its pretty basic. You have two sets of digital timers. One goes off the second the other goes on. You just sync the two together. On timer "A" you have your regular lights and such. On timer B you have your Lightening strobes, a tape deck/cd player stuck in the ON position to play when power goes to it with your sound FX, and the mister/drip/ waterfall/rain/foggers. The effect is pretty cool. Or if you really want to show off, you can set all this up with a digital timer that also has an infrared override switch so you have a little clicker that allows you to turn on/off your rain/mist/FX cycle on demand. Its great a gag/party trick.

[Energy]

Vivarium works- Thanks for the advice. I have access to awesome black dirt/ and also Peat dirt. Furthermore I have 140 acres of woods in Northern Minnesota and some of it has natural sphagnum moss. I could get dump truck loads of the stuff. Do you think it would be beneficial to use this in the equation at all? Since I have access to as much as I want and for free I have been wondering how best to use it if at all. This would be similar to the Canadian stuff people prefer.