[Judy S]

out of curiosity...why do the fish go nuts when the fogger is on...and as soon as the fogger stopped, they returned to normal...is it vibration or something? It's grown in ...looks good. So your filter is outside the tank?? Can you show how/where you installed the fogger?

 

[megamax42]

out of curiosity...why do the fish go nuts when the fogger is on...and as soon as the fogger stopped, they returned to normal...is it vibration or something? It's grown in ...looks good. So your filter is outside the tank?? Can you show how/where you installed the fogger?

Could you be referring to fast forward I utilize to keep the video from being too long? (Starts at ~40 seconds) One thing I have noticed is when I mist the terrestrial plants with a spray bottle they go crazy over that. This has led me to believe that perhaps they're sensing a disturbance on the surface of the water, leading them to think they're being fed?

Thanks! It definitely took a while for everything to really settle in, it's a funny thing to want nature to take over a piece of your property.

The filter is indeed outside the tank, an eheim 2213 if I remember correctly. I'll take a couple pictures of the external equipment tomorrow for ya.

 

[megamax42]

Here's some pics to illustrate how much the sealer has changed color as it gets grown over with random life. Also it appears the shrimp are now breeding in full force.

 

[diggenem]

Thanks!

Probably in about 2 weeks, as soon as I get back from a trip down south.
Right now there's about 11 or 12 white cloud minnows and I just threw some Red Cherry Shrimp in the other day, and everyone looks happy so the toads are definitely on the way.

Still struggling to find a suitable plant for the upper ledges though, I was hoping to get it mostly planted before I introduced the toads.

How about some creeping fig? I think it would look awesome.

Also i want to add that you don't have to limit your feedings to crickets for FBTs', When I kept them I fed them crickets, earthworms, red wigglers, meal and wax worms etc. Basically if it is small enough to fit in their mouth, it became a meal lol!

 

[megamax42]

How about some creeping fig? I think it would look awesome.

Also i want to add that you don't have to limit your feedings to crickets for FBTs', When I kept them I fed them crickets, earthworms, red wigglers, meal and wax worms etc. Basically if it is small enough to fit in their mouth, it became a meal lol!

Well I've already got the creeping fig, it's going up the left side of the tank, then my goal is to hopefully have it wrap around the top of the tank all the way to the water feature. Although I really love the vine-look I would also like some kind of fully terrestrial rooted plant. I'm thinking bromo's but I'm not sure if it'll be too cramped or not.

Thanks for the advice! That's good to know when the time comes, did you breed any of those food insects?

 

[diggenem]

Well I've already got the creeping fig, it's going up the left side of the tank, then my goal is to hopefully have it wrap around the top of the tank all the way to the water feature. Although I really love the vine-look I would also like some kind of fully terrestrial rooted plant. I'm thinking bromo's but I'm not sure if it'll be too cramped or not.

Thanks for the advice! That's good to know when the time comes, did you breed any of those food insects?

I think some smaller neos would look nice and add some contrasting color to the build.

No I didn't breed any of the food purposely. The red wigglers and crickets reproduced on their own, the others I just had a lot on hand because of my other hobby... fishing!

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[papafrogger]

That moss you found looks exactly like some i found outside my work, except yours seems to be taking off like crazy. I put mine in a diy sterlite tub greenhouse i made and while it has greened up nicely and looks beautiful, it hasnt grown a bit in almost a month. What kind of conditions does it seem to grow best for you? I have it relatively wet, not sopping but damp, and under bright light.

Your tank looks amazing by the way. Has given me lots of inspiration for a paludarium for my fire bellies.

 

[megamax42]

I think some smaller neos would look nice and add some contrasting color to the build.

No I didn't breed any of the food purposely. The red wigglers and crickets reproduced on their own, the others I just had a lot on hand because of my other hobby... fishing!

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

Hmmm, seeing as I enjoy fishing as well it seems my two hobbies may be able to benefit each other. Thanks for the advice!

That moss you found looks exactly like some i found outside my work, except yours seems to be taking off like crazy. I put mine in a diy sterlite tub greenhouse i made and while it has greened up nicely and looks beautiful, it hasnt grown a bit in almost a month. What kind of conditions does it seem to grow best for you? I have it relatively wet, not sopping but damp, and under bright light.

Your tank looks amazing by the way. Has given me lots of inspiration for a paludarium for my fire bellies.

The conditions in the tank are:
Water Temp: 76 F
Air Temp: 76-78 F
Humidity: 50-80 %
Air Circulation: Currently None besides a 3 inch gap in the glass top running the length of the tank.
Misting: Rarely, maybe once or twice a week, most moisture comes from the water feature splashing and moistening the soil.

Thanks! I'll post some update pictures once I get the tank cleaned up.

Earlier today I bought an Arduino board for the paludarium, a mega 2560 just like the one I have on the 5 gallon shrimp tank. My first goal is to implement a ventilation system that is switchable between an open and closed system, with some temperature/humidity sensors integrated into it. There's also an inexpensive flow sensor I've had my eye on for some time. Rather pointless for the 5 gallon, but with how the water feature works in the paludarium I wouldn't mind getting some feedback on the flow rate. Maybe programming a couple small LEDs to give me a green light for good flow, yellow for adequate, and red for poor flow; at least until I can get a LCD screen for this tank as well.

 

[megamax42]

 

[megamax42]

Gonna start breeding crickets in preparation for the toads, however I wanted to run something by you guys first.

My guess is that the local pet stores probably remove the female crickets once they're old enough to tell apart. Is it possible that the pinhead-sized crickets are young enough to have females? Or is it noticeable right away?

 

[TDK]

I always had problems breeding crickets--die offs and smell so I got a colony of Blaptica Dubia (Guyana Orange Spotted Roach) that can't climb glass or slick surfaces, supposed to breed quickly, can't breed outside a very warm temperature range so if they escaped it shouldn't be a problem, they don't make noise if they did escape (a problem I had with crickets before in my house) and no smell. I'm breeding these for some tarantulas I have and not for frogs but it looks like the smaller ones could easily feed the FBTs and to keep them from disappearing into cracks and crevices you could offer them in a clear glass bowl since they can't climb a slick surface. Any they didn't eat could be put back into the breeding container. so far I've had them for a month and not smell and none dead. If you decide to buy check with the seller to make sure you're getting adults that will breed. I didn't check what I was buying thoroughly and got mostly juvenile and a couple of adults. However I got I think 100 for $20 bucks plus shipping (if I remember correctly).

 

[megamax42]

Major update; rain bar built, full tour of tank, awkward narration, and demonstration of rain bar. Check the description of the video for time stamps describing what feature is being described to skip the awkward narration.

 

[megamax42]

Thunderstorm effects with rain and fog finally implemented!

I bought a new LED light for the tank that has thunderstorm lighting features and I wanted to synchronize the rain bar and fog with it. A cheapo IR receiver was used to decode the various buttons on the remote and trigger the rain bar and fog effects, each on a slight delay after the lightning starts.

I had fun working with this effect, but there are several other dynamic modes I'm looking forward to experimenting with. In the future I plan on getting a small fan to simulate wind as well, perhaps for the rolling cloud function, or an addition to the thunderstorm function.