[darkmethos]

Hi guys,
My name is Catalin and I am from Romania. I have been dreaming about having a tank with dart frogs for a long time but I decided to make it happen.
I am new to this hobby but I know the importance of reading as much as you can before actually owning the animal.
I plan on building at least a 100x60x60 cm tank for the frogs and this thread will be both a journal of the build and a means to decide, together with you guys, on various aspects of the process.
So, first thing's first...size. What do you think about it? Should I make it taller? Should I make it narrower/deeper?
At the moment I am limited regarding the 100cm size which will be the front side. I am also somewhat limited regarding height as well but this is more flexible that the length limitation.
I will be building the tank on my own as I have experience with aquarium building so I will put that to good use and build the tank to my specs.
I plan on keeping beginner frogs, obviously, but the species and number will be discussed at a later date.
So, how about the size? What are the advantages/disadvantages of having taller tanks? Would you reccomend taller tanks for a beginner considering I read that you will get different layers of humidity and temperature in tall tanks.
Having a certain level of fish experience I know that a deeper tank will give more options regarding scaping and more perspective but is this good in vivariums as well?
Looking forward to hearing from you and starting this build but I will not be making the first step/or any others until I am confident I made the best decision as I would not want to do another build or redo the first one because I rushed things, so this will not be a quick and easily updatable thread.
Thanks guys for your help and the time you put into the forum! So far I found it to be a great source of info.

 

[tongo]

Hello and welcome! The first thing you need to do is decide on which beginner species you want to keep. Then you can decide on the tank size based on the needs of the species you want to start with. For example if you want to start with leucs or tincs then the width would be most important for them to have a larger area to forage. Thumbnails on the other hand would appreciate a taller tank.

 

[darkmethos]

Thanks!
I think I will stick to leucomelas and tinctorius at first so I will make it 70 cm deep and 60 cm tall.
In aquariums there are certain ratios regarding dimensions to get a pleasing effect. I suspect the same applies in vivariums but i think the frogs would benefit from the extra space despite the golden ratios being off.

 

[darkmethos]

Ok, new development...I have the possibility to build a tank as big as I like but the room to house it is not heated, and by that I mean that during winter there are about 15C in there. I am exploring now the possibilities to heat the tank.
I read that the frogs need 20-25C during the day and the temp can drop to 18 during the night.
My thoughts were to put a heater in the water under the substrate set to 20C.
During the day I think the lighting will keep the tank warmer to meet the parameters needed but is that 20C water underneath enough to keep the tank warm during the night? I plan on having a waterfeature so the warm water will be circulated around the tank.
I read that aquarium soil heaters will not have much effect in a vivarium. Is that accurate?
I suspect an IR heater lamp will dry the tank too much.
What other heating options do I have?

 

[ngeno626]

if you do any kind of heated tank make sure it is well regulated and you have easy access to the heat source!!

 

[darkmethos]

yeap, after this advice pops up all over the place, I plan on making every bit of electrics as easily reachable as possible.
I was thinking about a canister filter for the waterfeature, the heater incorporated into that, ventilation Grimm style and maybe a pump for the water under the substrate to keep it moving.
I will wait for more opinions regarding heating options.
Thanks.

 

[darkmethos]

For the substrate I was thinking of a mixture of terrabark, terrabasis si terracoco from JBL.
Is this ok? Please let me know if I need anything more. I am new to terrarium substrate so I would like to avoid any mistakes.
Should I use some JBL Manado planing soil under all that? this is for aquariums but I cannot see why it should not work fine for a terrarium.
I am using JBL products because they are readily available around here and good quality for the money.
Thanks!

 

[darkmethos]

The size is finally determined. It will be 130(long)x70x70cm.
Assuming that the fact nobody replied in relation to the substrate means it is ok, I have another question...how effective is co2 in sterilising various things such as rocks, wood, etc? If I use co2 on them do I still need to use the 5% bleach solution?