[brbarkey]

O.k. to make a long story short I have ordered a hood and equipment from vivaria projects. It is a corner design. I need help with how tall to make it.

Here is a link I used to find out how much volume my tank would be

http://www.adelaideaquariums.com.au/faqs/articles/calccnr.html

Lenght of the back walls has to be:

L = 70cm

Length of the side wall has to be:

X =25 cm

At 100 cm the viv would be 119 gallons (however about 15-20 of the tank will be filled with peat moss and water. Just like vivaria projects tanks)
Here are my worries about making it too tall (100 cm).

1. Too big for frogs to find food
2. more money to buy plants
3. More maitance
4. anything else I should be worried about?

This is my first dart frog tank and I know what some/most of you will say, "Start a small tank like a 20 gallon tall" Well to keep a long story short, I cant. I am willing to do this right with this big tank. Basically here is my time line. January the viv will be built with all of the basic componets of a vivaria project tank (no cool gadgets, but it will have a misting system). From the months of February to say mid June I will let the tank grow in and start with food around May. During this summer I will buy some Auratus. The number will be determined by what the smart people on this board suggest, but thats for a later converstation...say april/may.

Am I missing anything?


Ben

 

[Guest]

d

Ben,

First let me say welcome to this addictive and rewarding hobby.

That said, what's with the science equation? Frogs cant add.

If the tank is 119 gallons, you have more possibilites than you can possibly imagine. New to the hobby, I would personally recommend to sit on a tank that big for a few months and read alot (I see youve been on the board for a while) and do a test tank first.

Do a 20 high or a ten gallon as a test tank. Do the exact same thing you wanted to do in the large one (within reason, ya know!) so you can test your ideas and perfect them. You WILL want to see what works for yourself and if something in a large tank fails, it WILL be a huge pain in the arse. A tank that big will be semi permanant in a house. Like I said, mine is a 150 gallon and it is permanant. It doesnt move. Period.

On to your questions.

Frogs will find food, as long as you feed enough. (I'm talking about adult frogs, not froglets) The flies will hang out in the tank for a few days and get eaten when the frogs hunt.

Plants. They can be expensive. Or not. They dont have to be. Grow pothos or creeping fig. They're not expensive. As the tank ages (and more money flows in :wink: ) you can add other types of plants.

The only "more maintenance" part would be keeping the glass clean, which depending on your methods of watering, will vary.

Large tanks are beautiful
:!:


Sorry if I just kept writing and writing and writing.... Read all you can and do a test tank. Thats my advise.

 

[Guest]

if you study the landscape, climage and geography of the species you plan to house along with the habits, and natural habitat of that animal, the larger the funner. micro-climates, niches etc are realy easy to create.

i wouldn't use just a peat substrate and i wouldn't soak it with water either.
a lot of nice plants, like the many seleginella species would die in wet substrates, as will most peperomias.

use a false bottom, a good soil mix that will allow for the nitrogen cycle and not sterilize your wood, dirt and such. i've had wild ferns grow a year later on wood that i used and that was exciting!

sit in front of the tank. toss out an arm full of library books on this subject along with geography, forests, etc and you'll be suprised by the ideas you get...and it's all possible too!

good luck with your tank.

 

[Lucidblue]

make sure to have some way of removing water from under the false bottom. Whether a siphon tube siliconed to the bottom with holes drilled into it, or a drilled drain, it would be a shame to set up a huge tank like that only to have it accumulate to much water in a year or two. You'd have to tear a portion of it down just to suck water out...

 

[Guest]

if you DO decide to hide the pump in the false bottom, why i don't know, you'll have more of a concern about the pump then the water.

if your water is being cycled, thinking you'd want one in a bigger vivarium, then you don't really need to do anything. there are ways to add water, create barriors against suggy bottom soil issues, and with a properly established nitrogen cycle, you'd only need to be sure you're protected against algea, which is an easy issue to correct as well.

you can create a "tank heigth" dam to house, and gain access to the false bottom. i've been building our tanks with half glass sliding tops which meet the verticle peice so no worries abut frogs getting behind it. This works great also in store models with an extra line of silicone.

also, if your tank is from all glass get one with an over flow. take that off, and use the two or three holes for a sump tank below which you can then access the water, pump, house and run air line, fog tube etc and still have a great tank above the cabinetry.

stop by and i'll send you some photos if you want.

that is an old (6 months ago) photo. the tank is well planted. and i'll never need to change the soil, or the water in the false bottom area. once you've learned how to get the benaficial bacteria going in the tank you will notice better plant growth and less worry about cleaning the herp waste.

 

[Derek Benson]

Deven, what did the owner finally decide to keep in it?

 

[Guest]

hah...tw painted mantellas, three klemerii and that's it.
we got the leaf tails to breed so he got spooked and yanked the eggs out - headed for hte incubator...argh!

 

[Guest]

Welcome Ben! I am working on my 75 gallon terrarium today. I hpoe to get it cured before Febuary. Id say 110 gallons is definantly ok for larger frogs.
Paul

 

[HansV]

Ben,

Don't use a valse bottom. If you built the Vivarium like Vivaria, your vivarium is self supporting. The dripwall is your biological filter. Here is a link, so you can see how you can built a Vivaria Vivarium. Its only in Dutch, but there are a lot of pictures. If you something not understand, send me a PM. Do it the Vivaria way. No problems with the pump if you built the filter (sponge can easely been cleaned) so as on the pictures. http://www.gifkikkerportaal.nl/Gifkikke ... ?tabid=197

Dripwall piping, Eheim pump and filter.

Dripwall piping inside paludarium........Detail dripwall piping in cocos panel

cocospanel dripwall............................................end result
siliconed inside paludarium

 

[Guest]

i don't think that having a pool of water is what all might want.
yes it's self support, hence the nitrogen cycle.

from what i see - the pump is in the vivarium behind a wall
which i suggest using tree fern instead of coco fiber, as it won't break down, sag or fall apart, and roots plant cutting better. tree fern panel
is strong, and let's air contact the roots, helping leaf cuttings and such take off better.

it's a good idea, but you need to realize the false bottom - egg crate is going to hide the water that you see in the photo, so if you're working with herps that don't live near running water, they're safe.

palidariums, which that photo models are great if your herps love water and land. D. vitattus and 3-lined salamanders for example. Heck, fire bellied toads love palidariums too!

but for the D. tinctorius which from my experience is more into leaf litter then waters edge, or more aboreal darts, a palidarium might be a hassle.

egg crate over the water, screen and plant.

InMy experienced Opinion

nice diagrams though...really nice.