Ultimate 10 gallon build + water feature

2921 Views 21 Replies 9 Participants Last post by johnyrocks, Jun 29, 2011

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · Jun 27, 2011

Here's the video, before I was placing this in the wrong forum sections, but here. Getting the plants in about 4 days. Gonna fill up the pond with rest of gravel maybe tomorrow.

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PeanutbuttER

· #2 · Jun 27, 2011

It looks bigger to me than a 10. My only thought is how are your darts going to get out of the water. It looks like a pretty sharp ledge. A gravel slope into the water will eventually settle as the frogs walk on it.

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 27, 2011

That's exactly what I plan on doing. Also, it does look bigger than a 10 gallon, doesn't it? Lol. I followed what Grimm was doing with his tank and his is a 20 high, and I thought it was a 10 gallon lol. My mistake, so it looks a bit bigger. I might take the false bottom out though and make it a little shorter. Right now it's 3 little egg crate boxes high and I might cut to to 2 high. Thanks for the comment.

Arpeggio

· #4 · Jun 27, 2011

Why gravel? Get sand.

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 27, 2011

I was thinking to get some black sand at first, but I thought that it wouldn't get me the look I wanted, and the waterfall might displace it. Ugh, i made a mistake o th false bottom too. I made it higher than I wanted, and it is a big pain to remove it.

PeanutbuttER

· #6 · Jun 27, 2011

Don't remove it. A high false bottom = more time between when you need to drain it.

My thought with the gravel slope is that quickly the slope will lose shape and settle to become more flat and even across the whole which means the cliff/false bottom will start to show up again.

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 27, 2011

Oh. Well maybe I should try sand. I'm wondering how the frogs would like it. Could it irritate their skin?

ryan10517

· #8 · Jun 27, 2011 (Edited)

to be honest, there is very little usable space in that tank. With the water feature and clay background, you probably only have 60% of the floor space you started with. On top of that, if you just have java moss and no leaf litter, this provides almost nowhere for the frogs to hide and microfauna to grow. What are the dimensions of the tank? if it is 20x10x12 then its a ten gallon.

What frogs are you planning to get?

BTW a water feature may look nice, but its just an added danger for the frogs and takes away from usable space. Don't get me wrong, your tank looks good, i just fear it may not be the best it could be for the frogs at the moment.

Ryan

Edit: just watched the rest of the video. Glad you will be using at least some leaf litter. Sounds like you are stuffing if full of plants though. Just remember, some of those plants get really big really fast, so you will have to be doing constant trimming. Good luck!

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 28, 2011

ryan10517 said:
to be honest, there is very little usable space in that tank. With the water feature and clay background, you probably only have 60% of the floor space you started with. On top of that, if you just have java moss and no leaf litter, this provides almost nowhere for the frogs to hide and microfauna to grow. What are the dimensions of the tank? if it is 20x10x12 then its a ten gallon.

What frogs are you planning to get?

BTW a water feature may look nice, but its just an added danger for the frogs and takes away from usable space. Don't get me wrong, your tank looks good, i just fear it may not be the best it could be for the frogs at the moment.

Ryan

Edit: just watched the rest of the video. Glad you will be using at least some leaf litter. Sounds like you are stuffing if full of plants though. Just remember, some of those plants get really big really fast, so you will have to be doing constant trimming. Good luck!

Either 1 luec or maybe actually a thumbnail type. There won't be alot of water, about a 2x2x3/4 area of water, so shallow and small. I'm copying someone that did the exact same setup but had a 20h and the floor area is almost exactly the same, aand kept 2 luecs, but like I said, i'd only keep 1. So I measured the total floor area w/ the gravel in, and the main area is 12x10 and the pond has about a 5x4 area. So it's about 80% of the original floor space.

Brotherly Monkey

· #10 · Jun 28, 2011

keep in mind that the floor will be even further limited with plants. Also, just because someone else does something, that doesn't mean you should do it

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 28, 2011

By the way, the plants i'm getting are now just 1 brom, creeping fig, philodendren, and one other creeper along with a few more they threw in. Good thing I reordered while I could, plants would of taken over the whole tank! lol.

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 28, 2011

Brotherly Monkey said:
keep in mind that the floor will be even further limited with plants. Also, just because someone else does something, that doesn't mean you should do it

Very true, but it was the first "nice" small dart tank with a water feature and tons of nice plants. That's why I copied him. Now, about the plants taking up space. All of my plants are cuttings and will take up almost no ground space, as they will trail up the background. Also my brom will be in the background, too. Here's the person i'm trying to imitate, but remember he's using a 20h, not a 10. Please look at how he planted his plants in the ground. In the very back, right up next to the background.

GRIMM

· #13 · Jun 28, 2011

My name isnt Voldemort.....

ryan10517

· #14 · Jun 28, 2011

are these your first frogs??? if so, please do not get a thumbnail species. Just because they are small does not mean they live in a small space. Plus they generally like more vertical oriented tanks with densely planted back walls. One leuc might be ok in there.

Lord volde.... Uh i mean He who shall not be named, get back to work on the peninsula! lol

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 28, 2011

ryan10517 said:
are these your first frogs??? if so, please do not get a thumbnail species. Just because they are small does not mean they live in a small space. Plus they generally like more vertical oriented tanks with densely planted back walls. One leuc might be ok in there.

Lord volde.... Uh i mean He who shall not be named, get back to work on the peninsula! lol

lol, the back wall will have tons and tons of plants, 10 to START with, and more once everything settles in.

EvilLost

· #16 · Jun 28, 2011

just a tip johnny,

speaking from personal experience (and failures) everybody tries to fit far more than is viable into their tanks. a 10gal is TINY....even if you are managing to just barely squeeze all that stuff into it, once it starts to grow out you will have space/cramping issues....

not saying you aren't doing a good job for starters, but a 10gal is a really small tank....

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 28, 2011

EvilLost said:
just a tip johnny,

speaking from personal experience (and failures) everybody tries to fit far more than is viable into their tanks. a 10gal is TINY....even if you are managing to just barely squeeze all that stuff into it, once it starts to grow out you will have space/cramping issues....

not saying you aren't doing a good job for starters, but a 10gal is a really small tank....

I know. I should of waited. I found this really good deal on a freakin 100 gallon tank on craigslist. 50$. Can't beat that lol. Has the light and gravel with a canister filter. Oh well. I know the plants will grow quick, no problem. Some of the plants i'm ordering I will grow a bit more and sell them when all the plants start taking over. For instance, i'm getting 4 species of pepormorelia. Don't need that much! lol. Thanks though.

PeanutbuttER

· #18 · Jun 28, 2011

johnyrocks said:
I know. I should of waited. I found this really good deal on a freakin 100 gallon tank on craigslist. 50$. Can't beat that lol. Has the light and gravel with a canister filter. Oh well. I know the plants will grow quick, no problem. Some of the plants i'm ordering I will grow a bit more and sell them when all the plants start taking over. For instance, i'm getting 4 species of pepormorelia. Don't need that much! lol. Thanks though.

One thing I've learned in life. No deal is too good to pass up. There will always be another deal. They always come back, so be patient and wait for everything to be just right before you jump in

If you wanted a larger tank, why didn't you wait for it? Heck, now that the petco #1/gallon sale is on there's a definite source for cheap/brand new tanks

Gert-Jan

· #19 · Jun 28, 2011

buy a bigger tank, do a great build wich will be more satisfying in the end.
use the 10 gallon as a quarantine/froglet tank(ish)

johnyrocks

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jun 28, 2011

Gert-Jan said:
buy a bigger tank, do a great build wich will be more satisfying in the end.
use the 10 gallon as a quarantine/froglet tank(ish)

Na. I did some research on thumbnails, I made the background larger, and i'm going to get a pair of imitators. Hopefully they'll get used to a horz tank, not a vert. Oh well. My next build will be a 29g river and root theme. There will be a root system in the back left and a nice river going through the middle. I'll do the great stuff background for this one, just because it'll be easier and will look better in a larger viv.

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