[skylsdale]

This tank has been set up for around 3 years now. It is a converted 30 gal aquarium with a false-bottom and Turface substrate. There are some old cottonwood roots and gnarles in there, and the back and sides are covered in cork bulletin board panels. The lid consists of a couple panes of glass, siliconed and hinged together. The tank is pretty old and the top frame/brace is bowed, so the lid doesn't sit flush, allowing plenty of fruit flies to escape...therefore it currently doesn't house any frogs.

My care regimen for this tank consists of benign neglect. I rarely mist. The lights are on a 12-hour light cycle. I'll throw random specimens of plants in to see how they do...some die, some go crazy (and only seem to grow in this tank--I'll put cutting in other frogs tanks and they die). I have had all sorts of volunteers pop up, not to mention various things that have spread by spore. If a plant begins to take up too much real estate, I'll rip hand fulls out and let other specimens crowd in and battle it out. It's great to watch the succession that plays out within this tank.

And the office where it resides:

 

[Vinnner]

Beautiful tank!

 

[saruchan]

Wow your tanks are amazing. Awesome

 

[roberthvalera]

nice that erythropus looks awesome peeking out. Whats that lanceolate leaf thing thats growing in a rosette?

 

[deboardfam]

Wow.. amazing looking tank. I only hope my vivs look this good in the future after grow out.

 

[Dartfrogfreak]

Amazing!

Great work! I love it!

Also is that Philodendron SP Ecuador!?

Todd

 

[Mitch]

B-E-A-UTIFUL. That's a nice little gem you've got there in your office. Some of the nicest tanks are the one's we do the least for...figures...

 

[Freeradical53]

Hey! I gotta tank like that. I toss things in and out. I think yours is fantastic! Who said you gotta keep living breathing things in there!

 

[Vagabond324]

"SWEET" Love it, very cool tank.

 

[ryan10517]

wow! normally, i don't like 30 gallon tanks because of the small amount of depth they have, but this tank really proves that wrong!

 

[Julio]

pretty sweet tank Ron!

 

[Dartfrogfreak]

nice that erythropus looks awesome peeking out. Whats that lanceolate leaf thing thats growing in a rosette?

I believe its a Begonia

 

[Peter Keane]

That thur is a purdy thirty!!..

 

[ChrisK]

Nice, are any of those plants planted right in the Turface, or in sphag pockets, or all mounted? I can't grow too much in it -

 

[stemcellular]

Lookin good Ron

 

[myersboy6]

really nice tank! Thanks for sharing!

 

[skylsdale]

Nice, are any of those plants planted right in the Turface, or in sphag pockets, or all mounted? I can't grow too much in it

Nope...no sphagnum pockets. I'm a clay substrate purist.

If they plants can't hack it, I just don't use them in tanks like this (and keep them more in Wardian cases). It's pure Turface and cork panels and the tree roots--everything has rooted into/onto that and the layers of moss and liverworts that have shown up. There is even a patch of live sphagnum that showed up from some vestige of dried moss, I assume...but it's been doing well for a couple years now.

I do add dead leaves every now and then to 'feed' the substrate and the microfauna population...the breakdown of all that organic matter no doubt contributes to some nutrient for the plants, but otherwise everything is either growing epiphytically or is straight in the Turface.

 

[inka4040]

Looks fantastic! I love how it mirrors Amano's personal tank on your comp screen.

 

[InHoc1855]

Whats the seliganella looking plant that turns deep red/purple? Very cool looking

 

[skylsdale]

Whats the seliganella looking plant that turns deep red/purple?

Selaginella erythropus