My Vivaria

[Julio]

Originally posted by asch803
i am going to get the bottom of my 40 gal breeder drilled....do i use a bulkhead? how large should i have the hole drilled (was think 1")? do i then put a little pvc in the bulkhead to raise the drain an inch or two? and do i even need a drain? Then after i get the hole drilled, i'll start with the egg grate and have a million more questions for you...

What kind of setup are you looking to do first of all? are you using a false bottom setup? are you haveing a water feature? you don't need to drill the bottom of the tank unless you are putting in some kind of water feature like a drip wall or water fall and stream.

[asch803]

was planning to do something like Mike (corpus) has in the 2nd page here - a false bottom w/ about 1/3 water maybe about 1 1/2 inches deep...would probably build in some sort of water fall. my guess is that the drain (pvc pipe) should be the height that i want the water. if i do have water, would the waterfall pump be enough to filter the water?? Or am i better off without water and just using a false bottom where the lower portion is just wet without being all water? i'm confused...

[Corpus Callosum]

I think you should keep it simple initially, don't make a waterfall or anything that involves a pump. It's totally doable if you want to though, but there's extra work involved.

I actually like my first tank better, the one that doesn't have a hole drilled for drainage. The false bottom was raised like an inch or so above the bottom glass, so there is room for like 1/2" of water. That's the area I plant my aquatics like Java Fern, Anubias, etc.

I'm doing the same thing on the tank I'm building this week, so hopefully you'll get a better idea of what you may want to do when I post pics of the construction.

[asch803]

are you going to drill your new tank for drainage? so you're suggesting that i do the false bottom about 1/2" raised but with a drain or without? so the 1/2" of water isn't really an amount that needs any filtering, it's just a small amount for the aquatic plants and is kind of mixed with substrate? is that the approximately 1/3 portion in the front of your tank in the pics on page 2? what substrate do you use in there? then you use the egg grate for the false bottom with screen on top of the egg grate and then moss and other substrate above the screen? sorry to be a pain in the butt...

Thanks!

Andy

[imlocke]

I've been misting my tank and such for about a week or so since i've gotten my darts and theres about no water in the bottom at all ever, so unless im not misting nearly enough, i don't think you really need a drain that badly.

[Corpus Callosum]

I'm not going to add a drainage hole to my new tank, but am going to raise the false bottom like an inch or two and make it accessible in the front like the 40 gallon I posted pics of. In the 1/3 front portion I used some chunks of fir bark and coconut husk and then covered with leaf litter. Screen goes on top of the eggcrate to prevent substrate from falling through into the water, then you put substrate on top of that. I'll be sure to take step by step pics of this new tank so you can understand it better visually.

So far all my tanks have been top opening, but this time I built a front opening tank. I got an old exo terra from a friend of mine, and it had broken doors. I gutted it and removed the old glass doors in order to build my own:



I then added a lip for my front door to sit in (it is not a hinged front door like other tanks.. it is removable per my preference), and cut the glass.



This is the front door sitting on the aluminum rail I added.. it is only held in place by gravity and a door catch:







I'm waiting for my tree fern panels to get here.. hopefully I can start landscaping it this week and do the false bottom.

[Julio]

looks great Mike, i wouldn't trust those latches though, i have heard ans seen horror storries with them not locking properly as time goes by.

[imlocke]

One of my leucs checking out the new plants I got at the reptile expo today.

[Julio]

i got some stuff to hang on!

[imlocke]

He seems to like the extra cover too

[asch803]

trying to pick up some supplies to set up my 40 gallon breeder and found that the cork bark is pretty expensive. I was planning to do it the way you have it both along the bottom (dividing the egg grate and small portion which will be wet and then also on the back of the tank. Am I wrong that it's going to cost at least 60 or 70 dollars if not more? I was looking at Josh's...Is that about the cheapest? I need several pieces...most everything else looks pretty cheap. thankfully...thanks!

Andy

[Corpus Callosum]

The benefit of Josh's is that you get to see the piece you are actually buying, but for the cheapest prices I have found on cork bark and tree fern materials check out http://www.calwesttropical.com/ .

[asch803]

mike, for the 40 breeder doing pretty much what you did on the tank you show on page 2, I'm guessing i need at least 6 or 7 pieces of the cork bark?? I will get from calwesttropical since it is considerably less and i'm n ot sure exactly what sizes, etc are needed...About how much of the hydroton should i get? Last question (for now) is what type of screen should i use on top of the egg grate? I'm guessing it cannot be metal and can be the cheap synthetic stuff from home depot. What is the screen you use on the top that is small enough to keep fruit flies from escaping?

Thanks!

Andy

[imlocke]

I used wedding veil above my eggcrate, I think that may be what Mike used as well, since he was the one that gave me the material...

Since I had the wedding veil, it's what I also used for the screen, I just folded it over itself several times so that the flies can't get out.


To figure out how much hydroton you need, use this formula:

Inches deep / height of the tank (in inches) = hydroton ratio

hydroton ratio X number of gallons = Gallons of hydroton needed

Gallons of hydroton needed X 4 = Liters of hydroton needed

[Corpus Callosum]

If you are using eggcrate then there's no need to use hydroton, as it would just be empty beneath the eggcrate. Hydroton is a bottom layer for people who don't use a false bottom with eggcrate.

I've used bridal veil (nylon), mosquito netting, and fiberglass screening from home depot, they all work. The one with the smallest holes is the mosquito netting, but a double layer of anything else is enough to stop flies, if you're using it for the top screen too.

You can get by with less cork bark if you use more foam instead. Also some people prefer to use tree fern panels instead of cork bark. I have one tank with cork bark another one with just tree fern panels and driftwood.. it's all mostly preference.

[imlocke]

My 2 leucs after a bit of a scare that one was sick, but it seems to be happy and healthy now

....still trying to think of names for them

[Julio]

Mike,
i hope your mom doesn't find out you gave away her wedding veil to be used on a frog tank!!! she is gonna kill you.

By the way, i still use hydroton even with egg crate, it just gives me better drainage in my experience.

[Corpus Callosum]

That's cool, I usually just try to go with the least weight as possible, so I substitute where I can.

[asch803]

Julio, where do you put the hydroton (above or below the egg grate)? Mike, what sort of substrate would then go on top of the screen (the screen will sit on top of the egg grate)? I'm guessing that's where I place the moss (but i thought that maybe i'd put about an inch of hydroton above the screen and below the moss). What would i plant the plants in? Are there certain places that sell plants without any harmfull fertilizers in them? Also, are there any fertilizers which are safe for the frogs? I've seen where some people place a few baskets along the back using foam - is that a good idea and if so, what sort of baskets would you suggest? I am guessing that i'll have some ferns, some bromiliads and some orchids in the tank...As always, thanks for all of the help!

Andy

[Julio]

i place the hdroton on top of the egg crate, about 1-2" of it depending on the type of tank ia mputting together, mostly 1"

[imlocke]

I have a 50/50 mix of cocofiber and fern i think as my substrate above the screen.

You can order your plants online from a few different places that have selections just for vivariums such as blackjungle.com or some other ones that Mike has already mentioned in this thread.

As for fertilizer...frog poop is a natural fertilizer that'll be in the tank. :P

[Corpus Callosum]

Ah Julio, so you put the hydroton on top of the eggcrate, that's cool, I thought you meant you put them below the eggcrate which wouldn't really do much.

Screen sits on top of the eggcrate as they've said, then you put substrate above that (or a layer of hydroton and then substrate, if you want to do Julio's method). There are so many choices of substrate.. you'd plant the plants right into the substrate. There a few cool tree fern pots that drain water and you can mount on the wall if you want..

Not the best picture but I used a tree fern pot in the wall, on the left side of this pic (its my 29 gallon before it was planted):

[asch803]

ok, i think i'm getting the idea now...let me ask this, how would i do a water feature? If i wanted to have say 2 or 3 inches of water, would i just raise the egg grate to just above the water and then do everything else pretty much the same? only other thing is how would i run the filter? If i did that, i would use a canister filter (i have a few laying around) or would i use an in tank filter? it wouldn't have to be an incredible filter since at most, i'd add a few tetras or something like that...thoughts please...thanks everyone for fielding all of my stupid questions - you are all so helpful!!!

[imlocke]

Mike would be more help on this than me, though I was thinking I shoulda put some tetras or something in there, but Mike has experience with that.

By water feature do you mean to just have a bottom full of water, or to have that water go up and drip back down in a waterfall or something?

I know my fresh water tank has a canister filter but I'm a little unsure how they actually connect to the tank, I could probably make a better decision based on that.

But if you are looking to have a waterfall, you would want to have the pump inside the tank, somewhere in like a hollow rock or something so that the animals can't get to it, but you can if you needed to.

[asch803]

i just meant water, but if the best way to do that is using a waterfall (or water wall), then i'd definately be into doing that. I'm not definately going to do it either...just wanted to see what would be involved...

Thanks!

Andy