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Newt Tank Build

24K views 110 replies 16 participants last post by  Learner 
#1 · (Edited)
Alright, I decided to start a new thread for this tanks build.

Fauna: 5 red spotted newts, feeder guppies

Flora: hygro compacta, anubias nana, anubias lancelota, anubias hastifolia, dwarf sagg, crypt lutea, anarchis

29 gallon standard
DIY background using the Greatstuff, styrofoam, and drylok method.
Eheim canister filter
non heated
Playsand substrate, root tabs, ecocomplete and laterite bottom layer.
 
#2 ·
I started off with carving the sides and background out of 2" styrofoam. I carved out areas for planters on each side and then secured them with GS. After trimming the GS, I made several small ledges for spanish moss and other dirt accents using the titebond II method. After getting some great advice from slowfoot (a trusted breeder of RSN) I slanted my sides and background much thinner on the bottoms to make more water space for the newts to swim.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Step 2 was to carve the body of the land area. I wanted the land area to help create a river bank look. I wanted potted plants to give the littoral feel in this tank as well as some planters for emmersed hygro, and riparium plants. After more good advice, I have decided to increase the water level and shrink the amount of riparium habitat. I have learned from many eroded experiments that bottom structures under or near the waters edge will almost always flatten out over time. For this reason, you can see depressions that help maintain the shape of this land area.

This carve took a great deal of time and effort. There are three 2 inch pieces siliconed together and a 1 inch piece to boot on the right hand side. You can see several pots for plants within the newt island
 
#4 ·
I am making small dividers to hide and protect the intake and outflow of the eheim. The outflow is on the right and will come down to an elbow attached to pex piping. The egg crate is to create a faux rock that will hide everything completely, decrease water agitation for the newts, and stop them from crawling behind the piping. The other block on the left is to keep sand from entering the filter intake. The intake slides down into a sponge that is cut to fit perfectly in that spot. This leaves no room for newts to hide or get hurt back there.
 
#5 ·
Changes are being made to increase the water depth, make it more of a planted tank than a riparium, and add the mangrove look at the banks of a river. I want to add a root system that will be attached to the background and weave around the newt island.

I decided to attach the island to the background with great stuff and begin the building of roots using grout, drylock, nylon rope, thread, greatstuff, and styrofoam.

Other than some carving I did tonight, this is where I stand. Any comments, concerns, questions, and especially suggestions are always welcomed!
 
#12 · (Edited)
Thanks a bunch. I'm hopin it turns out nicely. I need a low maintenance tank on this one. I'm not sure how thats going to work out. I have hard water up here and the water stains are a constant nightmare. I plan on having very little water movement at the surface and dont want to use an air stone if I can help it. I've never had a planted palud like that.

I am also not heating the water so I need some plants that can handle the cooler water. I dont want to be stuck with just elodea. I would love some frogbit but I dont know if it can be trained to live in the cooler water? I have some time to figure all that out as I wont be ready to move the newts for at least 4 weeks. Any thoughts / advice??
 
#13 ·
I've decided now after playing with a few different methods, that I like the greatstuff and drylock with rope for creating vines / root systems on this 29 gal scale. I once made some large mangrove roots by carving styrofoam and that worked nicely; but this has been much easier for making that curved look of roots growing across a rock structure.

I am a bit afraid of having too much of a harry potter look in my foam "tree roots". whaddya think? any advice??
 
#14 ·
any pics?
I was going to say that some times with silicone it is a pain to deal with inevitably a piece or two falls off and there is no way to fix it...any way i say this i have built a bunch but never with the spray foam thing hich gave me an idea... what about using magnets? can you use those rare earth magents covered with foam to keep in place?
 
#17 ·
Great idea...I have some and they are pretty spendy. I use them in my classroom to teach. The silicone method has worked well in the past and is pretty cheap. I think I am going to try the magnets with some other pieces and not the background. It would work great for root systems that I want to remove for cleaning and maintenence......great idea! thanks
 
#15 ·
For cold water plants there are lots of options. In my newt tanks I use java fern, Anubias, crypts, vals, wisteria, and java moss (also duckweed, but that's more of a pest). These have all gotten down into the 50s without any issues.

Just one more tip: when you attach the background to your tank make sure each and every possible crack is filled. Newts aren't like fish and they will find any tiny space to squeeze themselves into.
 
#18 ·
For cold water plants there are lots of options. In my newt tanks I use java fern, Anubias, crypts, vals, wisteria, and java moss (also duckweed, but that's more of a pest). These have all gotten down into the 50s without any issues.

Just one more tip: when you attach the background to your tank make sure each and every possible crack is filled. Newts aren't like fish and they will find any tiny space to squeeze themselves into.

I will ahve all the cracks sealed up.thanks for the reminder! They never stop exploring and thats why I have designed the intake and out flow the way I have. Glad to hear that all those palnts can acclimate well in cooler water. 50's !!!! I wasnt palnnign on keeping it that cold. Is that the temp range for breeding behavior mimicing their native lower 48 homes????
 
#21 · (Edited)
I finished some of the main root system and have a good idea of my end game as far as hardscape. This will hopefully become a washed out section of creek, tangled with vegetation and niches to fill.

The tree roots on the right will dominate that half of the tank along with the large, terrestrial planter. this will be the only hardscape (other than the background) thats above the waterline, as I have raised it to 9 inches.

The left side will be heavily planted with dwarf sag and elodea.

A small clump of emmergent, riparium plants will occupy the middle of the tank towards the edge of the submerged creek bed.

I wanted a lush showing of plants, both above and below waterline, but in order to maximize swimming room for the fauna, I will have to plant most the terrestrial plants on the background itself and the side panels. Thats not gonna be easy to do with a limited space. My planters are just too small to support any sizable plant with good coverage. Plus my choice of plants up here is severely limited so I wont be able to have the lush fern forest that I wanted. Not sure how that part will turn out.
 
#23 ·
I made some good headway on the tank in the last couple of days. I have got a good first layer of Drylok and was able to play with some color variations. I think I will be able to get some nice colors but putting the layers around the root system is proving difficult. Drylok is like a thick paint and is not easily brushed on with significant detail. My next layer will be the main coat of Drylok and give me the main coloration for the hardscape.

I am happy overall with the look, I am however a bit worried about the planters and how well they're going to work for the terrestrial plants. Watering them may bring about some issues. We'll see.

Forgive the sloppy look, this is just the first coat, but whaddya think? I am open to sugesstions and advice as always!
 
#28 ·
Wow, those pics dont really show the colors very well at all. The main rock is much more of a charcol with light brown highlights.

I am going to add some vine-like roots to the overhanging root on the right. I have some small pieces of manzanita twigs that I want to try and use. Maybe if I push them into the foam and then Drylok them along with the faux roots? That way I can save from all that carving and still have the two pieces look the same. Has anyone ever tried that before?

I still have the Swiss cheese look to some of the greatstuff rock. The pores are often very large when you start cutting deep into the hardscape and then they become very difficult to fill in with the drylok. If the next layer doesnt do it, I may have to fill them in with some expanding gorilla glue to take up the spaces.
 
#30 ·
Oh! not true! as far as lush plants go! you could totally use creeping Jenny! if comes in two colors and LOVEs humidity, and will even grow right into the water. it creates lots of little close leaves with good lighting and Ive used it in my riparium. Looks awesome so far though! Gah! all these cool ripariums to nothing but make me want to get more tanks! hehehe

so cool!
 
#33 ·
Creeping Jenny is a great plant. Wish I could get a hold of some up here. I have tried ordering plants three times from folks on this site, but each time it has turned out to be a box of blackened mush. I guess thats the sacrifice for living amongst the bears and moose!
 
#35 · (Edited)
The drylok was dry enough for another test run at sealing this whole thing. I went with a more traditional brown for the tree roots and a lighter charcol for teh rock. A fine brush helped with the detail work but I am still having issues with the swiss cheese in the GS. The parts that are above the water will be easy to fix with moss and such, but the under water section will take some planning. I am wishing I would have just carved everything out of the styrofoam, its just a lot easier.
 
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