Out with the old (setup) and in with the new 220 gallon UPDATED 3-20-13

[MikeyP]

Hello everyone,

Just want to share our build process. Its a 220 gallon glass tank that we have added 2 Tetra Viquarium waterfalls (older models) and some flagstone and gravel. So far we have some bamboo, bromeliads, and a philodendron (sp?) as well as driftwood.

We have extra filters in there as well to make up for the 60 plus gallons we have in there that the waterfall filters cannot keep up with. Also have a heater in there as well.

We added a DIY fogger system that I made up and the Monsoon RS400 because the wife HAD to have it! But I must admit, it is really awesome and keeps the humidity level nice and high.

I placed an order for some live plants and they should be here end of week.

We are running LED fixtures that are also DIY dimmable.

As of now we have just two turtles who are loving the setup so far.

Question I do have is, we want to add a bunch more plants but we need ones that grow by edge of water where the root system are always wet and can stand high humidity. Where are other good places to order from? Something with color and maybe flowers?

Were still far aways from being done with the tank and the stand and canopy. Still some tweaking in the tank we want to do.

The pic below is one of the many stand and canopies Ive built to date. That one was my reef tank. And this one will mimic the one in the pics. Ive missed it so much that I need to have another.

Here's the old stand and canopy I did






And here are some shots of day 1 progress.













Ran out of tongue and groove boards....trip to H.D. I had to go!

And this is pretty much how the stand / Canopy sits now! Been sick and busy with work so it slowed down the building process. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get more done to stand and canopy.

And some pics of the scape...

















Please ignore the messy wire management, still need to work on that. I need to build a housing to hold the 6 dimmers not to mention all the other wires. But in the 180 I did awhile ago I built a nice power panel and will be doing the same with this one.

Still need to figure out if I am going to do screen tops or glass. The humidity and temps are actually OK with it being open at the top, so may just do the screen as I already built 3 frames that fit perfectly in between the braces, and depends on how that works out I may install a intake and exhaust fan.

[MikeyP]

And some others,

[thebuddha]

looks awesome! and damn, thats some nice carpentry

cant wait to see a finished product

[Acro]

I want to quickly say that this tank is great!
I will be back later to post some plant ideas that you asked for.
Also, what type of turtles are you keeping? How many in that tank?
Be back in a bit, if I haven't posted by the weekend, message me a reminder.

[lochaber]

Originally Posted by Fishdood25

Question I do have is, we want to add a bunch more plants but we need ones that grow by edge of water where the root system are always wet and can stand high humidity. Where are other good places to order from? Something with color and maybe flowers?

If you aren't looking for something specific, just head over to a nursery/greenhouse, or even Lowes/Home Depot. Pothos is a classic, most of the ivy varieties (houseplant type) will do well, and I've also used creeping fig (may not do well *in* the water to start, but will eventually put roots into it). Peace lilies do well in wet/swampy conditions. while it won't do great at the water level, rabbit's foot fern will grow pretty well over wood/rocks. If you see something you like, give it a try, a lot of the common houseplants are pretty durable. though, anything touching the water is going to end up as turtle snacks.

Originally Posted by Fishdood25

Still need to figure out if I am going to do screen tops or glass. The humidity and temps are actually OK with it being open at the top, so may just do the screen as I already built 3 frames that fit perfectly in between the braces, and depends on how that works out I may install a intake and exhaust fan.

I'd just make sure there isn't anything immediately nearby that could be harmed (warp, delaminate, mold/mildew, etc.) by the humidity from the tank.

[MikeyP]

Originally Posted by thebuddha

looks awesome! and damn, thats some nice carpentry

cant wait to see a finished product

Thank you. By this weekend or beginning of next week I should be updating this with some stand and canopy updates. Things should be moving along good now that I am feeling better etc. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Acro

I want to quickly say that this tank is great!
I will be back later to post some plant ideas that you asked for.
Also, what type of turtles are you keeping? How many in that tank?
Be back in a bit, if I haven't posted by the weekend, message me a reminder.

So far we only have two and probably will just have 2. One is a Yellow Belly and the other is a Eastern painted. And thank you for the comment and for the future plant ideas!

Originally Posted by lochaber

If you aren't looking for something specific, just head over to a nursery/greenhouse, or even Lowes/Home Depot. Pothos is a classic, most of the ivy varieties (houseplant type) will do well, and I've also used creeping fig (may not do well *in* the water to start, but will eventually put roots into it). Peace lilies do well in wet/swampy conditions. while it won't do great at the water level, rabbit's foot fern will grow pretty well over wood/rocks. If you see something you like, give it a try, a lot of the common houseplants are pretty durable. though, anything touching the water is going to end up as turtle snacks.




I'd just make sure there isn't anything immediately nearby that could be harmed (warp, delaminate, mold/mildew, etc.) by the humidity from the tank.

Yes I thought about that myself. We have faux blinds right behind the tank so they might get damaged, I will keep an eye on the walls as well! But I am in the home improvement business and I do know how to fix all that, still don't want to have to fix it and don't want mold, but time will tell! Thanks for all the plant suggestions, appreciate it. We got the plants that are in there now from HD, and my wife loves the peace lilies so she will be very happy to hear that! Thanks again for your feedback.


Will be posted some pics we just took with the fogger on, when I shut down the day lights Ill take some pics of the moon lights on with the fog...freaky kind of look but awesome!

[MikeyP]

Heres some with the fog on... later ill take pics with the fog and the moon lights...

[lochaber]

Great pics. baby turtles are pretty awesome (adults are cool too, they just need a bit more space...)

I figured after I posted that you probably were well aware of any potential problems with humidity/etc., with building previous tanks and such. Now, even more so with the experience. No offense/slight intended, it's just something that I a lot of people looking at big tanks seem to forget/not consider. :/

Anyways, it looks great, and looks like you have plenty of room for the turtles to grow in. (not something many people consider)

If you still want to tinker with the setup, I'd suggest trying to build your own combo waterfall/filter. I think your pics are about the best use I've seen of those tetra viquarium things, but I feel that most DIY builds can accomplish the same results with a better use of space, etc. especially with all the vertical space available in your tank, you could stick something in a corner, use the height to store filter media, and get a pretty impressive waterfall going.

Back to peace lillies, if you already have any (houseplants, etc.), you can often find little juvenile plants underneath/around the main plant. I've gotten starters for paulludaria and such quite a few times using this method. Granted, your setup is big enough you can throw in full-sized plants, so...

But, yeah, great setup, nice pics, and thanks for posting them.

[hydrophyte]

Hey that looks nice.

Technically speaking I think this is more like a paludarium than a riparium.

I have heard that that pea-size gravel can be an ingestion & impaction hazard for turtles.

[MikeyP]

Originally Posted by lochaber

Great pics. baby turtles are pretty awesome (adults are cool too, they just need a bit more space...)

I figured after I posted that you probably were well aware of any potential problems with humidity/etc., with building previous tanks and such. Now, even more so with the experience. No offense/slight intended, it's just something that I a lot of people looking at big tanks seem to forget/not consider. :/

Anyways, it looks great, and looks like you have plenty of room for the turtles to grow in. (not something many people consider)

If you still want to tinker with the setup, I'd suggest trying to build your own combo waterfall/filter. I think your pics are about the best use I've seen of those tetra viquarium things, but I feel that most DIY builds can accomplish the same results with a better use of space, etc. especially with all the vertical space available in your tank, you could stick something in a corner, use the height to store filter media, and get a pretty impressive waterfall going.

Back to peace lillies, if you already have any (houseplants, etc.), you can often find little juvenile plants underneath/around the main plant. I've gotten starters for paulludaria and such quite a few times using this method. Granted, your setup is big enough you can throw in full-sized plants, so...

But, yeah, great setup, nice pics, and thanks for posting them.

Well, we are going to completely overhaul this setup. Not liking it and were having some problems.

We've been searching and searching on how to make our own water feature like you mentioned and found some really cool stuff at a lizard site, not sure if I'm allowed to post other sites like that so for now I will not, but were going to be using what looks like foam, than spray foam and then grout and acrylic paint. If you know specific brands etc we need please post as we need as much help as we can get!

We also had to take the turtles out as they started eating the live plants that were in the water. So this is a learning curve here! But they will now have their very own home in another tank by themselves.

Thanks for the input etc and any future input.

[MikeyP]

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

Hey that looks nice.

Technically speaking I think this is more like a paludarium than a riparium.

I have heard that that pea-size gravel can be an ingestion & impaction hazard for turtles.

Thank you, as mentioned above we are completly re duing this tank. Going to do more research before we get started.

The turtles will now have their own tank/ home.

Thanks again.

[MikeyP]

I just wanted to update this as some of you wanted to see what we did with this tank after the tear down. The stand and canopy are still not done (Been slacking on that!) and the tank has now been planted for a little over a week. So some plants are still acclimating themselves and some are starting new growth already.

Here is how she stands now, a vivarium that will house PDFs and fish. I have 6 El Copes that just came out of the water last week and will be getting them on the 6th of April.

We do have 4 otos in their right now, many more fish to come.

Anyways, here's how she sits now...