this is going to be a quickie update. after 2 days of foaming, adjusting, adding my diy rain system, i am finally complete the "construction phase" of this project. the vinyl tubing you see in the pics are for my rain system. basically, it's a hydroponics irrigation system that runs off of a pond pump that i modified to work for me. they will eventually be covered in silicone/coco fiber to look like vines. i do have pics of how the rain system works, if anyone wants, i will post them on request.
here's where we are at, after all the foaming is done and curing. i'll start covering the background in a few days
sorry the pics aren't better, but i've been working one this sucker the past 4 nights straight and i am whooped!!
Bill you've really got a talent here. Just gorgeous! And to think you're not even done yet! The "hitch hiker" is super cute! Your frogs will be so happy in your masterpiece!
Thanks Amanda! I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. Now we just let it grow. Should be interesting to see what it looks like a few months from now.
I know right! It's going to make you so :biggrin: when you get to sit back and enjoy/admire it with your wife. I will be looking forward to seeing the growth.
My wife looked at it and said "it looks nice, i guess".....lol she doesn't share the same passions as i. Although she likes fish and likes "her" tank that i have been working on. She gets co2 after the holidays.
LOL! That's funny! At least she looked at it HaHa! Us girls are such a pain Do you have a journal about her tank? I am sure there are lots of that would like to see
Bill the tank looks fantastic. Amanda is right...........a masterpiece. "Each new build better than the last" I believe was your quote in the past. I think you nailed it!!!!
A great touch with the fogger btw.
settin the bar pretty high for the trunk build!!!!!!!!! cant wait
Thanks Jake. And yes, that was my quote, and i have the plan for the trunk tank in my head. If i can pull off what i have planned, it will be better than this one
funny you should ask. i know there is a Nephthytis philodendron (pink plant on the right) and an alternanthera (one the left, next to the fern) which were the two i was looking for. the ones i also picked up, i have no clue. and the girl was running names off so fast, i forgot them....lol i do know that i have a hoya in there, only because mom, who has been a florist for 40 some years, gave it to me. how could i not put it in....lol there's also a dwarf creeping fig, a buttload of crypts (some rare) and a bunch of anubias.
i have an epiphytic microsorium (java fern) species that is definitely a terrestrial epiphyte, some peperomia vines and a nice costa rican vine. that's the bright green vine with a red stem and the leaves look like umbrellas. there's another one in there somewhere, but i forgot where it is and what kind it is...lol
i actually meant that it was funny that you ask, because i knew someone was going to ask and i forgot the stupid names!!! LOL and i would NEVER disappoint mom
i have an epiphytic microsorium (java fern) species that is definitely a terrestrial epiphyte, some peperomia vines and a nice costa rican vine. that's the bright green vine with a red stem and the leaves look like umbrellas. there's another one in there somewhere, but i forgot where it is and what kind it is...lol
i actually meant that it was funny that you ask, because i knew someone was going to ask and i forgot the stupid names!!! LOL and i would NEVER disappoint mom
no broms in this one. there are very few that are available from Madagascar, so i decided on orchids instead. but i do have a red eye tree frog tanks waiting in the wings. i have been working on background idea with Learner and i think i have something that will be mind blowing. that one will have a couple of neos in it.
took some pics last night, adjusted the settings on my phone cam and i thin the colors are more true to life now. aslso the tank now has t5no 6700kk bulbs over it, versus the t5no 3000k bulbs it had previously:
I agree, the light sucked, i just hadn't gotten around to moving my fixtures around. I really want to go led, but haven't decided yet.
My brain is here to be picked, any info you need, is yours bud.
And the thermo is just there until i am 150% sure everything is stable. I have some yellow and tiger shrimp coming in. I still haven't decided on them or crs for the tank. I thought about just putting a breeding pair of crs in there. But now that i have 2 more breeds coming, i'm undecided.
And seriously Don, you tell me i need to hurry and finish, and when i do, it takes you 2 days to comment? Lol
Well, I can't be on here ALL the time, now can I? People might think I'm strange, or something! :hihi:
You took me off-guard! I didn't think that it would take you a few days to finish; one day your testing the rain system, the next you're done. I'M STILL WORKING ON COMPLETING MY SET UP AFTER TWO MONTHS!!!! You're done in less than a week?? Haha! You little stinker!!
Very nicely done! Now you didn't tell us what you used for substrate or aquatic or terrestrial soil. Do you mind sharing? Looking forward to seeing pictures when the plants are growing and the shrimp and everything is in. Love the fog effect (thanks for the idea LOL).
it's a soil-less hydroponics growing medium. it has all the good stuff a growing plant needs, bat guano, worm castings, dried kelp, bone meal, and a few other things. it is high in perlite though, but it drains excepetionally. and yes, i used this under my aquatic substrate as well.
for the aquatic sub, i needed to think about it for a while. i needed something that would look good, and natural, so black was out. i also wanted something small enough that "if" a frog ate it, it could pass it. i chose red sea florabase. mainly because it is, for the most part, clay. after it absorbs water, you can crush it between your fingers, just like kitty litter. so i get a couple by products here, i get clay for the plants, especially the crypts, and if a frog does eat it (doubtful), it should be able to pass it.
hey, not a problem. that soil rocks though, i will tell you that. here's a plant that i got from a friend almost a year ago. i have grown it every way from sunday. soft aquatic tanks, neutral aquatic tanks, emersed with all different kinds of soils and humidity levels, and the sucker has not grown one inch. it didn't shrink or die off at all. it's like one leaf died and another took it's place. but look at it after about 2 weeks in my 125, with this soil. can you tell when the roots hit the soil??LOL
when i saw that huge (in comparison) leaf, i knew i had found myself a nice soil.
Is that Lizards Tail? If so, it is a marginal plant, and does best in really wet soil with the leaves above water. The wet soil is the key. It will eventually die if planted in an aquarium.
We'll just have to give it a few weeks and see. I did actually have it in a mini bog setup for a bit. There was no change. Plus, all my other plants are really starting to grow insanely now.
yup, i'll be posting pics in a few weeks. the setup is only a week old, so right now i'm watching plants die and melt off while they acclimate, which i expected. also, i'm starting to get a nice fungus growth on my wood and background. i actually wasn't expecting that for another week or two, but i'm fine with it molding up now.
i plan on putting a colony of shrimp in there. probably some form of neo, since it runs on room temp in a basement. but it also needs to be that way for the frogs. and since neos are pretty much indestructible, i'm gonna go that route. i'm in no rush. i don't think i am going to be putting frogs in here until maybe feb or march. and by that time, my tibee experiment might go well, and i may end up putting them in here. also thinking about a couple guppies, but not set on that yet.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Planted Tank Forum
3.5M posts
130.6K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Aquatic tank owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about flora, fauna, health, housing, filters, care, classifieds, and more!