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My Madagascar Inspired Mantella Paludarium

48K views 168 replies 23 participants last post by  Fishies_in_Philly 
#1 ·
i decided to move this build journal over to this thread since it is for frogs. to see the beginning of the build, you can go here :
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=197462

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!!
 
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#66 ·
scored a nice haul at the plant shop. a couple bags of live moss, a few plants i was looking for, a few i wasn't and a "hitchhiker"


hitchhiker :) i believe he's a cuban tree frog, waiting on confirmation. meet 'Fidel', guess this will be another build down the road...lol


now we're as planted as we will be until after the holidays when i place my orchid order
 
#71 ·
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

JD
 
#77 ·
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.
 
#79 ·
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 :)
 
#80 ·
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 :)
Nice. Are you considering any bromeliads?

LOL, I hear you on that one, been there and done that. And I try my hardest to NEVER disappoint mom as well.
 
#81 ·
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.
 
#86 ·
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
 
#87 ·
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!!
 
#90 ·
ok, for soil, i used this :

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.
 
#92 ·
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. :)
 
#98 ·
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.
 
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