[toadpher]

It's been about a month since I first set this up and it's gone through a few iterations since then; I know it will go through a few more in the next few months. Here it is as it stands today.

I'm really hoping to get advice, critiques and just General help as I build this up. I've never had a pet fish before, let alone an entire ecosystem. Any and all advice is welcome, just try not to be too harsh with me, unless the lives of my fish/amphibians are at risk!

Lighting would be a nice place to start. I have two 18" fluorescent fixtures, one with a zoomed 10.0 active uvb bulb (15w) and one terrible old bulb I the other that needs to be replaced. Any recommendations for a really good grow bulb?

I'll update this thread regularly with my successes and failures.

 

[toadpher]

Hello, from the land dwellers!

Heidi is the shy one, and likes to chill out under her rock, when she isn't beating everyone up for food, lol.

Dudley is the fatso, who likes to see how many worms and crickets he can stuff in is mouth at one time.

And last, but not least, my favorite; Mr. Toad (like wind in the willows), who is pretty much the cutest ever!

Bump:

 

[Fishumms]

As far as the bulb goes, it depends I guess on what you are doing with it. Growing plants? Do the frogs need some kind of UV light or something? Just lighting the tank so you can see? The most basic thing could just be a light for plants that fits in it the fixture. I think I've seen 18" fluorescent vegetative lights at Petco.

What kind of frogs are they? It looks good, but my general experience is that frogs typically need about 75% land and toads need about 50-50%. water/ land.

 

[toadpher]

As far as the bulb goes, it depends I guess on what you are doing with it. Growing plants? Do the frogs need some kind of UV light or something? Just lighting the tank so you can see? The most basic thing could just be a light for plants that fits in it the fixture. I think I've seen 18" fluorescent vegetative lights at Petco.

What kind of frogs are they? It looks good, but my general experience is that frogs typically need about 75% land and toads need about 50-50%. water/ land.

I have a uvb bulb in there, because I haven't found any scientific papers saying if my frogs need it one way or the other. They all seem to like it and bask on the rocks. I talked to a guy at Aquatics unlimited and picked out a bulb for the other side of the tank yesterday.

The two frogs are Rana Clamitans Melanota and the toad is a Anaxyrus Americanus Americanus.

I just bought some stuff to redesign the tank. The water is going up 3 inches, there will be more wetlands area and I'm building a second story that is prairie themed and will have dry soil. That should make everyone happier.

 

[thedudeabides]

What kind of frogs are they? It looks good, but my general experience is that frogs typically need about 75% land and toads need about 50-50%. water/ land.[/QUOTE]

That really depends on what kind of frog/toad you have.

Those toads could live in a 100% terrestrail environment with just a water dish. The frogs could get by with just a couple rocks poking up out of the water. To accomodate both of them I would say 50/50 would work.

 

[toadpher]

What kind of frogs are they? It looks good, but my general experience is that frogs typically need about 75% land and toads need about 50-50%. water/ land.

That really depends on what kind of frog/toad you have.

Those toads could live in a 100% terrestrail environment with just a water dish. The frogs could get by with just a couple rocks poking up out of the water. To accomodate both of them I would say 50/50 would work.[/QUOTE]

This is correct, which is why I'm redesigning the tank to better accommodate everyone's environmental needs. I'm excited to see how it all comes out! Thanks for all the advice.

 

[EndlerGame]

Nice looking tank, I'm sure the toad will be happier to have a little more land to roam.

Also, what species are you keeping in here? Did you buy them or collect them yourself? The frogs looks like a wood frog, though slightly more colorful than the ones found around me...they're one of the coolest little animals out there, and can even survive being frozen and thawed like nothing happened!

 

[toadpher]

Nice looking tank, I'm sure the toad will be happier to have a little more land to roam.

Also, what species are you keeping in here? Did you buy them or collect them yourself? The frogs looks like a wood frog, though slightly more colorful than the ones found around me...they're one of the coolest little animals out there, and can even survive being frozen and thawed like nothing happened!

according to my research the two frogs are Rana Clamitans Melanota and the toad is a Anaxyrus Americanus Americanus.

The toad will definitely be much happier when I tear this thing apart next Wednesday and rebuild it the way I want. He told me today that he wants to burrow, by digging up my freshly planted moss, lol.

Bump: Also, that's crazy about the wood frog!

 

[toadpher]

Striped out the tank today to start building up the multi-story paludarium. Just waiting for the silicone to setI. Also went out and bought a bunch of plants, more on those later. I will update as progress ensues.

 

[Kehy]

Have you thought about removing the background? It seems unnecessarily distracting. Maybe paint the back solid black, or use something else instead.

 

[CannaBrain]

+1 ^^^

 

[toadpher]

I have thought about it and will be removing it. my gf is an artist and wants to do themed backgrounds, but a solid color would be nice. Maybe she'll let me rotate them out, haha.

Progress.

 

[toadpher]

Main layout complete.

The basic layout is finished, but I'm not very happy with the plant layout, especially the golden lloydiella. Any advice on a layout would be wonderful.

Everyone is happy and water parameters are good. Now it's just a waiting game to see if all the plants make it.

 

[toadpher]

Small update

Planted some sweet flag and Forget-Me-Not and made a moss slurry to try and get some green going. I also overestimated the coordination of my amphibians, so I built a new ramp that they actually use now. I covered it with moss slurry as well, so hopefully I'll have a nice tight green carpet in a few months.

Still need to get rid of that ugly background.

 

[Veritas]

i love it

 

[toadpher]

Dudley says hi Planted Tank friends and thanks for all the great


Bump:

i love it

Thanks! It's coming along. Still have a lot I want to do, but slowly it will all come together.

 

[toadpher]

I think I have an obsession...

I know I should take it easy, but I can't help it. I'm really really looking at ordering a Finnex planted+ 24/7 to go along with my ultrasun and reptisun 10.0 T8 bulbs. The plan is to run the planted+ on the 24/7 setting and supplement uva/b + additional light with the T8 bulbs on a digital timer during peak lighting hours. That way I could get some more colorful/blooming plants and have a sweet eye-candy light cycle, lol. Any reason not to? Also looking at getting a canister filter set-up to get rid of the ugly intank I have now, because I want to redesign the entire right side of the water portion of the tank to make a nice deep area for stocking more fish. Thoughts and advice?

 

[CannaBrain]

24/7s are a nice touch IMO. I've had one running over a 20 L that was already established and thought it was nice, though its only there temporarily until the tank it's intended for is ready. I would say about the timers, you may find that the noon to 3 settings would be most ideal for having the uvb bulbs goin w/ out taking away from the 24/7 effect. I say this because I used my 24/7 in tandem w/ the planted + that was already on that tank, and from lights on to lights off, you cant get a sense of what "time" it is on the 24/7 because it's washed out by the other lights. Lil guy looks happy, you're comin right along there

 

[toadpher]

Thanks for the advice, canna. I was wondering if I should be dosing trace minerals or anything with my setup? I have a peat moss/fir base with sand then pebbles over that. Most everything is planted down to or almost to the peat. Does peat moss provide enough nutrients along with the nitrates in the water to feed my plants or an I missing key nutrients?

 

[CannaBrain]

Peat is basically inert. Roots like it, helps lower the pH. I've got a tank w/ just peat capped w/ sand and while the plants have been fine for years and years, the plant growth is very slow. Peat definitely doesn't provide your macros (NPK) or micros/trace.

I would be careful dosing w/ amphibians. Simply something I'm not super familiar w/ since I know they absorb everything thru their skin, but haven't kept any to give feedback on. Kind of think if it's fish safe, it should be amphibian safe too, wouldn't go crazy w/ it though. Maybe someone else can chime in there. You might consider root tabs or osmocote plus.