Last update: 6-9-06
This vivarium is now my one and only. I have a tank setup for my mantellas, but I dont count it, as there are no live plants. This tank has been setup since mid-July of 2004 and is the habitat of 8 Dendrobates Tinctorius "Cobalt" poison dart frogs, 4 of which were transfered from their old vivarium. For more information on their new vivarium, enter the gallery.
Materials and equipment
75 gallon all glass-Clear silicone/Oak trim
About 30# lace rock bought from my local fish store
JBJ formosa 65W x 4 6,700K power compact light fixture
6 12"x10" tree fern pannels bought from Cloud Jungle
Misting system with 6 nozzles bought from Pro Products
Hey, not sure if you're maintaining this page, but I was hoping you could answer a question. Your vivarium is pretty amazing, and I especially like the waterfall. You said you used mortar to fill in gaps and holes in the lace rock. What kind of mortar did you use, and where did you get it?
here in Poland,it`s a little bit harder to create a good view vivarium.For eximple I`ve been looking for a good substitute to Flevopol.GOOD LUCK - darek, Thu, 2 Jun 2005 4:08AM
Very nice set-up. Did you build the water fall your self? I would like to do something like that in my 37 gallon. I just dont know where to start. Again very nice set-up. - Chris, Sat, 19 Feb 2005 4:43PM
1 06-09-2006 It's been a couple years and now it's out of control. I kind of like it but I think the creeping fig is overpowering everything else.
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3 06-09-2006 The waterfall is still in there somewhere. The creeping fig needs to be trimmed back big-time.
4 6-21-05 More plant growth but thats about it. The fern in the top level-right side is getting out of control and I think I need to cut it way back. It would be nice except it's growing so high that it's touching the light cover and burning the leaves. "looks amazing-good job" View Comments...
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7 5-12-04 More plants have been added including the raddest orchid on the planet, a Macodes Petola I will try and get a complete plant species list up soon. "verry lush and nice .imagine some da..." View Comments...
8 DSC02659 This is my new Macodes Petola jewel orchid. This is the only orchid I know of that is grown for its leaves, not its flowers. "And what beautiful leaves they are!!..." View Comments...
9 DSC02626 "Everything looks very healthy, good ..." View Comments...
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11 DSC02655 "What kind of heavenly moss is this?!..." View Comments...
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13 DSC02554(2) Taken on 5-5-05
14 DSC02498 This shot was taken on 4-23-05. I am happy with the tank for the most part, but there are several things I want to do to improve it, which is the fun part. I have added a partial false bottom to the land area and a simple watering system to the top-back wall of the tree fern root to keep it wet. "looks great. look the effect of the ..." View Comments...
15 DSC02134 "you could have done so much more w/ ..." "I think this looks amazing. Don't kn..." "Fantastic Viv! I love the waterfall..." View Comments...
29 DSC02202 "wow that had to take a long time to ..." "man that's quite the f'n tank" View Comments...
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40 DSC02360 "What type of stone or rock did you u..." View Comments...
41 Dsc01795 The waterfall is just about complete in this shot. Im testing it and looking for leaking or splashing out onto what will be the land area.
42 Dsc01796 Side view of the complete waterfall. The foam was added to seal the under-side, but as I found out here, expandable foam does not form a water-tight seal so I had to silicone a piece of plexi-glass under the foam.
43 Dsc01797 This is a good shot of the top of the waterfall because you can see the in-take and out-put pipes than run to and from the Fluval 104 caniser filter located in the stand. I used 1/2" copper elbows epoxied at the joints to seal them. Solder would have been toxic to the frogs.
44 Dsc01825 Side view of the waterfall. You can see the in-take tube for the caniser filter. I wish I could do it again, because I would have made it extend deeper into the water. If the water level of the pond gets too low, the caniser filter looses its siphon and I have to re-prime it, which is a major pain.
45 Dsc01823 Another left-side view of the waterfall.
46 Waterfall Diagram Before I made this tank into a frog vivarium, I tried making it a paludarium (half land, half water) but that idea pretty much crashed and burned. Its for the best though because I siliconed that piece of glass in and now I have a waterfall with very nice drops and a dual-level vivarium.
47 Dsc01828 Another test shot of the waterfall. I used mortar to fill the gaps and cracks between the pieces of lace rock. I filled a plastic bag with a cup or so of the mortar mix-made to the consistency of toothpaste-and cut a corner of the bag off to make some-what of a cake decorator (you know, the things they make those fancy flowers and polka-dots with). Then I just squeezed the mortar out into the cracks and smoothed it out with my finger.
48 Dsc01827 The lace rock pieces were carefully pieced together one by one to get the best turns and drops of the water. I used epoxy putty and silicone to stick them to the glass and each-other, but I knew I was going to further support them with mortar later in the project, therefore I didnt have to make the joints very strong.
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50 DSC02499 The doors are new. I mainly added them to reduce the noise that the wet-dry filter for my reef tank creates. Also, I was sick of seeing the mess of equipment and junk under the stand.
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52 DSC02501 The first top view in this gallery. The light is a JBJ Formosa 65 Watt x 4 6,700K Power compact fluorescent fixture. I am particularly proud of the way I decided to mount it to the tank (described in DSC02506). The screen I had custom made by my local ACE hardware store. I drilled 1/4" holes for the misting system directly into the screen frame. I installed the screen at the front of the tank to prevent the front pane of glass from fogging up.
53 DSC02502 This fern was a voulinteer that sprouted up a couple months ago and has since grown to a pretty good size. The cryptanthus to the left hasnt grown much or produced pups, but it's doing good otherwise.
54 DSC02505 One of the 4 misting nozzles. I used standard 1/4" high-pressure tubing and the misting nozzles are connected with compression fittings. I inserted a ~3" piece of brass tubing 1/8" in diameter into the tubing and bent it to direct the nozzle to spray where I wanted it to in the tank. This misting system has by far been the most sucessfull of any other Ive tried.
55 DSC02506 This is one of the 4 clips I made to mount the light fixture to the tank. It is made of 3/4" brass strip. They basicly hold the light to the aquarium lid, prevent it from moving side-to side, but allow me to slide the entire light fixture back and fourth to access the inside of the tank.
