| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lewy |
Posted - 04/12/2008 : 17:56:20
Okay finally got all the things I needed together and started the viv build.
This is by no means the only way to plant up a viv and depending on the inhabitants the plants may vary.
For this set up I started with the aim of adding a Horned Frog. (which to be honest only need a few plants which they like to bury in the substrate next to) The planting will probably be dug up by the pacman when he's introduced. But I enjoy the planting side of this nearly as much as the inhabitants .
Okay here we go!
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Firstly get yourself the right size tank for the animal you want to keep, I'll be adding a pacman frog (Horned Frog) which don't need too much space as they normally just sit around waiting for food, even in the wild.
Here's my tank, about 30cm wide 60cm long and 40cm high, the light in the top is a lowish UVB tube, mainly designed for plant growth but should give enough UVB for the frogs needs:
What you'll need for this first part:
Some coco Husk Background, I got a pack of 4 50cm sheets from CornishCrispa.co.uk:
A blunt pencil:
Some Aquarium sealant:
Some sharp sissors:
Once you have all these handy, get your coco background and place it against the back of your tank, use the pencil to draw a line where you need to cut:
A blunt pencil will give a thicker line that's easier to see when cutting:
Because I have a rather large lip on the top of my tank I'm going to cut about 1cm under the line so it will fit the tank exactly, like so:
Once cut try your background in the tank to see if it fits...very nice!:
Do the same again using the excess from the last cut:
To get the two pieces to fit together nicely place the smaller piece under the larger and draw a cutting line using the larger piece as a guide:
This one needs to be cut on the line:
Once you have both pieces cut to size, use the silicon sealant to roughly cover the back of the tank, this needs to be quite thick so the coco background will stay in place:
Align the large piece first against the side of the tank, push down firmly onto the silicon base:
Squeeze the smaller piece into the gap and again push down firmly.
I've used a smaller tank to fit on top and fill with heavy books until the silicon goes off (I left it until the next night):
Since my frog won't be climbing the sides of the tank like tree frogs, I decided to cover the sides as well as the back of the tank.
Just repeat the same steps for the sides as for the back.
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Pacman frogs like quite high humidity and so do the plants I'm going to be adding. I decide to use clay balls (Hydroleca) under the subatrate, this means I can add water and the plants can soak it up from the Hydroleca layer below when they need it. With the heatmat under the tank this will help to raise the humidity as the water also evaporates.
For this next part you will need:
enough Hydroleca for a 2-3 inch layer, I got mine from dartfrog.co.uk :
Some weed barrier (you can get it from most garden centres) I had some in the shed anyway, I got mine from Wilkos for £3.99 although this lot could be used for over a hundred similar sized tanks:
Okay after washing your Hydroleca in a bucket to remove any clay dust, you need to soak it in dechlorinated water for 10 minutes, Once you've done this add them to your tank, and top up with spring water or more treated water. The water is for the plants so I've used bottled spring water just in case plants don't like the reptisafe, normal tap water can over a period of time kill amphibians so it's better to be safe:
Cut your weed barrier to fit the size of the tank and place this over the Hydroleca
Next comes the fun part... Planting!
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What you need for this part:
Plants (these first feware from a garden centre) A lot of garden centre plants can be used in a vivarium, large leaved plants and climbers do well.
I've found Peace lilies do well in humid conditions and don't mind most light levels. The other plant here is mind your own business... to be honest I'm not sure how well this one will do, but it looked nice  :
You we need some kind of substrate, Cocohusk or humus as it's sometimes called is a great substrate as it holds moisture well and isn't toxic in any way. Cocohusk comes in compressed bricks - stick them in a bucket and add treated water and they make 8ltrs of substrate (I'll miss photos for this bit) :
Get some moss to add around your plants - this will also help with humidity. Pacman frogs can ingest this while eating so I'm only going to be using it as a base for some other rooted live moss. This moss you can get at garden centres, I got this big bag for £2.99 Great stuff
Here are the specialist frog safe mosses from www.dartfrog.co.uk - I was really happy with these guys they delivered everything out more or less the next day in ice and snow! I'll be using them for plants again! They even added a free Pillow Moss! I was happily impressed!
Okay to add the climbing plants we'll need some fine wire - I had some in the shed:
With the wire you need to make small staples to hold the climbers in place until they take root on the coco background:
Place all of your plants in the tank to see how they will look, it's easier to move them about if they are still in the pots, I've got a small cutting from my cheese plant (I know these get massive but hopefully I can trim this back if it does... they are quite hardy plants and it should survive a bashing from the pacman once it's in):
Once all your plants are where you like them you can change your mind completely like I did once you start to plant things up. Add all or your cocohusk substrate. After washing the mojority of the soil from the garden centre bought plants and spraying the leaves with a white vinegar and water solution (to kill any nasties and get rid of anything on the soil) cover with a deep layer of substrate and firm around the plants.
For the climbers push the roots into the soil and use the staples to hold them against the coco background until they take root:
Next for the mosses, cut a small hole in the coco background:
tease out with your fingers and cut some more:
Fill this with the cheap Sphagnum moss... this will hold moisture in for the good moss to soak up, then add some of the good moss (I've used a small piece of the free pillow moss from dartfrog.co.uk) This moss will grow and spread... hopefully
I've used some more of the pillow moss in the corner, along with some of the sheet moss. The rest of the moss I've spread around the tank across the floor to take root.
The Java moss needs to be kept moist, so I'll be misting the tank regularly to keep it moist:
I've planted all of the live moss, on both the background and across the substrate here is a view from above... and the last secret (or not so secret) ingredient Kyoto Moss Spores! this powdery substance gets a light coating over all of the soil, and a lush fine moss should coat wherever sprinkled in around a month to 6 weeks. At the same time as sprinkling in the tank I've done a few trays with some of the left over coco background soaked in water and put them in various lights just in case this lot doesn't take:
And the finished tank, all planted up! All I have to do now is wait a few months for it to grow in... I've got the light on a timer so there is 8 hours of light per day (hopefully some of the moss will take, if not there's always the trays in the shade to fall back on)
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| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| jon.e5 |
Posted - 15/08/2010 : 08:15:47
Thanks for the advice Ade. |
| Ade |
Posted - 14/08/2010 : 21:05:33
I have UV for my White's, principally as a safety net as my wife is a sod for forgetting to dust their food regularly. ;) They've grown really nicely. I repeat though, you don't need UV for plants, most mainly use the visible red wavelengths, and some of the blue. UV is mainly useful if you have red plants and want to keep them red, the red is a reaction in the plant to protect it's cells from UV... lol So if you are going to use UV, do it for the frogs, not the plants. ;)
Jon, I don't know about these folks, but I rarely touch my White's viv, it's loaded with dwarf woodlice and tropical springtails that keep it spotless, I use the flush system for everything else, spraying the walls and leaves until the water runs off, through the substrate and into my drainage layer, I then just siphon out the water from the water area that this drains into, and replace with clean water. Plants use most of the other wastes.
As to a false bottom, the main difference is they take more work to put in than just pouring in a drainage layer. However they also give you the option to add a DIY water feature... They're still pretty easy to make though, I put one in my latest viv, with a water feature.
Oh and another hint, I use Gorilla glue now rather than silicone. It cures much faster and doesn't have the nasty odor. It also cures fine if you have moisture near it. Oh and you get more for your money with it and it goes further than silicone.
Ade |
| jon.e5 |
Posted - 13/08/2010 : 08:15:32
I'm hoping to start my first naturally planted set up very soon (Exo terra 45x45x60, Whites tree frogs), I'm still not clear on how often this kind of set up will need to be fully cleaned.
Would there be much difference in making a false bottom instead of using this method?
Thank you for your time.
P.S. Nice setup |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 30/05/2010 : 21:00:51
I've actually been involved with a debate on whether or not whites need UV (a or b) lighting, and some think they do, others don't.
Eitherway I've heard of them being kept for years with and without it.
The UV will most definitely help with plant growth, but even a standard tube helps them to grow quickly. I didn't use a UV when I had my whites, and he survived longer than he was supposed to as well.
Do a bit of research on the UV and form your own opinions on if you think it's needed or not, that's what I did. |
| MrCairney |
Posted - 30/05/2010 : 18:41:36
This looks amazing. I plan to do something similar but with a taller tank for tree frogs. If a normal bulb it ok for the plants, would a household 6500k be ok for a white's frogs or do they need the UV aspect? |
| lewy |
Posted - 30/03/2010 : 09:36:44
Thanks Ade,
Yeah, I've found this myself since posting this thread - I've done 4 more plant ups since, all of which are using just normal florescent tubes or energy saving bulbs - Yes the diffence in price is amazing. A screw fit UV bulb was £25 in one of the rep shops we looked in for an exo terra hood. We got a low wattage bulb from wilkos for 64p pence and the plants are growing just as well.
As long as the animal doesn't need the U.V light then you can get away with cheap bulbs for the plants :D |
| Ade |
Posted - 29/03/2010 : 20:08:17
Heh lewy, lovely looking tank. Re the plants though, they don't really need UV or specialist plant lamps either. If you want a cheaper option, your standard household 6500k tubes will do the job very nicely, without the odd purple colour. I have a fair bit of experience with plant growing from my 180 litre high tech planted aquarium, where I use 2 5700k tubes, 1 6500k tube and 1 8000k tube, all perfect for plant growth without giving a surreal pink/purple light. :)
Ade
PS. Sorry for the thread necro, but a lot of folks waste money unnecessarily on expensive plant tubes, and thought this info might be useful. |
| lewy |
Posted - 12/11/2009 : 15:38:43
Hi Hank, Welcome to the forum.
I do partial clean outs every few months, spot cleaning when needed, add custodians (woodlice, springtails etc ) to help clean up any thing missed.
When doing a full clean out the plants are put to one side and cleaned around, the clay balls removed and soaked in clean boiling water in a bucket. new soil and weed barrier is added and custodians afterwards. it doesn't need doing often, th pacman doesn't make much mess and when he does it's pretty solid and can be spot cleaned easily. He uses the waterbowl to urinate in so that makes things a little easier too. |
| Hank |
Posted - 09/11/2009 : 10:47:04
hey lewy how would u go about cleaning the tank? |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 14/09/2009 : 12:06:16
I think Cranwells are the most common and less colourful, so more selective breeding might have been done to create specialisms like albinos.
I will PM you my number now  |
| dazb |
Posted - 13/09/2009 : 08:36:18
Cheers mate...def gonna treat myself just trying to find out a little more about the diferent species. Apparantly only the cranwells are Albino's...? |
| lewy |
Posted - 12/09/2009 : 10:12:55
I personally would go for the ornate, they only get better looking as they get older. no scratch that... I'd have all three Albinos are gorgeous too and If It's the same one the one at S N A is a good size.
Photo's as soon as you get him/her! You'll have to throw a few babies to me if you breed (Though you'll still have at least 1000 left to find homes for ) At £35 each you are sure to make your money back!
This may help though If you want to borrow a book I have one somewhere
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Kxs8Q8bw4SgC&pg=PT10&lpg=PT10&dq=pacman+frog+baby+numbers&source=bl&ots=deFDy1UE7k&sig=HRlZjLL4Gvl9SAgOYihve6BGTiI&hl=en&ei=bWWrStO1HJCNjAfKl8HjBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=&f=false
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| dazb |
Posted - 12/09/2009 : 09:54:41
Cheers mate... hopefully picking up an Albino this week. Was gonna go for a fantasy but I have read that they are all infertile, so decided to give it a miss just in case I get breeding ideas later on... |
| lewy |
Posted - 11/09/2009 : 12:55:02
I'd stick with just eco earth, unless you know for sure there's nothing nasty in the compost. sometimes stuff you buy in garden places can have fertilizer in it. |
| dazb |
Posted - 10/09/2009 : 16:17:50
Lewy did you use any compost as substrate or just eco-earth...? |
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