Starting 1st Viv... 170 gal!

[rgunsolus]

Hello everyone, I'm Ron from Minnesota... I recently aquired a 170 gallon (6'x2'x2') aquarium and am in the planning phase of building a large Viv with a false bottom. I plan to have automatic humidistat/thermostat controls, and a water feature.

My main questions involve heating this size enclosure (how and how much etc) and what type of pump will i need for a decent water feature? Thanks for being here!

I am very much looking foreward to participating in this community. -Ron G

[Jason]

The pump you need is dictated by the amount of water you plan on having and how fast the water of your feature will flow and how long it will take to get the water from point A to point B. As for heating that monster that also depends on what you want to keep in it as well. Tell us what kind of set up your thinking about ( Full Tropical - Semi Tropical- Desert..etc ) , Oh and hay ... Welcome to the family!

[JohnEDove]

170 GALLON!!!!! That is just awesome.
Tell you what, just bring that monster over to my house and you won't have to worry about it.
Just kidding, my wife would kill me if I tried putting another large enclosure in the house.
Welcome to the site and as you have already been informed how you heat is somewhat dependent on what you will be keeping in it. I have a little 55 gallon for anoles that is heated to 81F ambient by the lighting and the heat of the pump I chose but that would be to warm for a lot of critters.

[froggsong]

Heh, anoles could take more than that... It gets up to 110 back home! (not that I'm suggesting anyone keep them at those temperatures!)

That is a great size tank! You could keep a CWD in there, and add a little height... Sorry, I'm quite partial to the little critters.

These guys are right, everything you do depends entirely on what you are putting in the tank, including the size of a water feature. Why don't you start a thread in construction, and we can all discuss it at length. There are alot of people that don't always notice when a thread is started in Introductions (myself included), but LOTS of people watch the construction area like a hawk (myself included, lol).

Welcome to the forum, it's a great community, and we're all glad to have you!

[Athen]

welcome to the forum! i agree with everyone else how to heat it and how you move your water is largely dependant upon what you are putting into it generally a viv is built around the critter that is going into it get a good idea of what you want build your setup have it up and running for about a week to make sure there are no kinks and that it is going to maintain the temps and humidity you want. then drop your critter in and let it run

[Athen]

if you would like i can move this thread to construction

[rgunsolus]

I will be keeping Dendrobatids in it - (70-75 degrees ?) - I am leaning towards heating the water table to 70 degrees and using the lights to boost it if needed, venting automatically via fan if the temp gets too high... Any thoughts on that approach versus others? I had thought about trying to heat the front plate of glass (1/2"thick) to minimize fogging... but doubt it would work given the mass of it ?
Regarding the water feature... it will be 2-3 feet of running water falling a total of 16 inches or so, and I guess I want a fairly decent flow rate (nothing too crazy, but definitely substantial
Regarging "spousal-related-excessive-glass-syndrome"... lol - I have long ago been banished from the house and now am lucky enough to have my own little "man-cave" as she calls it for my various obsessions involving large slabs of glass (a 14" telescope, an other 50 gallon Aquarium with Honduran Milksnake etc etc ).
Anyway... I am very excited to be here - I have some men coming over tomorrow to lift the aquarium up onto a stand I had built for it on Friday... I'll try to document the process with pics as so many here have done (helpfully)
-ron

[Athen]

ok i move the thread to construction so you will get more views.

as far as moving your water i would say a pump rated in the approx 100 GPH area should give you a signifigant amount of flow and cycle your water table 2-3 times an hour i would suspect anyone feel free to correct me if i am off

[froggsong]

Athen, don't DO that, lol.... I felt like a total idiot when I saw this in Construction, I was like, "Wait a minute, that WAS in Introductions, wasn't it? OMG, I didn't post what I posted and it was already IN Construction, did I? Oh jeez, I'm going to look like a total ass..." Then I checked Introductions and I was like, "Dang it, Athen..." LMAO...

[Athen]

sorry about that lol i did say that i moved it tho =) ill make sure i give a warning ahead of time and wait till i get some sort of reply before i do it again lol