29 gallon viv build

[Softplan]

Here is a Journal of my 29 gallon viv build. It has been lots of fun, but isn't complete yet. Life is in the journey not the destination ; ).

I started with a 29 gallon tank, although price wasn't a huge issue it played a part. 29 gallon was a relatively inexpensive tank for the size. I will be housing 4 bumblebee darts ( it used to be 5 ).

[Softplan]

LOL. I am trying to figure out the whole picture upload thing.

[Foozin34]

good looking tank.

[BabyB]

good luck to you, i just set up my new 29 gallon last night and i think it looks pretty darn epic except for the glass right now is a bit dirty lol
photo (6).jpg

[Softplan]

There we go.

I then sprayed "Good Stuff" expandable foam. It works great. I over sparyed, my philosophy is you can always take some off easier than add more later.



Here it is after carving





Those 2 big holes are to plant ferns behind the wood feature. You will see.

Here I used brown ge silicone 2 and then used dry moss to cover the silicone.







The upper left is a planter for a vine type plant.

I then used 1 large bag of aquarium gravel that I washed as the drainage layer. I chose not to do a water feature. I wanted it to look like a slice of the rainforest floor. And I didn't want to deal with the maintenance.



After I layed a layer of sun blocking screen from Lowes so that the soil wouldn't go into the gravel drainage layer.



Here is the first round of planting. The top left I planted a vine type ficus in that planter area. I used a driftwood piece of wood that I cut in half to set it flat against the back ground. The 29 gallon tank wasn't deep enough to use the whole thing, plus I didn't want my frogs hiding where I couldn't find them. I planted ferns behind the wood, and veriagated ferns in each corner. the open spot in the front right is for a water dish.



Here I planted 2 bromiliads, 1 on each side. I then sprinkled kyoto moss spores on the soil. That is where I am at, now the waiting game for the moss 4-6 weeks. I am at week 1 now.









I am going to build a custom hood with fans that circulate the air insed and blow against the glass to get rid of the condensation. What is the point of having a cool show viv if you can't see into it? I am also going to get a misting system to keep it humid and water the plants. I have 3-5 more weeks to work out those things.

Here are my frogs.









If there are any suggestions out there on how to make it better I am all for it. I will keep regular posts on the development of the viv with pictures. I am so excited.

[DazzleDiscus]

lookin' nice
Since you asked, personally I think I would add a couple of plants in the upper part of the background as it looks alittle barren to me and won't have anything growing into it. I was thinking of broms propped in place so they can grow into the foam/moss.

[DazzleDiscus]

oo- and maybe a few dark river rocks near the driftwood. ... and more wood wood always looks great. You can collect some outside as long as you properly sanitize them. Branchy wood often looks better for a rainforest vive.

[eos]

Speaking of broms, you may want to use a substrate that has better drainage under those broms... they won't do well under constantly wet soil.

Looks good so far... you can add some leaf litter too

[Kyle The Toad]

Does anybody know how large those particular types of bromeliad will get?

[Epiphile]

I find that for the most part if a bromeliad is flowering it's pretty much stopped growing. What can happen, though, is that the pups formed at the base can grow larger than the original plant. I've had this happen with both Vriesea and Guzmania cultivars, which is what those are (left and right sides, respectively).

The tank looks good, Softplan- I really like that piece of wood and how you've sort of mirrored the plants on either side of it. I would second eos on a bit more drainage, though, personally, unless you can keep the tank a bit on the drier side but still nice and humid.