HELP! CWD Enclosure Upgrade (substrate, DIY, etc)

[Athen]

Originally Posted by YankeeChops

I gotta be honest, all this is quite daunting. I really want to give her the best setup possible, but I have no clue how to setup a pond system with external/hidden filtration as I have seen in so many forums. I will try my best and let you guys know how I get on.

as far as that goes for my setup what i did was i placed a large piece of driftwood across my tank width wise and stuffed all of the large openings with foam ( like elastic foam ) i then put a layer of aquarium gravel about an inch thick where the water was gonna be and about 2 inch thick on the land side where i put an in gravel filter/pump and ran the discharge out over the water and through a piece of cork bark to design a sort of waterfall i then placed some of the lyca beads over the gravel and put a layer of poly cloth ofer that so that water could move up to the surface but my substrate couldnt get into my water table then i used about 3in of newzealand sphagnum moss and about 3 in of coco fiber on top of that what that achieved was the water would evaporate up through the substrate effectively watering the plants and creating humidity in the tank in the water side i put some fish for the nitrates from their waste to fertilize the substrate for the plants. what that designs is a basically fully supportive ecosystem and if your dragon feels up to it he can even snack on the fish from time to time =) all that only took me a few hours in one night to do it is actually quite simple

[YankeeChops]

Ooops, sorry for the confusion. I meant to say I was aiming for an enclosure with the dimensions-- 5 ft long, 3 ft wide and 6 ft high.

Your suggestions have been very helpful Meghan, I really appreciate all you have helped me with. The specifics you mention are really helpful. I have taken the fogger out of the enclosure. I am very interested in trying to set up an "external ultrasonic fogger" system after visiting the link you posted!

What kind of wood would you guys suggest using to build the setup? I know I have to seal all the wood, so I was thinking of using this sealer: Non-Toxic SoySeal Wood Sealer & Waterproofer, Natural Soy Products, Wood Sealer and Waterproofer

I really want to be able to have a good idea of what we should or should not be doing, so more suggestions would be brilliant! Thanks loads!!

Here is a picture of my lil' lady--

[YankeeChops]

Thanks for your help Athen! I wish I had a photo of your setup so I could picture it. It's hard to picture what you're describing b/c I have such little experience with all this. Might you have a picture to share? Thanks again for your suggestions! =)

[Athen]

i do have pics of my tank they are in the gallery here on the site i cant link them right now cause im at work and dont have the acces to the pics so if you cannot find them in the gallery ill post them up in this thread later when i get home
and as far as that soy sealant you linked goes that would be a good item to use if you intended on protecting the wood but the goal isnt so much to protect the wood ( although it is still important) but more in trying to making the enclosure watertight here is a good link for some epoxy paint that is specifically for aquacultures that will both protect the wood and make the enclosure water tight Aquatic Eco-Systems: Epoxy Paint, 1 Gallon

[froggsong]

Yeah, any epoxy paint that is used for water tanks or aquariums will do, I have a good link on how to do it, I'll have to take a look at the link for the soy based one you were talking about, that sounds interesting... Here's the link for how to do the epoxy (he is doing it for water aquariums though so I don't know if you would need as many layers, except maybe on the bottom where the pool will be):
GARF'S REEF AQUARIUM CONSTRUCTION - 140 GALLON AQUARIUM
It should go right down to the part you need when it loads.

I don't have time for a long post right now, I'm supposed to be working on my frog build, but I do want to say, your dragon is beautiful! She looks very happy to be with you.

One thing though, that branch she is on looks like it might be just a little to thin. Not much, but a little. From what I've read they prefer to lay on thinner branches and the rule of thumb is it should be somewhere around half the width of the dragon, though putting some of different thicknesses in there would be good to see what she prefers!

I love that dragon smile pic, btw

[froggsong]

Ok, I gave in and took a look at that link. To be honest, it looks great (so does the price!), I think it is a good idea, the only problem is that it says it is a 24 month seal. I would think that means you would have to retreat every two years. I'm not sure if you really want to have to do that. It might be better to just go with the epoxy, especially for the pool area. If you are one of those people that gets bored with the way something looks after a year or two (or a few months like me, lol) then it might work. You could just give it an overhaul every two years or so and redo the wood then. If you want it to be permanent so that you don't have to redo it again (or risk it breaking down too fast and warping the wood) I'd go with the epoxy.

[Athen]

well the soy seal looks to be more of a weather seal kinda like thompsons for decks and stuff it would work to protect the wood from water rot and warping and such if you didnt plan on having water in it but in order to to an actual pond area it would require something like what i have or a false bottom setup in which case it would keep the water from rotting the wood but most likely wouldnt protect the water from leaking out of your joints

[YankeeChops]

Now that I know the difference I will def opt for the epoxy. Can someone explain how a false bottom is constructed and or the basics of how one is made? As I understand it, a false bottom provides room for circuitry and filtration systems-- am I totally off point? Sounds great and much more visually appealing. I'd like to have a pond system that is as low maintenance as possible. I'd love to have a self-filtering setup (not sure the terminology), so I don't have to clean and do water changes all the time.

Could someone clarify... With the filtration systems, does the enclosure need to be hooked up to plumbing? I don't think so, but I have no idea about anything involving aquatics. Thank you for all your help guys! =)

[froggsong]

I have a plan for a several stage filter that I am going to make when I set up the new CWD enclosure... the water will be pumped (or maybe just gravity for this part) down to the filter, which will be a sweater box (plastic bin) and I will have several different type of filter media in there, including a nice dense sponge (biological filtration). Then it will get pumped back up into a water feature. One thing to keep in mind, unless you are going to net all of the waste everyday (feces and urates) with a fine net, (those white brine shrimp nets are great for it) you'll have to have a filter that you can change at least weekly, or have a filter that you can change just a part of it at least weekly. They seem to only go in the water, and mine, at least, goes alot. I had to rig up a way to reuse the filters for the Whisper 10i filter I have, because I was having to change it every 5-7 days. An external filter is definitely the way to go. Alot easier to maintain, and you can get MUCH better filtration that way.

[Athen]

as far as the false bottom goes yes it does allow for a place for your pumps and stuff but more of the point to it is it allows you to have a land/water setup with a water line in a more simplified and easier to keep clean way than like how i have mine part of the problem with the way i have my tank setup is that the substrate has a leeching effect with my water and turns the water dark brown/orange when i had first set it up it was rly rly bad but i redid my setup and put the sphangum moss in there so my water is only slightly discolored giving it a somewhat natural look. with the false bottom you can just have the whole section below the false bottom filled with river rock or gravel or sand and place your substrate just ontop of the false bottom allowing you to have the land water division but keeping the water clear and still allowing you to have the water table completely across your tank so that you can hide filter/pumps, aquarium heaters... and all of that stuff without them being seen and with enough innovation you could even put one of those foggers like what you have with in the false bottom and create a natural fog type source... hmmm that sounds like a good idea ill take a mental note of that.. lol. as far as having it hooked up to plumbing it isnt necessary or even needed but if you could find a way to do it, it couldnt hurt at all because if you use your water table in a manner that you take advantage of natural evaporation to water your plants in your vive the water level will naturally drop so you would have to refill it everyonce in a while with mine it averages out to once every couple weeks i have to drag the hose in the house and put some water in it so having it hooked up to plumbing would definately simplify this. that is the beauty of building and keeping living vivariums you are essentially recreating a small area of an ecosystem and you can get as in depth or as basic as you like and your imagination is the limit so long as its safe for the animals you are keeping. trial and error is the best method for all of this. take an idea set it up and give it a try if it doesnt work or you find a way to make it better... well lol.



i suppose i forgot to give the basica as to how a false bottom is designed how it is made is you take "egg crate" which is a plastic sheet that looks like a very coarse grid screen used for flourescent lighting just go to lowes or home depot and go to the lighting section and ask for the egg crate used in flourescent lights they should know exactly what you mean. after you get that you cut it out to your shape and place some screen over it and make sure you make some egg crate walls to go from the bottom of the tank to your surface around the false bottom and cover those with screen as well, make syupporting legs for your FB with PVC pipe cut to the length that you want your land area high then from there you essentially use your imagination



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oh and BTW here are the pics of my vive