44G Hex Tank: Build Log with Pics. - Page 13

Dragas · #**121** (**permalink**) 09-04-2008, 02:42 PM

Great Post ! Thanks for all the ideas. Looking forward to the completed pics, by the way , where are the completed pics ?

pilo0024 · #**122** (**permalink**) 09-04-2008, 05:54 PM

i just jumped on this post. i'm a new member and haven't been active really yet. hi to all and can't wait to see the finished tank waterdude

Waterkeeper · #**123** (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 11:31 AM

Well I finally have all my stuff together to plant this puppy. I should have some pics up by the end of the week. I can't get it done tonight because while i was at the home depot I picked up the stuff to build one of these and that is going to be the project for tonight....

YouTube - Potato Cannon

froggsong · #**124** (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 10:44 PM

Holy crap that looks like fun! ::runs to home depot for supplies::

Waterkeeper · #**125** (**permalink**) 09-10-2008, 06:44 PM

Careful with that cannon KIDS! mine worked pretty awsome. we wound up shooting it into the woods at night so i'm not sure how much distance we got.. but we got lots of noise! THOMP!! hehehe....

so I took a good look at the 10 gallon i have been neglecting to prune for so long and decided I'm going to stay away from that red krinkle plant I love the look of so much.. it's just too much work.

You can see the one root ball here for all of this...

I opened the lid and they all popped out like a can of snakes(remember those?)

OK so now for the reason we all showed up here today.. planting the tank...

once I got my nice layer of gravel down like so

laying out the sphagnum moss.. this stuff has to be moist or it gets messy so I layed it out across a cookie sheet and misted it with water and added more misted and added more and misted till I couldn't stand it any more. and started putting it down.

It is about 1/2" deep at the front and close to 4" at the back. I forgot to snap some pictures here in the middle.

next I pulled some of my plants from the 10 that I wanted and started placing them where I wanted.. just let them sit there untill your ready for your top soil.
I added the top soil on top, but I used the same method of getting it good and wet and applying it around the plants and building up around their stalks, trunks or whatever you want to call it.

I also bought this ground cover from HD called Auria, scotch moss or Sagina subulata. looks pretty good, i hope it makes it. They come potted for 6" planting depth which just won't work for me. so I just slid it out of the pot, cut the soil down to my height and plopped it in just like that.

I set the heater in with the filter pad in the back INSIDE the filter. filled it up with water, put back my centerpiece and VOILA! here you have it.

the side i will be enjoying it from the most

It will be a few weeks before I let Frogbert into his new home, i cleared out the other tank pretty good so he should be a little happier in there in the mean time.
The reason I am waiting is because, as we all who have built one of these things before knows, unforseen things happen. leaks, mold, parasites, stray electricity, unknown contaminations, etc etc.... The last thing I need is for my new (had I spent retail price) $885 creation killing the very creature I built it to protect.

There is still much to finish here. I have to complete the glass top and ventilation. I am manufacturing a lighting reflector as we speak and the full canopy should be under way in the near future. I have finally seen the fruits of my effort, and I feel mighty accomplished today kids.. mighty accomplished.

Fisherman 1991 · #**126** (**permalink**) 09-10-2008, 09:42 PM

Waterkeepr, that looks awesome! Can't wait to see it fill out and see the frog in his new home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by froggsong

Holy crap that looks like fun! ::runs to home depot for supplies::

hehehe, they are.

fisherman

froggsong · #**127** (**permalink**) 09-10-2008, 10:45 PM

Awwwwww, I was hoping for more plants... :

outs:: Oh well, I still love it (You've seen my heavily over-planted tanks, right? lmao). I feel like it is a child I have watched grow up at this point, lol...

Frogbert's gonna looooooooove it... ::big goofy grin::

Waterkeeper · #**128** (**permalink**) 09-10-2008, 11:42 PM

There will be more plants once i find a nice brom or 2 and something I can mount to the bare wall on the right side.
all I have left over from the other tank is a few more tiny palms which will get pretty big and I already have 3 in here, 1 more white sandy which I also have 3 of in here already and a ton of the red krinkle which I am just not going to mess with anymore. I't spretty but it's too much work and the roots are too small to bind..
I would like to find something that doesn't need the root burried, and will hang from that branch on the left side of the tank. I have a nice hole I could stick it in.... any ideas let me know.

froggsong · #**129** (**permalink**) 09-11-2008, 10:42 AM

My little palms never really got much bigger than they were when I bought them... lets say 4 years ago? I'm pretty surprised about it though, since they have some that are about 4 feet tall at home depot and it is the same plant. Maybe it's because I always keep them pretty close to other plants (or planted in a bunch). I was thinking some broms would look really nice on the back wall too. I know you are looking for smaller plants, but my fave for frogs is dieffenbachia, it is sturdy enough to hold a large frog on a leaf (it will hold up my golden with no problem), and the roots are big enough to be bound. It is also very easy to prune and very tolerant of it. It does get really bushy though, because it makes so many babies. I just put most of it under water in my newt tank. Pothos is also really sturdy, and only needs the main root system to be buried, but the rest of it will attach to the BG, or branches, or whatever (you might even be able to get the main root system to grow in the BG, I haven't tried it, I know it WILL grow without being in dirt, I have several pieces growing underwater in my frog tank, and one in the newt tank). My mom had two of them growing around the top of the wall in the kitchen for years. I'm not as good with plants as I am with other things... I just tend to use lots of what has worked for me in the past. My frogs like the dracaena that is in their tank, and it has a very shallow root system, but they can get really big...

Waterkeeper · #**130** (**permalink**) 09-12-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

it is sturdy enough to hold a large frog on a leaf

I don't know exactly how he does it, but my RETF has been seen on more than 1 occasion hanging from a leaf of the palm. actually that is how I got him out of the tank when I tore out all those plants. he was dangling with a palm leaf. i just plucked off the leaf and put him in a bucket with the leaf still under him. pretty sure I didn't even wake him up.
my palms have grown pretty well. You see the one toward the back of this tank. it was in my 10 gal and it's pretty much twice the height of the tank it was in.