29 gallon journal

[Landon]

here are a few pics of the coated background.

i did a section with a small amount of silicone and the dust from the peat.


and i did most of the rest with a lot of silicone and a lot of peat.


i like the over all look of the sections with more coverage.

but im debating on leaving the less attractive area like it is just for variation.

heres the detail work around a couple of planters and the cork tree. i have a little patching i could do, but i think im going to stuff some sphagnum moss into the areas where i missed. this should add even more variation of the back ground, and add some lighter spots.




and heres a poor full tank shot. the peat dust was still on the front glass, so its just for a generalization of color.


i also did quite a bit of work to the river and water fall over the weekend i will be uploading pics to the CPU over the next hour and will have them posted shortly (pending no interuptions at work )

[Landon]

i used black smooth river stones from Home Depot for my river and waterfall. i boiled them to get any oils off, and i highly reccomend this to any one using these decorative stones. there was a ton of oil that came off of them. i would fill the pot, boil it down then drain the water out. this is when i saw the oil pouring out. it would take about 5-7 times for each bag of rocks before i couldnt see any more oil. i would boil then twice more after not seeing the oil. it took only an hour or so to boil each batch, which isnt too bad considering i was accomplishing other tasks while they were boiling.

here is my river!

dont pay attention to hte brown silicone on the front galss


and here is the waterfall.


im really happy with the way the river came out. i think it will look really natural once i place the soil and moss in. i plan to have the moss growing right up to the water barrier and will place a few loose stones around the viv.

the water fall, im not as proud of. i think it looks good, but not exactly what i wanted. after looking at the black silicone for a few weeks it kind of grew on me. i thought going into the construction of the waterfall, that i would leave it mostly silicone and add a few pieces of the black stone to accent. the silicone is much more glossy than the stone, so it stands out more than the stone (and more than i thought it would). i saw this about half way through so i added more stone. i cant fill in all the gaps because of poor planning (or switching the plan :roll: ) and not leaving enough space between every stone. i kind of think it looks good with the large gaps, and i hope once the waterfall is running it will give the stones a more glossy appearance, and blend them together better. i still need to add a few more stones though, and i may try and fill in as much as possible when i do this.

any thoughts?

here is the over all look without my barrier (for closing off the false bottom), and without the piece of wood in the water section.


from the top



personally, i think its going to look great after its done, and i think its about the best thing ive ever constructed (ill see if i still agree with this once the waterfall is complete ).

[Landon]

i finished the background, finished the water fall and river. well i finished everyhting but the planting

i stole some broms from my 110, and broke a few out of storage (10 gallon grow out). i still plan on replaceing a few of them with nicer ones though (thats why they were in storage they arent my favorites). none the less its kind of planted.

it turned out great, IMO. i feel really good about it because my wife even let me put it in our foyer. most of my tanks have to be kept in my home office.

well here we go with the pics!

the river



up left


up center


full on!

[Landon]

looking back, i noticed something pretty cool. check out this comparison.

my original sketch (posted on first page)


and what ive achieved so far



with the exception of talking myself out of artillery fern and creeping fig, i think i did pretty well at creating the original vision.

[Landon]

here is what the soil looks like.


i mixed it in a big bucket. i used 2 quarts of fine ground sphagnum peat, 1 quart of regular milled sphagnum peat, 2 quarts of organic top soil, and about 5 cups of black onyx sand, with a little bit of (smallest particles) flourite planting mix.

it looks a lot better than the sphagnum. heres a full shot after the dust settled from the top of the water surface. i also moved the rivers edge a little bit to the left, built the edge of the river all the way to the glass, and resloped the bottom of the water feature. I CANT WAIT TO GET PLANTS!!! :!:




i have a few more things to do to get this viv ready for frogs.

i ordered a few pieces of glass for the lid today. ive allready constructed a screen section for the front, but cracked my glass lid. im replacing it with two pieces cut to the exact size, so i dont have to use the plastic hinge. if i have to use a piece of packaging tape or something to FF proof it, it shouldnt be as bad as the dark colored hinge. i went ahead and got the back section of the lid drilled for misting nozzles. i dont know if ill ever hook an automated mister up, but ill have the option if i decide to.

i need to find out where i can get wax paper. i want to attach a bit to the top piece of glass, then silicone a thick layer between the top of the tree (cork tube at right of viv) and the glass. this way i will have a nice seal, but the glass wont be attached to the viv.

i cant think of anything else i need to do besides seed with springtails. now that i know i like the soil mixture i will prolly do that tonight or tommorrow, if my cuture is ready to be split.

[Landon]

well im impatient and it cost me :lol:

i got a little impatient waiting for Deven's quote, so i went to the local tropicals shop last wednesday. i picked up a small plant or two. the guy there told me that Lowe's had just recieved a nice shipment of tropicals that morning. so, i went by lowe's and got a few more low and behold, while i was plant shopping Deven sent me the quote :roll: i really like the list that Deven sent and i think the tank will look a lot nicer with his selection than mine. i just moved a day gecko from a 10 vert (desperatly needs a make over) so i have a 37 that needs plants. once i get Deven's plants, ill move these over to the 37 tall for the gecko.

meanwhile im having a blast looking at all the hiding spots in this tank trying to figure out where froggies would hide

to get an idea of the plants i got and to see what it looks like planted (i know some people {myself included} have been anxious) i took a few shots of it as is.

now i can look at these photos and of the photos wth Devens plants (soon to come *crosses fingers*) and see if i made the right choice by going with his plants.

the list he sent me was very diverse with peperomias (multiple species) polypodiums, creepig begonias, alcosia, and a few terrestials that i am not familiar with. i really cant wait to see what i get. tonight i am to contact Deven by phone so we can finalize the order and get it in the mail!!

any way here are a couple of the shots with the tank like it sits.
looking from the top at an angle:
left


middle


right



and a full shot


crticise please

[Landon]

well, im not sure if any one is interested, but i hear the question of fogging all the time.

to combat this, i built the smallest screen i could. i used the screen window replacement parts from HD. my screen section is about a 1/2 inch. the total insert is about 2". i measured out after getting it in place to see how much space was left. i got two pieces of glass cut to fit the remainder of the space. the front one is 5.5" making it easy to place a FF culture in without taking the screen out. i think the back section ended up being 4.5".

here is what the lid ended up looking like



i got another lid for my 37 at the same time, and the four pieces of glass were under $40. i could have got (2) 1/2" holes drilled in each for an extra $20. i can still take them back and get it done for $5 each. i dont know if ill ever hook up a misting system to either of the tanks, so i elected not to get any drilled. i would rather get another piece made (or drill these later) as opposed to having to cover the holes with tape.


plant update
i talked with Deven last night. the finalized quote was here for me at work today, and im paypaling him some $$ as soon as i find out his paypal addy. I SHOULD HAVE MY PLANTS BY THE END OF THE WEEK!!!! :!: :!: sorry for yelling can you tell im excited?

[Landon]

the completed viv

left side


right side


zoomed left


zoomed center


zoomed right


and a total shot

[Landon]

this is after the plants and all got established and i added my vents out of QT.




as we can see some of the plants have faired better than others. i lost a few of the creeping begonias and the polypodium isnt doing too hot. on the other hand the peperomis have needed to be prunned and trained extensively, and i had to take the calathea out because it was getting too big.

my frogs are real comfortable and have let me get a few decent pics. id like to share a few here.

[Landon]

the tank has progressed a lot since i posted this journal and ill try and get some more up to date shots of it. it has grown in and been trimmed all the way back to clippings twice now (once just a few weeks ago), so its tranformed itself a few times over. ill try and keep this thread updated with new pics as the tank progresses more.

thanks again for looking and sorry if there is anything that is really out of context and makes it hard to follow. remember i did this over a year and a half ago and it was over the course of a few months.....