55 Corner tank : first questions

creatureman · #1 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 11:54 AM

Hello to all from Victoria, BC, Canada!

I have been enjoying this forum for a couple of weeks now and researching all I can. I am most appreciative for the wisdom and kindness shared. I belong to several forums of other topics and this one is an excellent example of how a community forums should be. That said - on to my questions, so I may build!

The tank was a cichlid tank for many years and is being converted to a frog viv now. It will be a fb type with water features (very much in the style of Waterkeepers current build - same tank only 10 gal larger).

Question 1) Can I rescue the wood (various types) which was in the fish tank and reuse it. It was outdoors (dry) for a while and I have since boiled and baked. I am worried it may be prone to moulds or such?

Q2) I would like to use an ultrasonic fogger in this application and am concerned about if the frogs are able to get to it will they be harmed?

Is it better to put it higher in the tank or lower? I was thinking that if I put it in a small pool in the water stream I could control the water level constantly...

Thank you in advance for your support. Many more questions and pictures as we go to come.

Dave

lowcountryfire · #2 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 05:52 PM

Welcome!

Ok, first off, just make sure you boil/bake the wood first, and you should be OK.

As for the fogger, I would suggest putting it pretty high in the viv. It will be able to spray the water over a larger area, and also keep the frogs from messing with it too much.

heartagramtc · #3 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 07:54 PM

For the wood, there are types that will mold but usually it goes away. there are also certain types of wood that do very well in humid environments. but like Lowcountryfire said, its best that you boil/bake it first.

I have never had a problem with my fogger, I've used them in two tanks both with frogs. and i placed them right in the center of the water feature. i will warn you though that my fogger "spits" water up, so if i don't place it right it will just drain the water feature. I'm not sure if yours is like this as well.

creatureman · #4 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 07:55 PM

Thanks,

So what exactly is messing with it too much? Should I put a cage around it?

For the GE Silicon II - has anyone used the brown before? I am feeling my background with be a mix of moss and coco - brown just seems to make sense?

creatureman · #5 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 07:58 PM

As for the fogger, I intend to put it into a 'pool' in between 'waterfalls', so it should be constantly 'full'. (wow - way too many 'quotes' )

heartagramtc · #6 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 07:59 PM

ive never used the brown, ive just used the black. that is a pretty good idea though. i wish i thought of it. lol.

also your frogs shouldnt mess with the fogger too much. mine was usually asleep when it was going off.

lowcountryfire · #7 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 08:00 PM

I have never used GE II silicone at all.... Brown shouldn't hurt anything, but I see black used most often... By mess with it, I mean be on top of it when it starts to mist... My buddy had a Dart that loved to sit ontop of his mister, when it turned on, the Dart did just that, DART! lol

heartagramtc · #8 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 08:03 PM

well i guess the main question should be what type of frog? PDF, RETF, FBT, WTF, GTF. i had mine in my RETF enclosure, and he just slept all day and thats when i had my fogger go off, only a few times did i see him sleeping in the container i had my fogger in. lol

froggsong · #9 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 09:08 PM

lowcountry, an ultrasonic fogger is not the same as a mister. There are types that you can just pipe the fog in with tubing, and there are types that are meant to sit directly in the water. Creatureman, I am assuming yours is the latter. You need to put it into a cage of some sort so that the frog cannot come in contact with it. They work by using an electric current to instantly vaporize the water. If the frog were to touch the place where the fogger vaporizes the water, he would probably be electrocuted. Putting it in a pond between waterfalls so that it stays full is a really good idea. You could try covering the top of the pool with a piece of eggcrate, covering the eggcrate with river stones, and letting the fog well up from between the rocks. I think it would look cool to have a place where the stream "dissapears" and fog rises out of the rocks. In fact, I think it would be so cool that I think I'll do it myself, lol...

Brown GE II is just as safe as the black (however safe that may be, lol). It should blend in a little better than black if parts of the covering fall of the BG, although black blends fairly well itself.

The wood should be fine, if it has held up under water for so long, being wet from fog or misting shouldn't be to much of a problem for it. It will likely mold to begin with, but that's normal. It will go away after a while. Boiling and baking will of course help keep the mold down. I have a piece of grape wood that gets saturated a couple of times a day (for the past...4 years?) and since I baked it, it has never gotten moldy again.

creatureman · #10 (**permalink**) 01-21-2009, 09:35 PM

Froggsong

You hit my concerns right on the head (not that I didn't like your effort LCF!) I really like the look of the foggers and with 3 waterfalls I should be able to keep the humidity up. If not, I can manually mist until I add a mister. I am glad you like my pool idea. I like how you took it one step further with the egg crate and rocks and will definitely try a variation on that theme.

As far as type of frog goes - I would say we are leaning towards Dart frogs as they seem to be more daytime active.

I will get to work now and hopefully have some pics up in the next day or two.

Thx, Dave