Vivarium Setup

[Snow1411]

Hi all,
I'm new here and I'm looking to start a vivarium. I originally was just going to go with a straight planted aquarium but I decided maybe I would try something more unique. I bought a 29 gallon tank and a power filter for the aquarium already. I plan to use the filter still and to filter the water. I am wondering if this is a viable option, seeing as how it was made to be used specifically for aquariums. I was planning on having the filter set up so that the waterfall that falls out of it lands on a small raised portion of land and trickles down into the water area. I feel like this should work as long as the bottom of the intake tube for the filter is submerged underwater. I don't want to have some massive land area, I was thinking just a small false rock area jutting out of the side of the tank right at the surface of the water, tanking up slightly less than 1/4 of the tank. As far as animals go, I was planning on housing fire bellied toads and fire bellied newts, as well as a variety of compatible fish. If anyone has any experience/ideas on this let me know.


Thanks.

[hovey]

The only problem is that both the FB toads and FB newts will eat fish. But other that, no really problem. Depending on you filter and the depth of the water you want, it may be easy or not. You can add tubing to your intake to make sure it is deep enough. Once I used a small whisper filter, added to the intake so that the tube was on the bottom of the tank. (L shape), filled the tank 3/4 full to start the filter then lowered the water to about 3". I had to "prime" the pump everytime I cleaned the tank. But it worked.

[Red Eye]

I tried this years ago and it was a pain in the butt. Getting the power filter to pull the water up high was hard. Once I got it a few days would pass and it was empty... You should get a little water pump for this job. I acually drilled a hole in mine and built a sump filter, I have the power filters cleaning the water under my tank.