My setup

anotherred · #1 (**permalink**) 07-08-2008, 11:03 PM

Ok, new here so HI. The wife decided she wanted some frogs. Did lots of reading and decided on Firebelly toads. We had an extra 20gal H sitting around so what better to do with it than start yet another hobby. Got fish, and plants in the house, so put them together (not literary) with a few "frogs" and here we begin. I hope this will be enough room for a pair, but would like to get 4 in there but not sure if that will be enough room. The bottom will be water for the fish and obviously top for the frogs. Planning a few small bromelades like, Neo. wee willy, and Neo. ampullacea. Some hendrea helix vine and not sure what else yet. In the second pic you can almost make out the small waterfall. I will keep the water a little lower than the "land" so the frogs (toads) won't drown. Planning on a few pieces of driftwood so they can get out of the water. I still have to trim the caulk on the glass around the "land" and finished the coco tonight. Any suggestions on how else to set it up? (Be nice here).

Green Ghost · #2 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 04:10 PM

I like the setup so far. I have a similar type in a 55g.

I'm assuming that the egg crate that is paralell and hanging above the floor of the tank will be your land area?

Will you be covering the land area with GS allso?

froggsong · #3 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 06:23 PM

Wow, GMTA! lol... That is almsot IDENTICAL to what I am cooking up for my newt. I currently have a very basic, very tall FB in her ten gallon, but I want to redo it to make it nicer and hopefully coax her onto the land a bit more often. A couple of plants will be good too. That was exactly how I was planning to do the FB and the opening to the water area though, it's uncanny. I looked at this post and it was like you picked that right out of my brain. It looks great! Can't wait for more pics to see if you are reading my mind entirely, lol.

I've been told Pothos will grow completely submerged (I just put some in th water in my mixed tank to see), and a little of it would look great in the water area there, you could even have some of it climbing out of the water and rooting into the background, I have seen pothos rooted into kitchen walls (My mom decided to add a living border to the kitchen, it was quite lovely. When we took it down too paint the kitchen one year, there were four vines, over 20 feet long), so I doubt it will have any trouble with the GS. My FBT seems to like to hang out in the pothos that I have in the water area. I have a hunch that dieffenbachia may grow completely submerged also, but that probably gets too big for what you have, and I haven't experimented with that one yet. Some duck weed would look fantastic in the top of the water...

If you want to, you could make some underwater cave type places, or at least an arch or something that fish can swim under (and a FBT could rest on in the water, they aren't very strong swimmers, so be careful with that much water) out of GS. Yes it's foam, and it WILL float, but not if it is attached to the bottom of the tank. You'd have to make small layers though, in order to build an arch or cave.

I'm sure I have more ideas, but I am very sleepy all of a sudden, and I think I;ll have a nap.

Good luck, and remember, MORE PICS! lol... Also, did you have any difficulties constructing the FB without legs? If so, could you post? Like I said, this is exactly what I want for my newt. Have a great day!

anotherred · #4 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 08:07 PM

On the left side the egg crate is real secure with the 3 points of attachment, front, side, and back. The littler one on the right has some wiggle if you try. Not bad though. The little one is also slightly tilted up on the "pond" side. Error on my side as it moved as the GS was drying. Not too much, but enough to annoy me. I'll have more pictures as it progresses.

smaug · #5 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 09:12 PM

Thats cool looking so far,it gives me ideas for our fbt.Show us pics when its done as well please

anotherred · #6 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 03:29 PM

I trimmed back some a the caulk last night and tested the water feature. Today I cut landscape fabric and added my coco bedding. That was a pain. I ended up making a templet out of thin cardboard so I could cut the fabric to the right size and shape. I plan on planting the plants in the coco bedding. For drainage I have the eggcrate underneath (barely touching the water on the left side). See any problems with that? I thew in a spider clipping and a small fern I found outside (after washing it throughly). Probably will remove them when I start adding nicer plants. Almost forgot, I mounted the water pump in a small plastic container, caulked and added pebble to it so it blends in real nice. I plan on using filter media in it as a way of semi filtering the water. Heres some pics and again any other suggestions? More to come!

Sorry for the bad lighting.

The side toward the front of the tank

The outlet & cord

And the bottom. The filter media will fill in any available space.

Green Ghost · #7 (**permalink**) 07-11-2008, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anotherred

...I cut landscape fabric and added my coco bedding. That was a pain. I ended up making a templet out of thin cardboard so I could cut the fabric to the right size and shape.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anotherred

...I plan on planting the plants in the coco bedding. For drainage I have the eggcrate underneath (barely touching the water on the left side). See any problems with that?

I did mine a little differently in that I cut the eggcrate out to the shape I wanted (general triangle shape) and then I took some (nylon ?) netting and covered the eggcrate with it. I sewed it to the eggcrate. Whatever the material is actually made of it's not adversely affected by water. Then I siliconed the eggcrate into the corners. I put 4 corners in but the two at the front corners are much higher than the two at the back corners. The back corners resemble yours in that they are just above the water level.

I've been experimenting with this tank for almost a year now. The biggest problem is the wicking up of water. I tried covering the eggcrate and fabric with a thick layer of moss but it seems like it's too wet all the time and the moss slowly turns to green mush. I tried several kinds of moss from local to some I took back with me from Japan. Some lasted longer than others but nothing I was really satisfied with.

To make a long story short I put a layer of small LECA balls over the nylon and then covered the LECA with sawdust. I used sawdust because I found that moss grows really well on it. (not just any old sawdust) I sprayed the sawdust to thoroughly soak it. Then I covered it with a thick sheet of live moss. It still only grows if the air has proper circulation. (PC fan and adapter on a timer) If the moss gets too soggy it dies.

I planted lots of different varieties of plants. The roots push through the nylon and spread out into the water. (spider plants work) So the plants help with filtering the water.

I didn't use the eco-earth because it makes the water a tea color. There's about 6" of water so quite enough to keep fish if I want to.

How much LECA and sawdust to put on there and how I kept the eggcrate corners supported with all that weight on it is another story....

anotherred · #8 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 12:15 AM

Defiantly some interesting/ helpful info there. I know what you mean by the eco-earth turning the water brown. Spilled some in while adding too the "land". I wonder how much the toads will carry into the water? So far the eco-earth doesn't seem to be wicking the water up. That was a concern of making the substrate too soggy.
Kinda quiet here. No other opinions/ suggestions?? GOOD & BAD? I really jumped into this with both feet. Seems to be coming a long good, but I want to make sure I have a happy home for our frogs (toads).

Green Ghost · #9 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 12:50 PM

About the water turning dark/brownish; the eco-earth (don't remember the exact name) darkened the water. I also had the same happen with some pieces af driftwood I put in there. These were store bought and properly cured. Nothing harmful, just darkened the water a little but I didn't like that because it doesn't look too clean. I had to keep making weekly partial water changes and eventually it stopped.

If you don't have any problem with the water wicking up then more power to you!

Keep us posted on how it's going.

anotherred · #10 (**permalink**) 10-14-2008, 11:46 PM

The toads are happy in the tank. I haven't done too much with plants, and the ones I did died, except the spider plant on land and some java fern in the water. The water did wick on the left side around the stream. Mostly because the toads love sitting in the stream and causing it to over flow.