New Build log

CLennerton · #1 01-13-2011, 12:25 PM

So I finally got a tank, after finding this great deal on kijiji. I got a tank 24"w X 12" d, 18" h. I am going to be getting a dumpy tree frog once I am done this build. With the tank I got some climbing vines, heating rock, water dish, some reptile vitamins, and what looks like, a reptile hammock.

I got a sheet of egg crate from Home Depot and a couple cans of GS. I am going to be making plans today on how exactly it will look. I plan on using the egg crate for the background and use either the titebond method or the clay method that I saw in Grim's build using kitty litter, (have not decided which one I will go with).

For the substrate I am planning on using a mix I saw on the forum that is a mix of coco fiber and moss. I will be using a mix of live plants and fake plants. I am going to have a look around the area here for a good piece of drift wood for the frog to climb around on. I will be having a small area that will be a pond so the frog can have an area to bathe and cool down.

I am planning on getting a fogger and a mister eventually to help out with the humidity. This will be a long build only because of time/money to build. I will post pics up as I go.

Feel free to comment, make suggestions, or correct me if I am doing something wrong. I am a newbie when it comes to this, however I have been reading a lot of these forums in the past while researching.

CLennerton · #2 01-16-2011, 02:22 PM

So I am come up with the final plans on how it will look, after getting some more stuff for the tank. I got a fogger, some nice stacking rocks, and a waterfall from a guy on kijiji (awesome price). What I have decided to do is put the waterfall in the back right corner of the tank (where the pond area will be), and using egg crate make a FB and using eggcrate/GS/titebond method to create the background. The fogger will be sitting behind the waterfall and blocked off so that the frog will not come into contact with it as I heard it can give the guys quite a shock if they touch it. I will post pics once I start construction

CLennerton · #3 01-16-2011, 07:25 PM

SO I got a little bit done tonight....I got the layout of the land side and the water side. This week I will start putting GS on the background this week. I am going to pick up some silicone and some PVC tubes so I can have the land side secure and the bg secured.

Can someone help me with the proper way to do the tite bond method for the bg. I have looked and no one has said the exact way to make it. How much coco fiber should there be mixed in, or how much peat moss to put in, and how much of the tite bond to put in.

xashc200 · #4 01-18-2011, 05:39 PM

looks like it will be a fun build..
i see you decided to remove the winnie the pooh sticker.. :-)

perhaps you cud do the silicone method instead of titebond? i guess it is probably messier to work with, but i think that you can't go wrong with it (no mixing ratios to worry about, just slap your chosen substrate ontop of the silicone). i have never tried the titebond method so i can't say which is best, only that the silicone method was very easy and worked well for me.

CLennerton · #5 01-18-2011, 06:07 PM

actually I tried to remove the sticker, but it must be like super glued on there lol....I just turned the tank around so it will be hidden by the background. I am using the titebond method because it looks the best for what I am trying to do, atleast from what I have seen on other builds.

I am getting a 90g tank eventually, and I may try the silicone method then, but we will see how this turns out.

They are not in these pics, but I have stacking rocks that I am using for in the pond to help the frog get in and out of the water without issues, and to also block the opening of the waterfall (that's where the pump and fogger are going to be).

beckdg · #6 01-19-2011, 10:47 AM

ditch the heat rock... they're dangerous... unless you're talking actual rocks that will have a heat source over them.

ditch the silver eggcrate and get black or white. afaik... nobody makes a silver that's not just painted. that leads to flakes and the paint itself is slightly toxic and not meant for consumption. frogs/amphibs will be consuming any water and it's contents when they're sitting in it. bottom line... that silver will flake off and when it does it is a threat.

for a dumpy, i might be inclined to do the tightbond as opposed to the clay. seems they're little fatties to me and they might indent the clay possibly breaking it off. grimm should have a better idea whether it would hold up or not.

tightbond should last almost indefinitely. tough stuff, like epoxy paint...

foggers can be diy'd to save money and have a more resilient end product. i would suggest doing it that way and planning for it in your building stages if you're going to.

misters... i love my mistking. i have a somewhat noisy house and it's in my bedroom where i never hear it (it doesn't go off at night while i sleep), so the med. pump is silent as far as i'm concerned. if your situation is different and you can't stand faint noises, you might want the econo-system. it's more than you seem to need atm, anyway. love my zip-drip, but can't say it's a necessity for everyone. i wouldn't go without it now that i have one, though. premium, drip-less nozzles... are great... and about as fully adjustable as you'd want them to be practical. cutting tool... makes working with the tubing and connectors literally a snap. greatest little tool i have, almost. using it it almost seems useless, but let me tell you... i installed an r/o unit under a very tight cabinet for my parents this past week and boy do i wish i had it with me!

THE TIMER... OH, THE TIMER... this is the single most important thing in the whole system IMHO. this timer is great. i got 2 and one has issues, but Marty is a great guy and surely will handle any issues you may or may not have.

alternatively, there are other ways to make misting/rain/whatever... but at this point i see no reason to hassle with it. especially once you consider the alternatives, time, money... the whole shebang. one way to diy is to use a windshield wiper pump... not bad, but then you have to source all the other parts and diy the whole job yourself anyway. not much savings once you consider the time and where you'll source all your parts (gas, shipping prices, etc.). another way is to plumb in a garden sprayer and put a solenoid valve on a timer and keep the sprayer pumped up all the time. the problem with this is filling the reservoir more often, seals blowing from constant pressure, overfilling, etc.. it will still cost more in the longrun, imo. other ways are to use aquarium/hydroponic water pumps and different fittings. there's cheap, easy to install irrigation heads available at most hydro shops (online or local). there's hose style fittings that can be utilized with an inverted sprinkler in larger (really big, unless you have a drain line plumbed from your viv to your main drain set at your water level) setup with semi-large pumps. so-on and so-forth... but then you're paying for a large pump, maintaining it and still have to do all the work, locate all the parts, and design your system to fit your needs.... and none of the above options basically come with their own handy dandy manual/e-manual.

as for a recipe for tightbond... grimm did it... and in his thread (which i believe is sticky) recipes were discussed. just keep in mind it is a glue. take the amount of material you think you need, add 20%-40%, grind or tear it up, mix it with glue and water until you get a slurry you think will stick and form well for your purposes... unless you just want a recipe to make things easier.

i think you have a great start. unfortunately there are a couple things you did not know. that's o.k., though... we'll work through it.

take it easy
beck

CLennerton · #7 01-19-2011, 11:19 AM

thats for the info beck. I am not going to be using the heat rock, I know that it's bad for these guys...that's just what came with the tank when I purchased it. I am going to be using the titebond method because it seems pretty easy/straight forward to do, and the fact that it lasts forever is better, that just means less fixing/touching up. With the fogger, again I purchased that from a guy who was selling the waterfall, so that is something I already have, and it will be hidden.

I also got really nice rocks that I will be using in the pond area to help the dumpy get in and out of the water. I know they are not the greatest swimmers, so the pond area will not be too deep for him.

I will eventually get a timer, but for right now the timer will just be me. I will be keeping ontop of it when it comes to lightning and misting. I am just going to get a spray bottle and mist it myself. Eventually I will be looking into getting a misting system like the mist king, but I may wait till I get my bigger, 90g tank, before I get something like that.

The mix for the titebond I am going to be using is the one that I saw on Ozymandias build. Which is just 2-4 parts substrate to 1 part titebond and add the water in.
40 br (titebond method)

I am going to start doing the background today and putting on the gs, so I will be taking some pics of that once I get started.

thanks again for the info beck...I am looking really forward to the completion of this and getting my frog, hopefully there will be little to no snags on the way

Grimm · #8 01-19-2011, 11:40 AM

Hi Beck! Its been a while :P

And yup, becks pretty much got you covered.

Silicone/coco falls apart quick. You will no doubt have bald spots with a dumpy climbing around on it within a year. If you do the titebond method, try and watch my vids and read a few of my threads. There arent too many people that have done it other then myself. Once dried it will be hard, and may have some sharp points. Just take some sand paper and try and smooth things out. It also helps to run a spoon over the mixture while it is still wet to smooth it out beforehand.

Once you actually make the titebond mixture it wont take you long to figure out if you need more water, glue or peat. A very thin milky film on the top will signify you have enough glue. And a dry mixture that cant be painted needs more water. Once applied to the background, if water starts to run out of the mixture, use less water next time. Its not science, more like a sloppy mess of an experiment.

Clay is not the best option for a dumpy. The clay will form a biofilm after the first month or so to keep it protected, but a dumpy is fat and will most likely end up tracking clay residue all over the tank. Darts are small, so they can walk over the biofilm without picking up any of the clay below it. (biofilm is just a thin layer of bio matter that helps protect the clay. Microbials, algea, and moss make up this layer)

beckdg · #9 01-19-2011, 11:48 AM

don't forget... you'll be kicking yourself later if you use silver eggcrate.

i used a 1 quart garden sprayer i got for $7 for the longest time. nothing wrong with that. work with what you got. there are ideas, advice and help here when you need it... that you'll appreciate in the longrun, i think. for one viv, honestly... for most folks... water features are usually more trouble and investment than they're worth anyway.

how's it going, grimm?

take it easy
beck

CLennerton · #10 01-20-2011, 04:24 PM

so I started the background yesterday, it's in my garage right now curing. I used one can of gs to do the background, and I have a second can that I am going to use to make ledges for the dumpy to climb up on. I will be using a regular serrated knife to trim the foam to look how I want it. I will be starting that on Sat morning before work. For the background how much titebond would I need for this? I don't want to start and end up not having enough to do the background, I also don't want to over buy if I don't need that much.

I will also be getting silicone so that I can get the pvc tubes in place to hold up the fb, and the waterfall feature in place as well as other things once I start adding them, what's the best silicone for something like this? Is there a dark or black silicone that is safe that I could use?