Substrate and lighting

[knowleski]

I am in the process of making my 55 gallon fish tank into a White's Tree Frog Vivarium and I have a couple questions. First is about lighting. The girl at the pet store who is supposed to be an expert on frogs told me to buy the Zoo Med Mini Combo Deep Dome Lamp Fixture for my lighting and that one should be plenty. For the lights in the domes, she gave me a 75W infrared heat lamp and a 75W basking spot lamp. I keep turning them on to see how much light is given off and it does not seem like enough. Plus, I'm planning on trying to use the lights to keep the temp up in the vivarium. Is this really adequate lighting for the frogs and all the plants that I am putting in my 55 gallon tank (it's the standard rectangular 55 gallon fish tank)?

My next question is about substrate...and this one should be shorter! I used two bags of Zoo Med Hydroballs, then a screen, and then two bricks of tropical soil. I feel like the soil is too shallow to plant my plants in. How deep should I have my substrate?

Thanks for any info you can send my way!

[beckdg]

incandescents will do nothing for your plants.
i find buying "heat" bulbs from a pet store to be a huge waste of money. buy your bulbs at walmart or the dollar store and when they blow out... who cares.
for your plants you'll really appreciate the ge 6500k daylight cfl bulbs from walmart.
i am a huge advocate for dimmers/controllers for temp control... that way you don't have to play the guessing game... set it up... monitor for a week or two... and double check it when seasons change or temps in the room change for whatever reason.
i am also a huge advocate for under tank heating. heat rises... and it's a lot easier to supplement temps at the higher regions if the temp is steady at the bottom. also good to have a dimmer here for control.
you want ~2-3" of soil in the bottom. not too much to take up all your vertical space, but just enough for good root growth.

check out the stickies on this site. in the terra-general section and the off-topic sections i have a couple threads that might really help you out. one is the "good places to buy" thread and the other is my "favorite links... how it's done thread".

there is also some good info on dumpys on this site... use the search function to the best of your ability. if you need anything cleared up after that feel free to ask.

[Bcs TX]

I would take back the heat lamp for basking. Frogs do not bask.
I thought this link would be helpful.
White's Tree Frog Care Sheet | White's Tree Frogs
For more care info go to Live Your Adventure
-Beth

[FwoGiZ]

frog expert in a petshop, make me laugh
frog dont need lights at all... plants do
6500k will be just perfect like beck said
you shud never buy any supplies in petshops... i just bought a HUGE bag of hydroball in some hydroponic stores and im pretty sure i paid 1/5 of the price you paid quantity wise
beck has a nice sticky on where you should buy your supplies, take a look at it
whites are very tough treefrogs, they require lower humidity than most frogs, and avg temps
you really want to put all your efforts on giving them spots to hide, that will withstand their heavy fat bodies, a lot of BIG branches (1inch diameter) strong plants, etc
depending on what your gonna plant, coco fiber might not be nutrient enough for most plants
i personally use 90% epiphite plants in my viv, and i know a lot of froggers dont even use substrat at all for that same reason..! most plants will do very well without substrat as long as they re kept in high humidity