Poison Dart Frog "Lazy River Tank" DIY Journal (DUW)

[Gerryg]

Hi,

this is my first post here...


Lazy River Tank DIY Journal:

This is a Poison Dart Frog tank that I have been designing in my mind for some time now. When I got it to the point where I was ready to build. I went to a custom glass builder Mark, at AquaTech and had him take the basic idea and make it real for me. The result is this prototype which I call my “Lazy River Tank”.

I wanted a tank with a small waterfall, a river and a pond which is pretty straightforward. I decided not go the eggcrate false bottom, or to try the greatstuff, brown silicone and coco fibre background route.

I’m fish guy who picked up reptiles recently and have a certain comfort level with aquarium equipment so decided to use a small aquarium canister filter to move the water. The water comes in the tank at the top right into a trickle waterfall, into a winding “lazy” river like the waterparks, and ends in a small pond. The pond has an outlet drilled out the back of the tank that feeds the canister.

Some Stats:
• 48” Long x 22” deep x 24” High
• 109 us gal
• Pond: 3 gal
• Filter: Ehiem 2213 (165gph)
• 4 Dendrobates tinctorius Suriname Cobalt"

Empty tank with the water feature glassed in



Starting to lay stone into the waterfall channel.



Ehiem 2213 filter



Gravel drainage layer laid in



Covering over water feature to prevent dirt from getting in



First round of plants



Plants finished: broms, palms, spider, pothos and pitcher and fake driftwood



I call this corner Phase 4



Water feature cleaned out and ready to fill



Moss over, coco fibre, over soil



Glass “coffee table” to keep 3 gal pond shallow for frogs



Polished stones placed in Lazy River and long winding road laid between the two coco huts



If look closely you see waterfall in background



Another view



The kids love their new digs



“Man this river sure is lazy...”



“I can see my house from here”



They really seem to like their new neighbourhood



The final touch will be the background. I am a painter so I like to paint my backgrounds on canvas for my aquariums and attach to the back of the tank. This will be my first rain forest vivarium painted background. I will update with a pic once its done.

Thanks for looking, gerry

[Austin]

Amazing! Absolutely amazing! =).

Did you make that glass stream yourself?

[oceansh]

Beautiful!
Did you make that stream? if so how? and with what? if not, who is the manufacturer?
Thanks!

[Austin]

Just reread, you had some guy make the stream for you.

Still great looking =-)

[Shane]

Wow! Great idea I would have never thought about something like that.

[darc]

That is damned awesome... very nice work, and nice looking PDF : )

-darc

[Gerryg]

Hi,

thanks for all the kind words folks...

Originally Posted by oceansh

Beautiful!
Did you make that stream? if so how? and with what? if not, who is the manufacturer?
Thanks!

While the tank was my design, it could not have been possible unless someone could build it all out of glass for me. That person was Mark at AQUARIUM TECHNOLOGIES in Ontario, Canada.

[ndaniel]

Absolutely awesome...beautiful viv with some great looking PDFs....very nice.

[froggsong]

Absolutely beautiful! I love your little quotes from the frogs, lol. "Man, this river sure is lazy..." lmao... What type of brom is that with that lovely pink flower? I am becoming more and more interested in plants lately, especially broms. Kudos to you on the tank, one of the best I've seen!

[Dwent]

where/when did you get the broms from? i've been looking into getting a few, but no luck at home depot for me yet. maybe they don't like to deliver them to toronto stores?

Ace setup btw!!