New Vivarium for Poison Dart Frogs Build

Ran into Wes from CR at Fall Fest and he asked if I was ever going to setup another Vivarium. I basically told him maybe someday but later that night I couldn't sleep. I ended up stay up all night googling poison dart frogs and vivariums. Now I'm hooked.



The tank is a 46 gallon bowfront with a false bottom made of eggcrate. It will have small pond area and waterfall in the center which is filtered by a small wet/dry filter and heated by a small Ebo Jager heater. For lighting I am using a Sunlight Supply Tek Light which contains 4 39 watt HO T5's.

In a few weeks I plan on adding an ATO for the sump as well as Mistking misting system that will automatically water the plans and maintain a high level of humidiy in the tank. Being this tank is in the same room as my reef tank I will probably buy another EB8 for my Apex and run this system on the same controller or buy and Apex Jr. and run it seperate. Either way it's gonna be automated.

The tank will be heavilly stocked with several species of tropical plants and foilage and will contain a few Dendrobates Tinctorius poison dart frogs.



Here is what I've come up with so far.

46 Gallon Bowfront from AC&C





Drilling of the tank for filtration





Construction of the false bottom.





Beginning of the 3D foam backround





Filtration system





FTS of what it looked like this morning.





I've done a little more work on the waterfall today so thats pretty much done. Next step is to carve out a few places in the foam backround for some plant pots and then I will begin coating the backround with coco fiber for more of a natural look. Once that's complete I will be working on the pond area, then it will be time to start adding substrate.

I'll post more pics of my progress as I go.

Enjoy! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif

 

Apparently theres a guy a few miles from me who breeds them. Also, Wes has his breeding as well.

 

Thanks guys! It's been a VERY fun project so far. I love building and designing stuff like this. This one has been a real challenge for me as I am sort of "in-between" jobs, so the budget is pretty tight. It's probably going to look the same until next payday. Once I get my real job I should be able to finish it up and get ti stocked pretty quick.


Here's the first vivarium I tried like 8 years ago. The house I was living in didn't have central air. Everything died off pretty quick during the summer months.

I learned quite a but doing it and hopefully the one I'm building now will last much longer.





The tanks I am working on are nothing compared to some out there. Google "vivarium" and you will be blown away by some of the peoples tanks out there.

 

Not really much you can do when the whole house is 100 degrees. Sure you can hook a chiller up to any source of water but it's not very econimical.

Air circulation seems to be a pretty major factor that I haven't put a whole lot of thought into yet. I do have a lead on some little fans I plan on using.

 

Doesn't seem to be that big of deal. I don't plan on keeping that many frogs so just keeping some flies in a jar shouldnt be too much of an issue.

Seems a lot easier than growing phyto.

 

Bet you could. Just do your research first.

 

Got some more work done on the viv. Kinda jumping the gun on adding the water and gravel but I had to see what it was gonna look like!


Still need to carve a few holes in the foam for the some potted plants. I haven't done that yet simply because I don't have any pots and don't know how big they need to be.

Once that's done I'm gonna coat the foam with a few layers of sealant/paint. On the last coat I plan on adding some coco fiber and some sand to add texture to make it look a little more natural. To be honest I don't know why I'm spending so much time on this background. I am hoping that the plants, moss, and vines grow so well you won't even see it.

Today's agenda is to get some supplies ordered. I might order the misting system today as well.

Fun stuff!