# D's Drop-Off vivarium



## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Hey guys and gals this is the official thread for my 46 gallon drop-off style viv, this is a first in the Dendrobatid hobby so far as I can tell. I'm building the stand for this bad boy and maybe the tank it's self on Wednesday the 29th so far there will be a plywood cabinet that will house the equipment. My tentative interior design is a GS background on the drop off with a waterfall going into some type of pool. I will make the GS wall a little higher than the drop-off edge so I can have a few inches of ONLY leaf litter And a drainage layer with manzita branches running across the tank, like in my thread 'Dendroguys understory 30 gal tank'. There will be one or two terrestrial plants in the top section, but will be primarily focused on epiphytes. The GS wall will be covered in silicone then coco fiber, there will be mostly bromeliads and a few orchids and epiphytic ferns. The bottom section will be reminiscent of the Forrest floor, it will be darker due to a high number of bromeliads on the GS and glass, I will put a few low-light plants there around the pool if there is one, waterfalls are a pain on the a** so I might not do one. I'll update y'all when I get everything planned out


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## ndame88 (Sep 24, 2010)

Can't Wait for this one!!


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## shibbyplustax (Feb 28, 2011)

Subscribed, good luck buddy. You beat me on starting one of these haha. Are you planning on having a front opening door on the vertical part?

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

shibbyplustax said:


> Subscribed, good luck buddy. You beat me on starting one of these haha. Are you planning on having a front opening door on the vertical part?
> 
> Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2


Probably a panel on hinges towards the bottom, so I can access the bottom portion easily, I'm thinking of a fan or two behind the GS cliff with some duct work leading to different areas of it, like one at the top and bottom, or one in the middle with two on the top and bottom, I have trashed the idea of a water feature, next weeks budget is $100 dollars, so I'm gonna build the stand and hopefully get the glass cut by the glass workers in my family, so fir anyone else looking to build one of these here are the dimensions, I'm gonna make the drop a bit higher, more like 15'' Welcome to Flickr!


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

if this is for pums, then you should have like an 8 in deep section of leaf litter. jk but i think it would look cool if it was kind of like a rocky canyon.


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## winstonamc (Mar 19, 2007)

subscribed!


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## Azurel (Aug 5, 2010)

Loved the reef ones, a wanted to do one of these for darts. Cant wait to see what you come up with.

sent from my Galaxy S lll


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## SLiK JiM (Oct 10, 2011)

Good luck!

_subscribed!_


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## Giga (Mar 31, 2011)

i'm watching


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## grokfish (Feb 8, 2010)

Can't wait to see it! Good luck!


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Hey guys and gals! So I've got a planning update, were going to strt cutting the glass on Friday or Saturday and start assembling it somewhere around the middle of next week. I'm starting the stand on Tuesday, I'm gonna put a surprise on it for you dendroboard . The whole thing should be done around the 5th, with the hardscaping starting that week sometime. This tank will be especially challenging because the weight limit on the 90 degree angle, so I'm gonna do a strictly lightwaight layout, the whole tank shouldn't be much more than 100-120 lbs. I'm sticking with the original design plan, but trashing the waterfall for a duct system running to multiple places around the background. I'm still indecisive on the top portion, I want it to be focused on terrestrial plants, any ideas? 

D


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## je24fan (Aug 16, 2012)

Newbie watching


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## highvoltagerob (Apr 14, 2012)

This is a great idea, I hope you do it justice. I can't wait to see.


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Hey guys and gals, everything has been set back about 5 days due to glass ordering, currently the bromeliad plant list goes as follows 

N. 'Bloodshot eyes'
N. 'green apple'*'fireball'
N. 'mo peppa please'
N. 'el gato'
N. 'wild tiger'
N. ampullacea
A. calyculata
A. farinosa v. discolor
A. recurvata benthii
A. parviflorus 'green form'
G. lingulata 'teresa'
Orthotanthus 'little bit'

Hope everyone is enjoying the thread so far even though it's pretty boring right now, I can upload some pics of my 30 gallon if you want AND my solarte when in get him on Wednesday

D


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Hey everyone, its been a LOOONG time since I updated but unfortunately this isn't much of an update. Just saying that the glass is taking WAAAY longer than expected but should (read 'might') be here towards the middle of the week. I picked out some nice drift wood pieces I had layin' around from mounting orchids and got some 100% mineral oil paint thinner for the vine work (partly stolen from GRIMMs thread) also the GS for the background. I got payed and have enough extra money to buy some of the stuff on my plant list and I'll order them ASAP. That's all for now folks, stay tuned for more updates

D


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## FrogBoyMike (Aug 25, 2012)

Cant wait to see how this turns out


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## shibbyplustax (Feb 28, 2011)

Any update on this or did the hype train leave the station before you got on?


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## BlueRidge (Jun 12, 2010)

Maybe he found out the cost of getting that glass cut


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Too many delays, I'm always super slow on making vivs. Hopefully this week (then again I said that 3 weeks ago) I'll get the glass. I do have the stand ready and the frogs that are gonna go in here. Just need glass hardscaping and plants.

D


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

Update? Please? I'm really looking forward to this! Just a thought, maybe you should support the drop-off section with something underneath it, because i wouldn't trust a bit of silicone to hold all that up


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Yeah an update would be awesome!


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

Would it be something like this?


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## shibbyplustax (Feb 28, 2011)

hypostatic said:


> Would it be something like this?


Yep exactly.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2


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## VenomR00 (Apr 23, 2010)




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## bsr8129 (Sep 23, 2010)

hypostatic said:


> Would it be something like this?


That was the inspiration for this, but i think it was just a dream


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## Buddysfrogs (Mar 29, 2012)

Is this build still going to happen?
Buddy

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

I'm so sorry everyone for the great delay. It's just been that the holidays sapped all my money and time. When I get payed on Monday I will be constructing the base and hopefully getting the glass. Unfortunately I will be out of town for 3 weeks starting late April, so progress will be delayed yet again. Again I'm so sorry for the delay, Believe me I've been as anxious as you guys and gals have been to see this start. Yes Hypostatic, I'll be constructing a 40 gallon version of that.

D


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## vivbulider (Jan 23, 2010)

I can't wait to see this tank it seems like it'll be really cool if you haven't built it yet you could use a normal tank add some foam or something under the substrate for the drop off


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## jimmy rustles (Mar 10, 2013)

any updates?


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

jimmy rustles said:


> any updates?


After all these months....got the stand built! Unfortunately my camera is broken and I can't post pics, but once it's fixed pics are on the way. Planned inhabitants: San Lorenzo 1.1. I'm still debating with a friend who works with sheet glad what the best option for the right angle, maybe someone else who has this kind of experience could chime in *cough*Doug*cough

D


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## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

I'm glad to see this build is still active

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

Seeing that salt tank... WOW.
I will be watching this like a volture. hehe


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

diggenem said:


> I'm glad to see this build is still active
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Me too buddy! Life's been busy though with a lot of my time being taken up by Appalachain Amphibian research.

D


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

pet-teez said:


> Seeing that salt tank... WOW.
> I will be watching this like a volture. hehe


It won't be quite as big, only 60 gallons if my memory serves me right.

D


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## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

Dendroguy said:


> It won't be quite as big, only 60 gallons if my memory serves me right.
> 
> D


I don't even care, it's a really neat idea. heh
I had never heard of a "drop-off" tank.


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## fullmonti (May 10, 2013)

This is great.

I'm new to the viv thing but have had reef tanks before. I had thought that a drop-off would be perfect for a viv, water starting at the top & dropping down to a pond at the bottom. Glad to see it's in the works.

Jim


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## jimmy rustles (Mar 10, 2013)

Dendroguy said:


> After all these months....got the stand built! Unfortunately my camera is broken and I can't post pics, but once it's fixed pics are on the way.
> 
> D


so hows the camera fixing going?


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## pooky125 (Jan 16, 2012)

Any word on this? Pictures perhaps?


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## jrudd013 (Jul 8, 2013)

Cant wait to see this thing. Subscribed!


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## tbhf (Jul 31, 2006)

Any updated pics yet?


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## moore40 (Jan 29, 2008)

I think this idea died.


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## nerdariostomp (Jan 21, 2014)

bummer. i really liked the idea


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## moore40 (Jan 29, 2008)

Yup me too. I've got my own ideas on this as well. I'm a few years out on mine though. Or more.


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## Giga (Mar 31, 2011)

you can always watch mine?


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## moore40 (Jan 29, 2008)

Ok Giga I'm in. Subscribed.


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