# SwampFox's 46 Gallon Bowfront Build Thread (Pic Heavy Journal)



## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Well guys, I've finally gotten an idea of what I wanted to do and am doing it! This build will house Ranitomeya Imitators once completed. This is my first build, so let us begin our journey.

It all started with a 46 gallon bowfront aquarium my parents left lying around in their house when they bought a 180 Gallon Reef Aquarium. They've been wanting to get rid of it forever, and with my birthday being in January, I have conned them into giving me the money to transform this tank into a viv for my Christmas/birthday present. Well, it started out like this:










As you can see, this tank was a mess, and took a razor and some elbow grease to clean up, but in the end I got it looking like a brand new tank. I will be putting a false bottom in the tank, so the first thing I did was lay down the PVC supports and set them in with GE Silicone I.










They came in pretty nicely, but I was a bit disappointed with my cutting ability on the PVC, it was really hard not to cut them at an angle and I had to go back and finish off the edges to make them as flat as possible. Here's another pic of the supports from the top view:










After laying these down, I started on the false bottom. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, with largely a land area and a pond area in the center of the tank.










































I thought it turned out pretty well for a first time false bottom maker. I especially liked seeing it in the tank, and I am really looking forward to continuing it once the silicone cures on the supports. Well guys this is it so far, but here is one final picture of the false bottom sitting on the supports!










Also, just as a note, I purposefully made the false bottom smaller than the edges of the tank. I plan to fill in the spots with rocks to hide the false bottom from view.

I hope to see you guys follow my build, I'm really excited to do this over the coming weeks. Can't wait to see this in my house once it's done.


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## spyder 1.0 (Aug 27, 2012)

so far so good!


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Looking good! Keep the updates coming! 

And as a canned response, I think it could use more leaf litter...


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## hypnoticaquatic (Dec 19, 2012)

one thing with having a water feature is your most likely going to have a pump in the tank correct? if so you should make a accessible area in one of the back corners or middle to be able to do any maintenance on it. then id also build a void with the egg crate so u add/remove any hardware pumps heaters etc. without disturbing the tank *you can also use this area to siphon/refill the tank if need be. thinking ahead will make it look pro just like having the ec not touch the glass, also having a tiny slope in the substrate does wonders for our eyes,dumb trick that really stands out.

looks great though really wondering how your going to lay the hardscape out *background,branches,etc.

i was wondering if that was the same eggcrate at lowes/hd or did u get it from someplace else as it seemed 1/2thick as the last stuff i got and i cant find it anywhere.


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

Looks like a helluva good start! Subscribed.


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## shiloh (Nov 28, 2012)

Looks great so far!

Do people worry about the pvc supports filling up with water or does it not matter that much? I notched mine out just in case...


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

spyder 1.0 said:


> so far so good!


Thank you!



McBobs said:


> Looking good! Keep the updates coming!
> 
> And as a canned response, I think it could use more leaf litter...


LOL, I will have plenty of leaf litter. I ordered 3 gallon size bags: 1 Live Oak, 1 Magnolia, and 1 of something else that slips my mind right now from Josh's Frogs.



hypnoticaquatic said:


> one thing with having a water feature is your most likely going to have a pump in the tank correct? if so you should make a accessible area in one of the back corners or middle to be able to do any maintenance on it. then id also build a void with the egg crate so u add/remove any hardware pumps heaters etc. without disturbing the tank *you can also use this area to siphon/refill the tank if need be. thinking ahead will make it look pro just like having the ec not touch the glass, also having a tiny slope in the substrate does wonders for our eyes,dumb trick that really stands out.
> 
> looks great though really wondering how your going to lay the hardscape out *background,branches,etc.
> 
> i was wondering if that was the same eggcrate at lowes/hd or did u get it from someplace else as it seemed 1/2thick as the last stuff i got and i cant find it anywhere.


I'm actually still debating whether or not to have a waterfall feature. I think I'm starting to lean heavily towards a Monsoon or Mistking instead. I don't know if I'm ready to do it with this being my first build.

My hardscape is going to be Ghostwood I have placed an order from with NE Herpetoculture. It will be one of the later things to arrive, however, because they are on vacation until the 2nd. I am still deciding on plants at the moment, but I also know I want to include some vinework for the frogs to climb on.

Also, this egg crate is from Lowe's, and it was the only one for sale. So I'm not sure if it varies by store or not.



kitcolebay said:


> Looks like a helluva good start! Subscribed.


Thank you! More updates will be coming later today. 



shiloh said:


> Looks great so far!
> 
> Do people worry about the pvc supports filling up with water or does it not matter that much? I notched mine out just in case...


Thanks!

I for one have not thought about whether I should worry about them filling up. Hopefully someone can respond on this so I can take care of it before I start GS'ing the back wall.


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

As far as the PVC supports, I thought they needed to be notched so water didn't get stagnant in them, but then I've read some of our more experienced viv builders on here don't bother with it and haven't had any problems. What I did on my last build was to just turn the PVC supports on their sides and zip tie them to the eggcrate. This saves from any drainage issues and you don't have to worry about cutting them all evenly(you can go sloppy as you want).
From what I've read in other threads, I think you'd be perfectly fine with the way they are since you already have them siliconed in place. Wish my memory served me well enough to link you one or more of the threads that back it up. Hopefully, someone else can confirm or correct this.

Thanks, Chris


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Sorry for not having an update last night guys, but my Josh's Frogs shipment arrived today so we will have an update tonight! 

Josh's Frogs was excellent to me, by the way


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

kitcolebay said:


> As far as the PVC supports, I thought they needed to be notched so water didn't get stagnant in them, but then I've read some of our more experienced viv builders on here don't bother with it and haven't had any problems. What I did on my last build was to just turn the PVC supports on their sides and zip tie them to the eggcrate. This saves from any drainage issues and you don't have to worry about cutting them all evenly(you can go sloppy as you want).
> From what I've read in other threads, I think you'd be perfectly fine with the way they are since you already have them siliconed in place. Wish my memory served me well enough to link you one or more of the threads that back it up. Hopefully, someone else can confirm or correct this.
> 
> Thanks, Chris


Thanks! I left them as is, maybe next time I'll notch out my own.

So I got some great work done today thanks to my shipment from Josh's Frogs today (Highly Recommended!)

Last night I just applied a thin layer of silicone prior to GS'ing the background like so:










And then the real work began this morning. My shipment from Josh's Frogs came in and I was ecstatic about the pieces of cork flats I bought for the background wall. While at first I was worried I would not have room in the tank, I arranged them like this:










This looked good to me, So I started to GS them in...










This was when it first was laid down, and this is 3 hours later:










After allowing the Great Stuff time to dry, I cut out the flower pot spaces and put them in:










Applied the silicone to the GS for the cocofiber background (ran out of black, so I used some white):










And.... applied the cocofiber. Here is how it looks once I covered the entire background:










Now I have to let that sit overnight and see if/where it needs to be reapplied tomorrow morning.

Hope you guys enjoyed the update. I'll post my intended plant list soon, I'm pretty stoked for it.


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Tired out, but I got a lot done today. I'll post another update tomorrow.


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Woops! It's been awhile! Time to get this sucker filled with pics again.

Here's what the tank looked like the morning after putting the cocofiber on the background:










The stuff doesn't stick as well as I thought, next time I would add multiple toppings of it.

Put in the gravel to hide the false bottom and the river rocks for the water area:










ABG Mix In:










Some Leaf Litter (Removed most of it when I planted the tank, plants take up a lot of space lol):



















Water Area:










So my Manzanita and plants came in today (Manzanita from NE Herpetoculture and the plants from Josh's Frogs). First I got the branches in just the way I wanted them:










I then planted the tank up (minus the two bromeliads that will be coming from tropicalplantz.com tomorrow) and here is what I got:










I'm really happy with what I got, and I'm excited to see the broms be put in tomorrow, and then frogs soon enough!

Thanks everyone for following my build. If you have any questions, just ask!


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## Nath514 (Jul 8, 2012)

Looks great!


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## FIT BMX (Jun 10, 2011)

That looks really good, great job!


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## trevorthetoad (Nov 5, 2012)

Looks great! What kind of frogs do you think you might put in there?


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Thanks guys. R. Variabilis will be put in this tank. What do you guys think of trying to add some vinework?


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## Dendrobati (Jul 27, 2012)

SwampFox said:


> Thanks guys. R. Variabilis will be put in this tank. What do you guys think of trying to add some vinework?


The tank is looking great! 

A group of variabilis highland would be an excellent choice! 

Keep up the good work! 
Brad


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Haha thanks Brad. You wouldn't happen to have some high quality Variabilis would you?


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## sarasmiles (Sep 5, 2012)

Wow! That looks great!


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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Final group of pictures.

Full shot of tank with Bromeliads planted:










Neoregelia 'Compacta x Bing Cherry'










Neoregelia 'Kahala Dawn'










Pilea 'Aluminum'










Golden Pothos










Mood Moss










Pilea 'Moon Valley'










Kangaroo/Wart Fern










Button Fern










Syngonium 'Neon Robusta'










Million Hearts










Wandering Jew










And the build is complete other than getting the frogs at the end of this week/beginning of next week.

I'll post pics of those in the other forum.

Thanks for following guys! It was fun.


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## JayMillz (Jun 27, 2012)

What are you doing for the top of your tank for vents or air circulation? My wife is getting a 72 bowfront from a coworker and I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle that yet.


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## MrBiggs (Oct 3, 2006)

That wandering jew will take over in short order if you're not careful. I got 40+ inches of growth in the first month I had it in my tank.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

Happy I came across this thread! Doing the same tank with even the same frogs. Wasn't sure how to really do the eggcrate in the front but the visual helped perfectly. Beautiful tank!


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## zachxbass (Apr 21, 2008)

Looking great. Once it grows in it will be really cool.

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## SwampFox (Mar 4, 2011)

Fantastica said:


> Happy I came across this thread! Doing the same tank with even the same frogs. Wasn't sure how to really do the eggcrate in the front but the visual helped perfectly. Beautiful tank!


Thanks, I had a hard time with this as well, I am glad it helped you!



zachxbass said:


> Looking great. Once it grows in it will be really cool.


I'll probably need to post an update thread now that the tank has settled in for almost 6 months...


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## zachxbass (Apr 21, 2008)

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