# 125 gal build



## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

It's time to take the plunge and start building. First, I worked on cutting the PVC for both the false bottom and the fans. Once I found the right bit for my Dremmel, sanding the plastic down to fit in the PVC was a snap. I'm planning on pulling air from the false bottom and recirculating near the top. I have two of these fan tunnels, one for each back corner.









I got some wood from Rod at thedriftwoodstore.com. The pieces were larger than I expected and I'm rethinking my design. Here is the one I think I'll use. 


















The only problem with this piece is the height. With a 3" false bottom, this piece will nearly touch the top glass. I've done quite a bit of reading on false bottoms and it seems most people get very little water underneath with proper misting. Could I reduce the height of the false bottom?


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## carbonetc (Oct 13, 2008)

Were you going to install a drain? With a passive drain the false bottom could be as minimal as you like.


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## gardennub (Dec 10, 2011)

Yea you really wouldnt need much of a false bottom at all if you have a drain. I really like this tank, that wood piece is awesome. cant wait to see more


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

The bottom is tempered glass so drilling a hole for drainage won't work. I already have a large undertank heater attached to the glass that we used for the previous gecko occupants. You can sort of see it under the wood in the pics. This heater would dry out about 1/4" of water from the humidity dome within a few days. Could it work the same way in the viv also?


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## parkanz2 (Sep 25, 2008)

chillplants said:


> The bottom is tempered glass so drilling a hole for drainage won't work. I already have a large undertank heater attached to the glass that we used for the previous gecko occupants. You can sort of see it under the wood in the pics. This heater would dry out about 1/4" of water from the humidity dome within a few days. Could it work the same way in the viv also?


I would plan on not using that UTH with water sitting in the bottom. There's been several reports of them cracking glass due to differences in temperature associated with the water. The safest thing to do would be to make sure you have a way to get the bottom out. I've seen several people drill the back of a tank instead of the bottom which works quite well. Or you can have a concealed access point to the false bottom that allows you to siphon the water out.


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## WeeNe858 (Sep 13, 2010)

I have a 125g myself and it it not drilled for a drain. My fb is only 2 inches and I also have a low level water feature. A deep false bottom isnt really required.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

I'm working on my FB tonight with eggcrate. While putting everything together a question popped up. Do I need to add side walls on all 4 sides of the FB? Currently, I have it on the front only.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

chillplants said:


> I'm working on my FB tonight with eggcrate. While putting everything together a question popped up. Do I need to add side walls on all 4 sides of the FB? Currently, I have it on the front only.


you dont have to if you have the adequate bracing but having a border around the whole eggcrate makes for a strong base to work with. You can stretch the weed blocker or screen around the border and make it really clean looking .


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## MrMonterrubio (Sep 29, 2011)

Love that pice of wood.

Subscribed


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## parkanz2 (Sep 25, 2008)

chillplants said:


> I'm working on my FB tonight with eggcrate. While putting everything together a question popped up. Do I need to add side walls on all 4 sides of the FB? Currently, I have it on the front only.


I'm a fan of using the ready made PVC coupling risers for false bottoms. No trimming egg crate to get the right size etc. All you have to do is cut a notch in the bottom of the PVC pieces so you don't get stagnant water.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

Thanks, I already have PVC risers with notches cut siliconed to the bottom of the tank. I'll try the FB as is and get the screen on tonight.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

I had a serious derailment with this build, but I'm trying to get back to it and get it up and running. The tank has been sitting in my garage nearly finished for a very long time. I'm just about finished with the background. I foamed in the last piece of wood yesterday and just need to sand the foam down and silicone over it. 

Here's my question-I left off with less than 1" of exposed foam where it touches the false bottom. Can I leave it as is or should I silicone over this little bit? This area will be covered with ABG mix once I get it in the house.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

Finally got the tank in the house. Here's a FTS with the wood in place. I still need to order my MistKing setup and substrate. Still have a lot of little details to complete.


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## mollbern (Feb 10, 2013)

looking great so far! subscribed


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## Tazman (May 26, 2013)

Looks good already bet it's going to be an awesome viv.


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## ngeno626 (Nov 14, 2013)

that is a great start and one hell of a piece of wood!!!


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

It's been so long since I last worked on this that I can't find everything. I have one fan tube, but can't find the second. I'm sure it's in my house somewhere, just need to look around some more.
I'm ordering substrate today and will probably get the MistKing setup ordered this weekend or Monday at the latest.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

Substrate and MistKing system on the way. Hopefully everything will be here by the end of next week. I still need to get the fans in place and get the back top of the tank screened. Once all that is finished, I'll be ready to order plants. 

My first rookie mistake - I ran into a minor problem with plant placement. In my infinite wisdom (lol) I glued in an area for broms directly under the right fan. Over time, I'm sure this will cause problems for air circulation. I think instead, I'll find some kind of plant that will grow as a draping curtain.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

Time for an update. Got the MistKing system installed, fans are wired in and the initial planting is done. I'm still playing around with the misting schedule and how often fans run. I'm consistently at 85% humidity with the misters coming on 3 times per day (I cut back from 6 times per day initially to get everything good and wet). ABG mix isn't completely wet all the way to the bottom and I haven't seen any excess water in the false bottom yet. Leaf litter is being cleaned and prepped and will be added soon. I plan on grabbing some broms and hopefully some more plants at Tropiflora next week.

On to the pics-


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## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Is that whole area around the fans sealed in some way? Trying to figure out why all the space around the fans? 
Going to look nice once it's completely planted and grown in.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

It's hard to explain, but there are channels in the two corners for the fan tubes to run down to the false bottom. I'm going to put some GS foam down there to keep the frogs out and put some ABG mix or coco fiber on top.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

I'm having some issues with this tank and would love some input. Originally, I put together a small screen for ventilation. I use regular aquarium glass tops minus the area for the screen. The tank temps were 85 at the glass and right around 80 near the substrate. I removed the hinge and larger piece of glass for more ventilation. Temps stay between 75-77 throughout the tank. I plan to build screens to cover all the new open area. To compensate for humidity, I run the misters 20 seconds in the morning, then 5 seconds every 4 hours. This keeps humidity between 75-85%.

Here's the problem - the back and side walls don't stay wet. I'm having a hard time getting any moss or shinglers to grow. Walls are GS covered in coco fiber. I moved the misters closer to the wall, but I can't seem to keep them wet. I bought a hand sprayer and soak the walls in the morning, but they are usually dry by noon. Any ideas?


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

chillplants said:


> I'm having some issues with this tank and would love some input. Originally, I put together a small screen for ventilation. I use regular aquarium glass tops minus the area for the screen. The tank temps were 85 at the glass and right around 80 near the substrate. I removed the hinge and larger piece of glass for more ventilation. Temps stay between 75-77 throughout the tank. I plan to build screens to cover all the new open area. To compensate for humidity, I run the misters 20 seconds in the morning, then 5 seconds every 4 hours. This keeps humidity between 75-85%.
> 
> Here's the problem - the back and side walls don't stay wet. I'm having a hard time getting any moss or shinglers to grow. Walls are GS covered in coco fiber. I moved the misters closer to the wall, but I can't seem to keep them wet. I bought a hand sprayer and soak the walls in the morning, but they are usually dry by noon. Any ideas?


Your screens are located on the top of the cage right? The misters are drilled through the glass at the top right? I have a similar situation. I have a 36 gallon bowfront and of course the screen is at the top. When my mistking runs some of the mist doesn't access as much as it should. The reason why this happens is I think because the air coming through the screen pushes the mist all over. When the mistking runs I can see the mist coming up through the screen. It has to be why. Does this sound like your situation?

My solution would be to run the mist a little bit longer. I run mine at 7am for 60 seconds, 1:15pm for 25 seconds, 700pm for 60 seconds and 2am for 10 seconds. It stays pretty damp. I don't know if there is much else to do. Surely there is a pro on here who knows. I never had this problem with my vertical tanks because the screens were in the front and there was inflow coming through the top re routing much of the mistking. 

I don't know if I helped. I am blazed haha and was looking at your tank and saw your last post.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

This tank got put on hold for way too long. I was worried about the heat for frogs so I've been playing with different size openings and using the misting system almost like an evaporative cooling feature. I think I've finally got temps and humidity solved and fairly consistent. Planting was going very slowly. A lot of stuff was having a difficult time in the beginning I think due to the slightly higher temps. Now that things have been steady for a while, I ordered some more plants and was given a very generous donation from another local frogger. The tank is starting to show signs of life. I still have some finishing touches before the frogs go in, but it's all minor stuff.








I made a "basket" from some left over screen, filled it with ABG and stuck a rabbits foot fern in it. The fern loves it and little white feet started growing after about a week.


Unknown orchid I bought at last year's Tropiflora Spring event. Just stuck it in tonight.


Just playing around with some rope to make more vines.


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## daviss_36 (Mar 20, 2015)

how you make vines?


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

I use hemp rope covered in brown silicone and coco fiber.


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## SaFFyR (Jun 23, 2014)

Glad to see you've started working on the tank again


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## daviss_36 (Mar 20, 2015)

ok thanks chill


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

Is that a Dinema polybulbon I see?


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

I lost the tag a long time ago, but I googled that name and the flowers match what I have so I think you are correct.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

My son helped me make a couple vines and got them in last night. I was trying to create "bridges" to help frogs move around the various high points in the tank. One is over 6 ft long and goes far left to far right touching just about everything. The other is about 4 ft long and goes from the red brom on left side to the wood on the right.


Left Side


Right Side


Hopefully next weekend I have everything finished and the frogs can go in. Still waiting on additional misting nozzles. Going to pick up the glass today for the top and will try drilling holes for the misters myself. I may go to the Tropiflora show this weekend and get a few more broms too.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

R Variablis Highland frogs went in tonight. The batch of frogs I bought came with at least one female. There was a lot of calling within the first hour after they went in so they must be pretty happy in this tank. I have a total of 5 frogs and a tadpole waiting to morph out.
Here's some cell phone pics.




Found this one climbing the "mountain"


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## KJM (Feb 28, 2015)

Really nice looking viv! Good luck with it and thanks for sharing. 👍


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Ctoliva (Apr 4, 2015)

ThAt is a dream setup what lights are you using. Do you have any pic of the fan set up.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

The light is from Catalina Aquariums. It's a 4 bulb T5HO fixture, but I'm only using 2 bulbs at the moment. The very first post on page 1 shows the fan setup. It's just a long tube of PVC that runs to the bottom of the tank behind the background.

I had a male find this brom last night just before lights out. He is still hanging out on it and calling non-stop. The female has come over twice in the last 15 minutes, but hasn't touched the brom yet.


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

2 days ago there was some serious calling going on in the tank. I tracked it down and found 2 males over by the largest brom. One on top of the brom and the other on the wood below. At one point the lower male jumped up and kind of bumped the other male and that was it. The lower male ran off and it was over. Today I come home and find 3 frogs in the brom. One sitting on top of the other with the third off to the side watching. I've done a lot of reading and watched as many videos as I could find. I haven't witnessed a WWE brawl yet, but my best guess is this was a dominance thing. The pics and videos I saw about mating rarely showed 2 frogs in this position. I've also read some conflicting info about these Highland variabilis being good in groups. Most say yes, but it's possible that I have an overly aggressive individual in my tank.

Here's the brom - compared to the other broms in the tank, this is a 5 star resort. I only have one other brom that the frogs visit and it's maybe 1/2 this size. The others are much to small for the frogs to hide in or even soak. Will some other bigger broms or film canisters help? Or do I need to build an emergency temporary tank and try to separate?


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

I found a batch of eggs last night in the large brom. This is actually the 3rd batch I found. The first 2 were in film canisters and didn't make it. I'm leaving this batch in the brom to see what happens.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I really like your thread. I do not understand why I missed it until now. One of the best hardscape ever seen, for me. Great choice of frogs. Congrats


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## Woodswalker (Dec 26, 2014)

"Unknown orchid I bought at last year's Tropiflora Spring event. Just stuck it in tonight."

That looks like a Tolumnia to me. 

Your setup looks gorgeous so far.


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