# Swampy vivarium



## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

Due to drastic humidity changes and a gauge I didn't realize was malfuctioning, my vivarium is now *far* too wet. There's no water above the leaf litter but the substrate is soaked down to the leca. 

How can I get rid of the extra water without the viv becoming too dry for the frogs? Even though it's very dry in Southern California right now, the water isn't evaporating on its own. I'm still hand misting occasionally, very lightly, just to keep some moisture in the air and on the leaves.

I have an 18x18x24 ExoTerra with three turquoise & bronze auratus froglets (seven months old). All frogs and plants appear to be in excellent health.

Any suggestions that preferably don't involve things like drilling holes into the viv? (If that's the only way, of course, then so be it.) Thank you in advance.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

How about burying the corner of a clean terrycloth towel down into the substrate? If it is very wet it should wick out a lot of the water.

Next time you build a setup you should put a short, vertical PVC pipe with a cap in one corner so that you can siphon water out.


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

Well that's a nice, simple, practical solution. I will give it a try.

And yeah, I didn't build this viv and unfortunately the guy I trusted to do so did only a mediocre job. I've been revamping it slowly for better froggy happiness.


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## Dart guy 16 (Jan 16, 2012)

can you siphon it out?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

a thick rope of yarn works well too. The lower end of the yarn/terrycloth has to be below the lowest level of the tank for it to wick well. 

Always have a way to drain your false bottom/drainage layer


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

Dart guy 16 said:


> can you siphon it out?


The towel will most likely take care of the worst of it, but yeah, I may have to get down into the leca to siphon if the substrate doesn't dry out on its own.

It's a weird climate in there at the moment: about 1/4 at the bottom soaked and saturated and the other 3/4 too dry. At least the frogs don't seem too bothered; they've been very active lately.


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

frogparty said:


> a thick rope of yarn works well too. The lower end of the yarn/terrycloth has to be below the lowest level of the tank for it to wick well.
> 
> Always have a way to drain your false bottom/drainage layer


Oops, sorry, missed this message. Thanks for that idea as well.

I would like to drill into the viv for drainage at some point, for sure; now just isn't feasible. Thankfully my husband is an engineer and can handle the delicate work of not destroying everything, which I can't say the same for me.


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## Phyllobates (Dec 12, 2008)

I have used the yarn method above and it does work well but takes some time. For me a piece of 1/4 in rigid airline tubing connected to airline hose is faster, provided you can get down into the drainage layer with it. Just don't get it in your mouth!


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

*laughing* Indeed not! We still have a set-up for siphoning from years ago when we had jellyfish...and there was the occasional "incident." I have had more jellyfish poo in my mouth than I really want to think about.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

buy a turkey baster with a bulb ...using your finger, make a hole through the substrate...and depending on how you set up a FB, you can suck out quite a bit of water that way...even if you have to resort to making a hole through the substrate separator...sharp pointy knife..after fluid extraction, cover with a small rock and remember where it is for the future fluid removal...


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## Vinnner (Oct 1, 2010)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31t2w48B2jL._SY300_.jpg (WFS)

Any auto parts store will carry one of these, easy to get down into the substrate, and drain out excess water. Tip tank slightly to get water to one side and get even more out.

Hope this helps!


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

So many good ideas, thanks so much! The terrycloth was a big help.


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## rivered (Jun 13, 2013)

If this happenes to me, I use my spray system (espresso pump with a tube to the waterreservoir), I take the tube, put in in a waterpool somewhere, and just pump it out with 2 liters a minute, and the pumpoutput i disconnect and hold above a container. and when im satisfied I stop. Don't know what kind of rain system you have running though.


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## scoy (Jan 22, 2013)

For either the cloth idea or leaving a pvc pipe with a cap the easiest place to put it is the front corner. I'd use a spoon and pull back substrate and false bottom all the way to the bottom. Its much easier and cleaner in the corner than digging a hole in the center of the viv.


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

By the way, I've been randomly liking and thanking because I have no idea what the difference is.  



scoy said:


> For either the cloth idea or leaving a pvc pipe with a cap the easiest place to put it is the front corner. I'd use a spoon and pull back substrate and false bottom all the way to the bottom. Its much easier and cleaner in the corner than digging a hole in the center of the viv.



Oh, definitely. I don't like messing around in the middle unless I'm laying down leaf litter or something. I used the towel at a couple of spots in the front and both sides, which I then refilled with leaf litter. The gaps underneath haven't refilled; so far so good. I'm going to use the corners as you suggest when I suck the water from the leca, so the substrate can finally dry out a bit.

I like the idea of a flexible hose as pictured above. Perhaps I could rig one up inside a turkey baster, made air-tight with something gluey from my husband's crafting collection. That might make for a nice handheld siphon that doesn't mess up the substrate too much. (I like Vinnner's suggestion and I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, but it's just fun to try DIY versions after the "crisis" has passed.

At least it's not the worst newbie mistake possible, even though this did inspire a horrible dream where all these dart frogs I didn't even know I had mostly died of dehydration due to my neglect. (I was at least able to revive them with water and I thought I'd better ask the forum what species they were!)


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

ZenMonkey;1671258
It's a weird climate in there at the moment: about 1/4 at the bottom soaked and saturated and the other 3/4 too dry. At least the frogs don't seem too bothered; they've been very active lately.[/QUOTE said:


> If 3/4 is dry you are fine probably. A pic of the tank would be good to make sure, but unless you have a very wonky substrate setup and a very large tank it's pretty hard to have flooded on one end and almost to dry on the other. ....Pics please.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## PumilioTurkey (Feb 25, 2010)

You could also put a Solar Raptor 35w or regular halogen lighter 35w on top of the tank.

It'll dry in no time due to the heat.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

PT--wouldn't that damage plants and any microfauna near the surface of substrate???


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## PumilioTurkey (Feb 25, 2010)

I doubt it.

I have one on top of a 30x50x40cm tank and everything grows fine.

It is a bit drier and hotter than my other tanks though that's true.


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## Tennill (Jan 4, 2008)

The best way i get excess water out of any tank is very easy. I take a corner of my tank and move the substrate out of the way with a spoon all the way to the bottom and take a siphon tube with an air stone connected to the end going into the tank and siphon out the water. The air stone keeps the hose from clogging. It works everytime.


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## Tennill (Jan 4, 2008)

Sorry i got cut off. I also connect a valve to stop the flow this way when the water level is where i want it i can turn it off and if the water rises again i just open the valve and i dont have to get the siphon going again gravity is already doing the work for me.


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

Again, thanks for everyone's suggestions! They were very helpful to my husband and me as we came up with our solution.

We ended up attaching a small-bore, flexible hose to the end of a shop vac, and sucking the water out via a vertical hole dug in the front corner. (There was wire mesh taped to the front of the hose to filter out dirt and debris.) As suggested, I'm going to stick PVC pipe into the hole, and while we're not going to drill through the tank, it'll be a cinch to use the same or a similar method next time.


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## ZenMonkey (Sep 17, 2013)

In case anyone with the same problem is reading this, just wanted to post a correction and update.

It's actually just a small wet/dry vacuum, not a shop vac. The flexible plastic hose is sealed to the end of the vacuum hose with duct tape or something similar. There's a PVC pipe in the front corner that goes all the way down to the first layer of leca, through a small hole cut in the substrate screen, so that there's no problem with soil getting into the vacuum.

When the water rises enough I just thread the hose in and suck out as much as possible. It's problematic at the moment because the humidity is extremely low even though it's been cloudy, so there's no sun to help dry out the viv and yet it needs misting at least twice a day. But this method has made a huge difference. Thanks again for everyone's help!

Here's my acrobat/explorer, who's been making an extremely thorough examination of this engineering project. (He's standing on the PVC pipe cap looking down at the pipe.) That will shortly be filled in even better with ABG and covered up with magnolia leaves.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

I stick a 5 HP sump in mine and letter rip...just kidding, a side note to a flooded tank if you have frogs you can't get to breed, especially thumbnails, flooding a tank many times will signal them to spawn and it will start a breeding cycle. All of my tanks need draining, like many I just put a siphon tube in a corner and wait the 15 minutes or so for all to drain away.


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