# Exo Terra Med Extra-Tall "The Tree"



## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Hello everyone, I would like to share a build I am currently in the process of working on. It is an Exo Terra 24x18x36. For the centerpiece, I have tied several large ghostwood pieces together to form the bulk of the tree, and then placed that over a piece of 3" PVC pipe for a little extra support. For lighting I am using an EVO Quad 24" fixture with 28 3W bulbs at 6500K (although I might need to buy one more smaller EVO to really light the whole thing). I had a custom piece of glass cut for the top with about a .75" strip for ventilation. The goal with this was to make mainly an epiphyte tank with broms and lots of vining plants (especially peperomias!). I may try my hand at miniature orchids at some point, if I can bite the bullet for the cost lol. Here are some pics (click images for true size)

Ghostwood centerpiece


Tank after initial planting


Some closeups of the broms



I have some NEHerp moss and microfauna coming in on Saturday, as well as a plant package with several awesome vining peperomias and a few other plants from another forum member that should be in tomorrow or Saturday. 

Plant list so far:

Neo "Wild Tiger"
Neo "Hannibal Lector x Cheers"
Neo "Dartanion"
Neo "Checkerboard"
Korean Rock Fern
NOID pilea (I think it's a Pilea? It's the small green plant in the center on the floor of the viv, if anyone wants to take a stab at the ID)
NOID fern

Thanks!


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## Galli (May 20, 2014)

So this is what a good job looks like in this hobby.

Excellent design!


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## Tivaj (Dec 30, 2015)

Nice work...layout and design are beautiful 

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## oldlady25715 (Nov 17, 2007)

Looks great. What sort of frogs will you add? 

I've wondered whether orchids would grow ok mounted on ghost wood, because mostly just see them mounted on cork.


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## Fordfanatic (May 9, 2016)

Wow that is gonna look amazing. Cant wait to see it evolve.


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Thank you for the compliments everyone! As far as frogs, I am currently torn between leucs and R. imitator "Varadero". Leucs have always been my favorite frogs (and this tank will be my first PDF viv), but I really like the Varaderos too.... From what I've read both would do fine in a more vertically oriented setup. I probably won't end up with frogs for a couple months (possibly August, but more likely in November) so I have a while to decide


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## Gibbs.JP (Feb 16, 2016)

I haven't owned leucs, but I can tell you the varadero will love that 

Really cool design by the way!


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## chefboyardee (May 31, 2013)

empire3569 said:


> I have some NEHerp moss and microfauna coming in on Saturday, as well as a plant package with several awesome vining peperomias and a few other plants from another forum member that should be in tomorrow or Saturday.
> 
> Plant list so far:
> 
> ...


I remember you saying you were in SFL, ever end up checking out that nursery on 72nd ave? 7750 SW 72nd Ave, worth a look, theyve got some cool stuff


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## Lake (Jan 31, 2015)

I like it! 


-Lake


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

chefboyardee said:


> I remember you saying you were in SFL, ever end up checking out that nursery on 72nd ave? 7750 SW 72nd Ave, worth a look, theyve got some cool stuff


I haven't yet; I actually live up in Boca, so that nursery is a bit of a drive for me. But the next time I am in Miami I am definitely planning a trip there!


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

That worked out REALLY well!


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## tongo (Jul 29, 2007)

Very awesome tank and a very nice job for a first tank. May I ask where you got your ghostwood from?


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

tongo said:


> Very awesome tank and a very nice job for a first tank. May I ask where you got your ghostwood from?


Thank you! I ordered it from NEHerp; I am an insider member so I did the individually photo'd wood. I bought a total of 4 pieces, and ended up splitting one in half


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## Galli (May 20, 2014)

I just signed up for their insider program so I can't see myself, how much was the average piece of wood they offered?


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Galli said:


> I just signed up for their insider program so I can't see myself, how much was the average piece of wood they offered?


They do it by size; I bought all mine from the largest category, and I think they were about 30$ a piece. Definitely a little pricey, but well worth it!


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## Galli (May 20, 2014)

That's actually not too bad, considering most local petstores charge a LOT more where I'm from.


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## Gibbs.JP (Feb 16, 2016)

Galli said:


> That's actually not too bad, considering most local petstores charge a LOT more where I'm from.


What gets you is the shipping!  A $30 piece of wood and then another $35 for shipping makes for an expensive hunk of branch. A necessary evil unless you are lucky enough to have a local place that sells it.


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Luckily I bought all the pieces at the same time, so shipping wasn't too bad for all of them. The petstores around here only sell grapevine and cork, so luck get getting some locally


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## CTM75 (Aug 10, 2005)

you could cover that pvc in silicone and peat/coir and get it all mossed up to hide it...other than that it looks great.


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

CTM75 said:


> you could cover that pvc in silicone and peat/coir and get it all mossed up to hide it...other than that it looks great.


Thank you! I actually covered it in Spyra (its just hard to see in the planted pics), that picture was taken a bit earlier in the build. The trunk actually doesn't get as much light as I thought it would, so it probably won't end up growing too much as far as moss/plants


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

That's an awesome design! I love it.


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## Vinegaroonie (Jul 31, 2015)

Awesome tank! You definitely have a knack for this, most new froggers wouldn't go for such a complicated display but yours worked out fantastically! Definitely going on my inspirational tanks list. Although leucs do climb, I think varaderos would enjoy it more as they are "true" arboreal frogs. Both are good choices, though.

One little thing, though; none of the walls are covered. It's usually a good idea to have at least 1 wall with a background or even a piece of black paper on the outside. Your frogs will be much more visible. When I got my first frogs, I had very little wall covering. The back wall was only partially covered, and my frogs were always hiding. Then, I put a piece of black paper over one of the side walls and they were much more bold. 

Just a thought, either way this tank will be amazing!


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Vinegaroonie said:


> Awesome tank! You definitely have a knack for this, most new froggers wouldn't go for such a complicated display but yours worked out fantastically! Definitely going on my inspirational tanks list. Although leucs do climb, I think varaderos would enjoy it more as they are "true" arboreal frogs. Both are good choices, though.
> 
> One little thing, though; none of the walls are covered. It's usually a good idea to have at least 1 wall with a background or even a piece of black paper on the outside. Your frogs will be much more visible. When I got my first frogs, I had very little wall covering. The back wall was only partially covered, and my frogs were always hiding. Then, I put a piece of black paper over one of the side walls and they were much more bold.
> 
> Just a thought, either way this tank will be amazing!


Thank you for the kind words, they are very appreciated! I actually planned on having this be viewable from all angles (even though its on my desk right now). The centerpiece actually *just* fits in the tank with the 18" depth, so I couldn't put a background in even if I wanted. I am hoping because the tree has quite a bit of cover around the center that the frogs will still feel secure, but I can always cover one side with some contact paper when it gets to that point  That's another reason I was looking at Leucs and Varadero, as I have heard both can be quite bold!


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Update

The second round of planting has been completed, and the tank has been seeded with springtails and dwarf white isopods. A big thanks to JWerner for the awesome cutting package! I think I have a couple more plants to add (some vining ferns) in the next couple days, but this is pretty much it

New FTS


A couple close-ups showing some of the new peps



New plant list:

Neo "Wild Tiger"
Neo "Hannibal Lector x Cheers"
Neo "Dartanion"
Neo "Checkerboard"
Korean Rock Fern
NOID pilea
NOID fern
P emarginella 'Ecuador'
P emarginella 'Panama'
P cf Jamesoniana 
P eburnea
P sp (Equadorian)
P perciliata
P sp 'banos'
P rubella 
P caespitosa 
P isla colon
Marcgravia sp 'Suriname'
Begonia thelmae

Thanks!


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## waterbed fred (Jan 10, 2010)

Love this!! very innovative! I'm subscribing to this thread!! MORE PICS!!! LoL


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## GandalfTheGrey (Nov 18, 2015)

The NOID pilea that you have might be a pilea nummulariifolia. Is there a chance that you could get a clearer picture of it? You could also try taking a picture of it, then doing an image search on google. You're tank is awesome by the way, awesome placement of the broms in the wood


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

GandalfTheGrey said:


> The NOID pilea that you have might be a pilea nummulariifolia. Is there a chance that you could get a clearer picture of it? You could also try taking a picture of it, then doing an image search on google. You're tank is awesome by the way, awesome placement of the broms in the wood


Thank you! I don't believe it is nummalariifolia, as it has these purple streaks on the leaves that I have never seen in nummalariifolia, although the growth pattern does resemble it. It almost looks like a cross between "creeping charlie" and "moon valley". Ill try and post a better picture of it tonight when I get home. It looked so unique at the nursery I picked it up at I couldn't resist, and it was only $1.99!


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Here is a close-up of my mystery Pilea


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

That almost looks like more of an Epsicia/Gesneriad than a Pilea to me.


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## Vinegaroonie (Jul 31, 2015)

empire3569 said:


> Thank you for the kind words, they are very appreciated! I actually planned on having this be viewable from all angles (even though its on my desk right now). The centerpiece actually *just* fits in the tank with the 18" depth, so I couldn't put a background in even if I wanted. I am hoping because the tree has quite a bit of cover around the center that the frogs will still feel secure, but I can always cover one side with some contact paper when it gets to that point  That's another reason I was looking at Leucs and Varadero, as I have heard both can be quite bold!


I love the idea of having it be viewable from all angles! As long as you have lots of plants (which you do) and hiding spots (which you do), the frogs will be comfortable. Having a background/contact paper just makes them feel more secure. Either of those frogs would be bold, but again, I would go for the varaderos as they will make full use of all the climbing space you've provided!

-Niko


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Wanted to post a bit of an update; the terrarium is doing very well (still no frogs, I am moving in the next couple months and will probably pick some up once we are all settled in  ). The broms have been coloring up nicely, it seems like the issue I had with the patchy color loss was due to the bright conditions in the viv and after a brief adjustment period they look very nice. I just removed quite a bit of moss as it was getting very leggy and starting to smother out some of my epiphytic vines, left a few patches but am toying wih just removing it all together. as even the patches I left are pretty yellow. If any moss pros out there have some tips I'd greatly appreciate it. Anyway, here are some pics: 







Anyway, thanks for looking!


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## Draikan (Oct 23, 2015)

I can chime in on the moss. My tank has a lot of moss that looked very similar for a few months. I still haven't gotten frogs, and I think this is part of the problem. The moss isn't getting the nutrients it needs. I'll suggest two options:

1) Fertilize the tank. I used a very dilute mixture of dyna grow foliage pro and distilled water. Just a few drops in a regular sized spray bottle. I misted lightly every few days and the moss looked way better. Fertilizer isn't very popular around here due to toxicity concerns.

2) Get frogs, let them do the work!

Option 2 is better.


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## LobCityLA (Nov 5, 2014)

Awesome vivarium you got going for yourself. I'm creating something in similar mindset, I just received a 46 gallon bow front (36"x22"x12") and have a very large arched cork round I just received from Josh's Frogs. I have opted against a background and want a viewable from all angles vivarium. Planning on using broms, mini orchids and vining plants. Inhabitants will be (hopefully) a group of highland sirensis/lamasi. Your viv came out very nice, good job!


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## Merkwood (Feb 24, 2015)

Plants came in nicely! I like how you got this to work without a bg


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## Wolf Guy (Feb 18, 2017)

Inspiring. Not jealous at all


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## SirRobby (Aug 28, 2017)

Figured I should post on here since a certain someone said they'd be updating their thread in the near future


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Hello everyone, I have a long overdue update for this viv, so I'll just get started

I never ended up getting frogs; I moved when I started my medical residency last year and things were very busy, and the tank was put on the backburner. I was always hand misting but never got into a good rhythm, so nothing really took off. I ended up removing all the moss and unfortunately had quite a few of my smaller epiphytes die off.

The good news is now that my first year is finished and I have settled in a bit more, the tank is back on! I recently purchased a MistKing and have that all set up, and 2 days ago seeded the tank with some NEHerp moss slurry. So while it may not look that grown in now, I'm hoping in the next 6-8 weeks things will really take off  

Still deciding between Veradero and Leucs, leaning more towards Leucs at this point....

Anyway, here are a few pics!









Thanks for looking!


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## xbrennan (Mar 25, 2018)

empire3569 said:


> Thanks for looking!


Love it! Just purchased some leucs myself, I'm sure they would love the height in there. The broms look amazing as well!


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## Eruantien (Dec 23, 2014)

Nice! This is quite a beautiful tank.


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

So slight update (sorry no pics this time though)

I went ahead and decided on frogs... Fine-spotted Leucs! I put a deposit down on a trio, should be ready in a little over two months!

I also realized that I don't like how evenly distributed my broms are right now; so my option were to rearrange the ones I have into a more clustered design, or buy more to make clusters.... so I went with option two and bought more. I have a group of 6 Neo "mo peppa please" and then 4 individual broms that will be here next week. Hopefully it doesn't look like overkill in there afterwards, if it does then I'll rearrange and keep some extras in a grow out tank

Anyway, I'll post pics once I add the new broms in. Thanks!


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## alsofaac (Aug 21, 2013)

Beautiful beginning! Looking forward to see it completed.


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Alright, so I got impatient and rearranged the broms I already have. I like the arrangement much better, I think I still need a couple, but definitely not all 10 I ordered lol. Oh well, at least this way I can pick and choose. Anyway, here are a couple pics of the more "bunched" look, let me know if you guys like it better/worse


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## Khamul (Jan 16, 2018)

I like it, definitely an improvement. Honestly, I wouldn't add any more broms. The amount right now looks great - dont overdue it! You can easily keep the broms you having coming alive. Use them for another build! Now for patience and the moss to grow in...


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## dmsaw (Oct 11, 2018)

Would love to see the end result with frogs!


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## tropfrog (Sep 6, 2018)

Less is more. Dont add anything more. Just relaxa an watch it grow in.

Br
Magnus


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## empire3569 (Apr 4, 2014)

Hey everyone, wanted to give a quick update. Tank is still doing well, I've had the frogs for several months and they are doing great, pretty sure I have a 1.2 group. My male calls every day (and has been doing so for a few months) so yesterday I ordered a petri dish and coco hut to see if I can get some tads. Any way, here are some pics (sorry about the foggy glass):





































I do have one question for some of the pros on the board; I love the structure and bromeliads, however the tank has been growing in for over a year, and still doesn't have as much "green" as I want; what I mean by this is that I see more of the wood then I would like. I ended up taking out all my moss (tried NEHerp moss and Dusk moss mix) and neither really took off. I have several species of vining peperomias in there, but the only one that really does well is P. emerginella. I guess what I asking is: what plants should I add to bring more "green to the middle structure? what I would love is to have the structure look like the first two pictures in this thread: https://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/352872-need-ideas-skyscraper-tank-no-background.html

Any advice and feedback would be appreciated, thanks for looking!


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I wouldn't try to cover the wood, it looks amazing the way it is!


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## frogwatcher (May 9, 2013)

I know it's been awhile since you posted this. But maybe you could look into a plant called "riccia". It is an aquarium plant but its naturally a floater. If you out it on the wood in no time it will carpet. 

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## jemzam (Sep 17, 2008)

Wow! I'm impressed!!


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## madagascarmama (Sep 9, 2019)

Beautiful idea and execution!


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## mikemakesapps (Mar 11, 2019)

I know this is an old thread, but I can't help but check this out again as I look for inspiration for a new build. This is a really beautiful, unique, amazing build. Well done!


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