# 10 Gallon vertical tank, then and now



## Occidentalis (Jul 11, 2009)

Hello all! I’m new to the forum, been keeping herps and fish for a while now but have just gotten into frogs. Thought I’d say hello with a set of pictures from about a year ago with a short description. This was my first build, and I definitely learned a lot, including that black great stuff does not come off your clothes or hands easily at all =)
The first thing I did was to construct the false bottom.








The first piece I cut out was to house the pump and heater for the aquarium. I wanted this to be removable to a degree if something happened to either device or adjustments had to be made. 
















I chose some driftwood pieces that I thought would both fit, but ended up just using the smaller piece for the waterfall.








Time to drill the tank! Luckily I had a buddy with the bits who was willing to do it for me. One hole is for a drain in the tank, the other is for the cords for the heater and pump and whatever else. Here is the drilled tank with the bulkheads installed and the drain fittings in place. Wrenched on this too much, or ended up with a cracked tank. Oops. Good thing this corner is being waterproofed anyways. The tube on the back will swivel down and allow me to drain the tank when I need to. It is rigid enough to stay in place by itself. (Not the best idea, but it was my first viv)















I chose a small fountain pump on low setting, and a walmart “junior” heater that I refer to as the nipple heater. You’ll see why.
























So we had that issue with the back corner cracking… here is where it gets fixed. I put a layer of silicone over it, then filled the corner with the expandable foam. I also put a thin layer around the sides to hide the plastic stuff from view. I left the right side open so I could see the pump and be able to diagnose any problems with it. The pump had some issues with the tubing sliding off, so I zip tied it on tightly. 
























Here is a close-up of the bottom.








On a bigger tank I’d probably use Styrofoam® or the waterfall foam to make a background for just the water spot, but to save space I’m just using thin rocks that I busted apart from a garden center. To make them lie flat for me I used a small tile saw to cut an edge off. I then used the cut edges along the top to make a nice little ledge. I have them set in there to figure out the perfect placement. Glue them in only after you have them all in place.








Here the rocks are glued in place and the front water baffle is in place. Also notice the absence of the black tube. I cut a slot for it in the background along the back then put a line of waterfall foam over it to cover it, covering that with the silicone and coco. It is now almost completely hidden. You can just see the white spout sticking out a tad. 
















Here I’ve epoxied some smaller rocks over and under the spout to break the stream and let it trickle down around the rocks. Without these the stream sprayed me outside of the tank. With them it trickles down around the wood and moss bed nicely. This pretty much completes the waterfall, as it will grow in with plants and not need much more care. 








The hinges on here like this didn’t even work out at all. I had to pry them off and used packing tape to hold the door on for a while =/ I now have clear plastic hinges working well on the tank.








Now add the final terrestrial plants… I’ve used some salvinia minima on the log. As long as it stays moist, this will grow up the log. 
The final at that moment with a crappy bulb.








Here it is today, almost one year later. A lot of things have changed… including the hinges but mostly the plants have really changed and grown in around the log.
















Now it’s home to this guy.









Hope you enjoyed!


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## mongo77 (Apr 28, 2008)

Excellent job!! That tank came out great for your first tank.


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## crw.dft (Oct 14, 2008)

Beautiful. When I saw it at first I thought to my self "man, he's taking up a lot of ground space with that water feature." Now I see why. Gotta love those mossies.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

What a great first post!


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## Occidentalis (Jul 11, 2009)

Philsuma said:


> What a great first post!


Thanks! I definitely learned a lot of lessons with this build. I was unwise to the way of the hydroton, and used the silly packaged stuff from Petco. What a bunch of dirty crumbly crap. I've made another Exo Terra that I'd like to post soon, and was amazed by the hydroton's cleanliness and quality.

It seems that I have some bug to make more display tanks. It seems almost addicting... Is this a common feeling around here?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

looks bigger than a 10 gallon, nice built!


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## rollei (Jun 4, 2009)

Which plant is the one climbing up all over the walls? And also the small leaved plant? It looks very nice. Well done. And in the modern picture, what is the background made of?


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## taggdog (Nov 27, 2008)

Very Nice!! I love the pictures with the tank grown in, I think I like watching my plants grow and fill a viv almost as much as I love my frogs hopping around in it.


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## Occidentalis (Jul 11, 2009)

rollei said:


> Which plant is the one climbing up all over the walls? And also the small leaved plant? It looks very nice. Well done. And in the modern picture, what is the background made of?


The one all over the walls I believe to be a "Bolivian" strain of wandering jew, but I haven't confirmed that. The plant with the small leaves is some sort of fern I think, but I have no idea. It grows out of anything and up anything given the correct moisture. 

Here are some close ups... if anyone has a different ID on these plants I would really like to know what they are for sure.

Small leafed "fern"?









Bolivian Wandering Jew? (Above frog)


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## jpstod (Sep 8, 2005)

Love the Tank and the Frogs


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

Great build =)
Gotta love verts haha


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## JStetz (Jul 18, 2009)

Wow! That is an awesome looking Viv!! Love the mossie too...one of my favorites! What tool(s) did you use to cut the holes in the glass? How easy/difficult is it to get to the filter for cleaning - - And...Where did you find the plants?


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## Occidentalis (Jul 11, 2009)

JStetz said:


> Wow! That is an awesome looking Viv!! Love the mossie too...one of my favorites! What tool(s) did you use to cut the holes in the glass? How easy/difficult is it to get to the filter for cleaning - - And...Where did you find the plants?


The holes in the glass were drilled with a diamond bit that my friend had. The filter is very difficult to get to, unfortunately. I do a lot of water changes. I tried to design it to be workable but the great stuff expanded more than expected. 

The plants were all cuttings or pups from the greenhouse at Arkansas State University. I have tons of extra of the green climbing "Bolivian" Wandering jew, I posted it in the trade section. It grows out of my powerfilters on aquariums.


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