# First Vivarium Construction Journal



## Guest (Nov 19, 2005)

I'm in the middle of building my first vivarium. It's going to be a surprise gift for my boyfriend's birthday next month. Actually, we'll both enjoy it!  

The first phase has been constructing the false bottom and just thinking hard about everything I'll need and how to place it. I've used plastic egg crate covered with plastic canvas for the false bottom structure. I'm not planning on using vertical pieces on the back edge, since it will be flush with the rear tank glass. [/img]

So, the list of what to do next is as follows - 

-finish false bottom vertical pieces and cover with plastic canvas

-figure out pump/waterfall/river placement. I'm going to try a "stair step" look for the waterfall, and a little river leading to a pond. 

-figure out the splitter for the pump tubing to do a waterfall and a dripwall, I guess. (In order to reduce water pressue.)

-decide how to build up the area around the waterfall - what to use that can be removed for pump maintenance. Perhaps peat bricks?

-Cork panel for the back wall is not long enough. move all the way to the right, leaving open space on area of wall where waterfall will be.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2005)

Day 5-

Last night I started cutting out the final panels for the false bottom. I began using liquid nails to adhere small aquarium gravel to the plastic canvas which covers the panels which will be on the visible sides of the tank. I'm going to use the GE silicone 2 for the rest, either that or just pile the gravel in between the false bottom and the tank walls. I'm going to be very glad to have the false bottom done. :? 

I'm really looking forward to beginning the landscaping process. My plant order from Cloud Jungle was shipped today, and should be here by Wednesday, as should the compact flourescent fixture I won on Ebay. I plan on having the tank up an running in my basement for 2 1/2 wks or so before bringing it upstairs and then buying frogs. 

The waterfall is still going to be a challenge. I finished sticking the cork background on with silicone, then filling in the open area with Great Stuff covered with moss. This section will be behind the pump tubing, and won't really be visible, so I didn't knock myself out with making sure every scrap was covered with moss. 

Again, I'm wondering about how to go about building some height around the tubing, and making the waterfall - in a way that is removable if the pump needs servicing. I know many people use Great Stuff for that, but would you spray it right in the tank over the egg crate, or attach it to some sort of panels or something that could be taken out?


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

tn88,

Are you going to quarantine your frogs before you put them in that viv? Most people on this board recommend a three month quarantine.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2005)

lucky boyfriend 

there are tons of way to do the waterfall like you are talking about. im planning on doing a GS type waterfall on my next viv that will be totally removable. you could also silicone a pile of rocks together and stack them on top of the pump (well a little more planning than that ), where the rocks would be removable to get to the pump underneath.

whatever you do take lots of pics and let us know how it works out.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestions!

How do you plan on making a removable waterfall structure from Great Stuff? Would the highest ends of it be some sort of flat panels?


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2005)

*Quarentine*

Grassypeak,

Yes, I do plan on doing a quarentine, not sure if I'll last 3 months, though. I do have a ten-gallon I can put them in.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Good deal. I hate to see anyone put so much effort into a viv and then just dump newly purchased frogs in. Good luck and you’ll be surprised how quickly three months will go.


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2005)

Tonight I drilled holes in my pieces of PVC pipe and attached them to the bottom of my tank. I also tried out stuffing gravel between the sides of the false bottom and the aquarium glass. It didn't work out so well when I got higher than an inch or so...gravel slid under the false bottom, and just didn't stay where I wanted it. 










I'm going to pick up some more silicone tomorrow and have another go at attaching the gravel to the panels. 










The housing for the pump is almost complete, however. I made a couple of pieces that will fit well enough over it, with the cord sticking out. 










And so, tonight brings to mind an important question. Other than an access point for the pump, the false bottom will remain in place for the foreseable future, right? In fact, I should probably put some Great Stuff or something along the back edge where the false bottom meets the glass to fill any gaps.

[/img]


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

Yes... you should not need to access your false bottom. You want to prevent, one way or another, anything from getting under there. The bead of great stuff would be one solution.


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2005)

also, you could put a bead of GS or silicone around th bottom of the front of your false bottom. this will help hold the bottom from folding back when you stack the rocks in front of it.

as for the removable GS waterfall, i plan to build the false bottom with a section missing (much the same as yours. i will cover the edge with great stuff to create a border around the opening. i plan to line that GS and the adjacent walls with wax paper. i will then form the waterfall out of GS filling in the gaps up to the wax paper. the wax paper should allow me to build a tight fitting water fall without attaching it permenantly. i should be able to remove it, take the wax paper off, then put it back in the tank. i should be easily removable as long as i dont accidently silicone it to the fixed parts of the tank.


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## Guest (Nov 23, 2005)

Last night I finished the false bottom, I think. I siliconed the pieces all together, and the back of the f.b. to the back glass of the tank. After attaching the panels to the bottom of the tank, the gravel stays in place quite well, except for a few areas where the pond starts where I'll have to put silicone on the panels and slide gravel over it.


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2005)

Well, last night was fun, and last night was frustrating. I realize more than ever now, how vitally important it is to (as completely as you can) plan out the whole setup and landscape of the tank. I got home from work and wanted to work on the waterfall and stream. I sprayed Great Stuff around the pump housing area to build some height, but it just kinda tipped over (the pile of wet GS). Hmmm. I sprayed a small stream area as well. I got GS on a wall of the tank, but found that it comes off with a little scraping and some alchohol. 

The main thing now is deciding exactly how to do the waterfall. I'm concerned about the waterfall pressure being too high. I decided not to do the dripwall or buy a splitter.












This is the side view. I have to buy more gravel to fill in between the glass.









The waterfall still isn't done, I'm going to work on it some more today. My order from Cloud Jungle arrived, and I have more moss than I need...may have to start another tank. I'm going to make a soil mix out of "Bed-A-Beast" which is ground, compressed coco fiber, orchid mix, and long fibre spagnum.


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2005)

What brand/model pump are you using?


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2005)

Hmm, I'm not sure. It's from a Nano Cube, I know that. If it's too strong, I'm going to use one that I have already that's 75 gph.


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2005)

*Reworking the stream*

I just don't think that the waterfall and stream idea I had going originally is going to work....will redo tonight.


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2005)

*Still working at it*

Had to let things sit for a couple weeks as the end of the semester became all-consuming.  

Anyhow, I did get some things done, I got everything planted, (the bromeliads seems to love the CF lighting) and started the river system, using those black polished rocks from a craft store. Unfortunetly, I did not boil them before siliconing them to a piece of water bottle and put them in the tank. Of course, I got the gasoline-looking residue on the water, and some bubbles once I got the stream running. I pulled out the plastic, ripped off the rocks, scraped off the silicone, and then boiled them around 8-10 times. I drained all the water from the vivarium, and will replace the rocks and get the stream going again in the next few days. 

On that note, I found a different pump to use, with a lower output than my original (nano cube) pump, this made a huge difference. 

I'm currently finishing up the waterfall, made of slate and various rocks. My new idea is to use some bamboo pieces I have around to enclose the pump tubing and direct the water to the waterfall. 

The moss I'm using (various sheet mosses from Cloud Jungle) is lingering, not flourishing, but hanging in there despite me using tap water on it. :? This morning, I saw a couple of gray "roly poly" bugs...is this bad in anyone's experience?

Pics soon!


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2005)

Vivarium is finally set up, and running.


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## Frognut (Jan 31, 2005)

Looks great! I like how the water falls over the rocks.


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2005)

*First frog!*

My first frog has been purchased! It's a D. Azureus, and is still a froglet. I'll be picking up another one in a month or so. So far, it has been eating fruit flys and exploring the tank.


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## Frognut (Jan 31, 2005)

looks great! Thats one lucky frog. Are you going to the MI meeting? It sounds like there will be quite a few people going. http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6449&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2006)

hey do you have any more pictures of your setup? im going to start something like this in a 10 gal, and really like your setup. if you had any more pictures of the setup of the waterfall and the finaly pics that would be great.


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2006)

Sure, I will see what I can find.

The waterfall was the hardest part, by FAR. The water coming out of the pump never seems to be the perfect 'speed' or go exactly where you want it to.


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2006)

I looked, but didn't find any more construction photos of the waterfall. I will take photos soon of how it looks now.

I'll try to explain how I did the waterfall as best I can for you. I made a false bottom, and put the pump in a corner that was cut out. I attached tubing to the pump outlet and just left it long until I got the rockwork finished. Piled up rocks, siliconed them together, made the bamboo 'spout', drilled a hole for the tubing in that, and kinda leaned it between rocks to support it. 

Actually, the bamboo spout is covered with algae, so I'm planning on pulling things apart tonight - I'll take pics.


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