# Building my first viv, water pond or not?



## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I'm building my first viv and I'm weighing the advantages and disadvantages of having a water pond in the viv itself. I'll have D.Auratus in the viv and the water pond would not be very deep.

Disadvantes that I see:
-chance of water becoming foul and dirty
-fruit flies drowning
-possibility of frogs drowning if it's a little too deep
-figuring out how to create a proper false bottom without having a water pump and such

ect...

Advantage that I see is the visual part of it and that's it.

What do you guys think? Any opinions on how to create an easy and reliable water pond using a false bottom that is easy for beginner viv builder.
Thanks!


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

a bunch of fruit flies drowned and die in mine and it is getting dirty, im not sure what to do


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## fraser2009 (Jan 4, 2009)

ponds look good but they also help keep the humidity up and give your frogs access to water if they wish


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

my frogs dont seem to care much for the pond


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

Fruit flies drowning are not a problem of concern. 

Another benefit is that if you do not have a drain drilled in you can siphon out of the pond when the water gets too high. 

A super simple "pond" is to just use gravel or leca under your substrate and wherever you want the pond just dig a small hole with sloping sides. As the water level rises you will have a little pond. Most people put them against the front glass or on the sides of the tank. Very easy and hard to mess up.


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## Faceless (Sep 11, 2008)

Yeah if you get the right things you
can make it a little ecosystem with
a couple floating plants (i like amazon frogbit) 
that will help keep the pond clean and also
some small aquatic snails that sometimes
hop in with some of those plants... They will
eat all your dead flies too..... I would recommend
perhaps rigging a hidden tubing so you can stick 
a siphon down and suck up the water
with like a smaller airline/water pump like Toms
Aqua Lifter.... Or even better drill a hole with
a drain and valve then you can just pour it out
if you feel like changing the water or it gets
too high....


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

but wont the water get stagnet?


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## DCreptiles (Jan 26, 2009)

well in my viv i started with no pond. and the frogs did great with out one. but then i wanted to see what would happen if i put one in. and i just took a rock tub that i got from petco. and dug it in real nice. suprisingly it didnt get dirty fast. i filled it with gravel to shallow it out with a nice plant and the frogs explored for the first week and then kinda went back to their other fav spots. they seem to like sitting in the plants better lol. so i removed it and their just as happy as the day they didnt have it. the vivs with ponds are beautiful, but id feel bad if something happen to one of my frogs in it. im thinking of getting more frogs and i have all the parts and supplys to make a nice waterfall just not sure how it will work out. but either way you go just make sure its shallow enough for them to get out and have a plant in the middle to grab onto if they panic.


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I would use the syphoning method but I don't drill a hole through a glass tank hehe, not that experience with both the tools and the job lol.
But I see what you mean, I wrote down frogbit as one of the plants I needed to buy so I think I'll go ahead and do it the simple way your talking about with leca and plants to keep it clean 




Faceless said:


> Yeah if you get the right things you
> can make it a little ecosystem with
> a couple floating plants (i like amazon frogbit)
> that will help keep the pond clean and also
> ...


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

boogsawaste....when you create the slopping with the leca and soil...how do you keep the soil and water separate...at some point won't the water rise to the soil....and what do you use as the ponds substrate? Do you expande the leca all over the viv floor and that's the water ponds bottom lets say or is there something I need to cover the leca with (*besides a screen of course*)
I was thinking frogbit as a few plants in the water as mentioned and as well I will cover the hole soil with java moss and let it grow in towards the water pond as such so I imagine the moss will help clean the water as well correct?

Got a good link where I can buy LECA? I searched my local hardware store and no luck yesterday.


Thanks a bunch!


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I will go ahead and make a water pond...my red eye tree frogs use it actively now I see them in there and I see the soil get in the water every day so I think the little PDF's will enjoy having some water around even if they don't soak actively in it.

Time to get to work


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## Ed Holder (Sep 26, 2008)

Your best bet for Leca/ Hydroton is your local hydroponics shop

Ed


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I don't know what hydrophonics is  hehe



Ed Holder said:


> Your best bet for Leca/ Hydroton is your local hydroponics shop
> 
> Ed


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## Marinarawr (Jan 14, 2009)

Like everyone else said, try greenhouses in your area and ask for LECA/Hydroton/Aliflor/Terra-Lite (I've heard that Hydroton is the highest quality and most consistent in size). If all else fails try eBay. You won't really save much going through eBay since the shipping brings it right back up to retail price, but at least you'll get some .


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Ziggi said:


> I will go ahead and make a water pond...


I think that's the right approach. One advantage of a pond is that it provides another moisture source for the frogs to self regulate their moisture levels. A little extra insurance in case the tank's humidity level drops or the substrate drys out too much.


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

Will try local greenhouses.
If all else fails like you said I checked some out on ebay and it came to around 20$ for a 10lbs bag so I can handle that.

Is there a specific purpose of LECA other then acting as a drainage system for the extra water and such...do plants benefit from LECA or anything else?



Marinarawr said:


> Like everyone else said, try greenhouses in your area and ask for LECA/Hydroton/Aliflor/Terra-Lite (I've heard that Hydroton is the highest quality and most consistent in size). If all else fails try eBay. You won't really save much going through eBay since the shipping brings it right back up to retail price, but at least you'll get some .


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## fraser2009 (Jan 4, 2009)

it is made for hydrophonics which is growing plants with no soil you add all the plants need in a solution but for are use it should act as a large filter


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

Well, I cover the whole bottom of the viv with a couple inches of gravel (4" is good in my tanks). I use a fine enough gravel that I don't use screen to separate but you can use it. If you dig it deep enough and have enough gravel/leca the water level will never touch the substrate. I simply let the gravel in there as a substrate and cover the sides up to the top of the regular substrate with my gravel so it keeps the soil out. Does that make any sense? If not I'll have to borrow a camera and post up a pic of it (my camera bit the dust).


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I think I understand but I'm not sure hehe 



boogsawaste said:


> Well, I cover the whole bottom of the viv with a couple inches of gravel (4" is good in my tanks). I use a fine enough gravel that I don't use screen to separate but you can use it. If you dig it deep enough and have enough gravel/leca the water level will never touch the substrate. I simply let the gravel in there as a substrate and cover the sides up to the top of the regular substrate with my gravel so it keeps the soil out. Does that make any sense? If not I'll have to borrow a camera and post up a pic of it (my camera bit the dust).


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

See if this helps.


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

I get it, so you put a pretty thick amount of gravel or Leca.
I'll be able to lay the screen right on top of the LECA all the way then and just have a small amoung of water come over it. Plant a few Frogbit in there and moss all over the place and I'll have my viv on a right start 

Thanks!


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

That's it! And when the water gets too high you can just siphon off from the pond.


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

perfect! I got the background started, waiting for some more driftwood.
Then I'll start the bottom. Once that's all done I'm ordering a bunch of plants, after plants are done in and grown a bit I'm ordering a bunch of springtails and a few fruitfly cultures...
AFTER that is all done I'll be able to get my 4 D.Auratus lol  my god it's a long time to way.
I'm usually much more impulsive then this and get the animal before proper research is done...but I'm doing it the right way for these guys.

Thanks for your help!


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

You can do your springtails immediately after it's planted. That will save you some time and it will give them even longer to establish.


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## smitty (Jul 23, 2009)

What i do is get a small fountain pump get a small storage container wit lid drill 1/4 inc holes only on the bottom now take a peice of bamboo stake 1.00 at hdp cut it to fit in fountain pump cut hole in top of storage bin lid to fit bamboo put gravel in box then air filter cut to fit put it together place in tank fill with gravel to cover box (thats your highspot in the terrai for waterfall stream) my frogs seem to go and sit by the edges to call the water is easy to change this way just stick airline hose down in bamboo the water will come out u might need to help it start siphoning up depends on pump and heightof cage


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