# New viv



## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi there.
In another thread I asked you how to cool down water of my misting system for my new 1.1. A. silverstonei. Well, they are still alive and the male is calling all the morning, even at temperatures about 79 °F. Nonetheless I have tested a very simple method using a small fridge to cool down the water and as this worked well for me I finally started to build the new viv for the silverstonei.

The viv is made up from 2 old glass plates which I found when I cleaned up my attic (they are originally from an old desk). I used them for the bottom and the rear. The sides and the front (exept for the windows...) are made up of pvc rigid foam plastic plates. The top and the front windows are made up of glass which I cutted on my own.

Dimensions:
width: 40 inches, depth: 23 inches, height: 23 inches

I used styrofoam, a polymer-based mortar (Ceresit) and several acrylics for the rock wall.

Front view:









Top view:









Texture in detail:









To guarantee a constant airflow I use an extensive top gauze (don't know the right english word... stainless steal mesh?) and cutted 2 holes in the side walls. One on the left to blow fresh air inside the viv and one on the right to blow the air out again.

As can be seen on the second picture, I use an outlet valve to drain out the water periodly as I couldn't drill any hole in the bottom glass plate, because it's savety glass.




























To prevent water from the misting system from running through these holes, I made some kind of "roofs" which are placed above the holes.










Finally I constructed a floor unit using pvc and square timber (which I have to glaze with wood preservation later...) . The square timber construction on the left isn't part of the floor unit, it's another project I'm working on.










Then I installed the misting system and lighting (3 misting nozzles connected to an expresso machine's pump, 2 T5 HE lamps), first of all to check if the front windows would fog up, as in Europe we normally use a bottom vent AND a top vent.
Well, there is no clouding at all, even if I do not use the cpu coolers. Think, this is because of the very large top vent.
Reasons why I didn't want a bottom (front) vent:
- looks poor
- always water from the misting system running down the front windows and dripping through the bottom vent
- during phases of high misting I want to cover the large top vent with another peace of pvc and use the cpu coolers at very low intensity to gain very high humidity, during the dry season I want to uncover the top vent and use the cpu coolers at high intensity so it will be really dry.

By the way I used these rock walls many times before and mosses grow really well on this surface, even as there is no peat wall, xaxim and so on.
This is another viv from me using the same technique after 4 month running:



















As can be seen I like a more "minimalistic" planting... the new viv will be planted with this fern (don't know the species)










and this philodendron scandens (because these frogs need large leaves to sleep on)










and java moss... nothing else (but many leaves on the ground)
As drainage I'll use small pieces of quarrystone as can be found at railroad tracks... I've done so before and I favor this over a typical false bottom.


I hope my english isn't such bad and you have been able to read my post 
Of course I'll update this thread after awhile to show you what the viv will finally look like with the plants and silverstonei inside.

greets,
CF


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## calusa (Mar 15, 2009)

It looks very nice!


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

Thats amazing! Was that java moss in your other vivarium? It looks really bright green although its probably just the lighting. Whenever i use java moss it stays dark dark green.The plant you dont know the name of looks like a Lemon Button Fern. Great job by the way!


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

love the rock work!!! that is pretty sweet!!


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Thx... nice to read that there are ppl who like it so far. 



Rick said:


> Thats amazing! Was that java moss in your other vivarium? It looks really bright green although its probably just the lighting. Whenever i use java moss it stays dark dark green.The plant you dont know the name of looks like a Lemon Button Fern. Great job by the way!


Yes, that's java moss and it is bright green (even in natural daylight without any other lighting). The moss always looks this color in my own and my brother's vivs, I didn't know it could be darker in other people's vivs.
I migrate java moss in my vivs by taking a huge amount of moss from my tadpole containers and rupturing/pulling it to pieces, then laying it down where I want it to grow. If the viv is misted several times the day and if I use RO water for misting, the moss always grows very well and gets that bright green. I always use T5 lamps with high efficiency and low output (18 watts and less), therefore I am sure it can't be the lighting. I think it's the huge amount in the beginning, RO water and the humidity.
Other methods as i.e. mixing dried and powdered java moss into the coating (or any other material like peat and so on) did never work for me as the result has always been a very poor and dark moss growing out after many month...

greets,
CF


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## Ziggi (Jan 23, 2009)

Very very very very nice.
Wish I could do something like that 
Great looking viv!


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## ray1taylor (Nov 15, 2008)

WOW thats one of the best rock walls i've ever seen!

I love the lookk of that moss. Is that just java moss yes?


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Yes, that's just java moss 
In the early beginning when me and my brother started to keep and breed dartfrogs we had thick-set vivs like this one (almost 10 years ago)









Meanwhile I prefer that minimalistic look, just some mosses, ferns and leaves on the ground, because I personnally think this way of planting is a bit more natural. For example, if I take a picture of the local wood from a far distance it also looks like a green hell but if I take a picture at close range there aren't as much plants as expected.

Well, that's a matter of opinion... there are many exessive planted vivs of users here which I like anyhow.

greets,
CF


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Recently I finished planting my viv. I used more plants as I originally expected (Spathophyllum, Nephrolepis cordifolia and some kind of an Araceae species)
I'll post better pics when the plants will have settled in a while and the silverstonei have moved to their new housing.










greets,
CF


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## RichardA (Jul 15, 2009)

Looks great!


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## Mikko (Sep 23, 2005)

That´s really nice! Edit: Yep missed the dimensions in the first post.


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi
I recently put the silverstonei into their new housing. I think they'll like it, because the male is frequently calling and both frogs hang around together at their two spawning houses.
Even in the new viv they aren't shy at all. Yesterday I fed them some larger food items and had my hands very close to them. I think I could have fed them directly from my hands, but I was afraid that they could jump out of the open door.




























greets,
CF


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## BBoyette (Mar 9, 2009)

Great job!, it looks awsome.


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

Those are some neat frogs
I don't see them often...or ever haha
Bet they took some finangling to get a hold of


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi,
4-5 days after I put the silverstonei into their new viv I checked the spawning houses and found this:










Exactly 50 eggs. Well, I know Ameerega to produce large egg clutches (as I keep trivittata for a long time) but I didn't expect the first one to be such large. Of course I'm very happy right now. 

Greets,
CF


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## BBoyette (Mar 9, 2009)

Congrats! Hopefully a good number of them will successfully make it all the way. Could be a future purchase.
Good luck!

BTW awsome tricolor, didint see him at first.


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Thx
The tricolor you recognized is my favorite tricolor (or anthonyi...some people claim it's tricolor, others anthonyi) morph. I have had 14 of them (offspring of my brother's tricolor) in that viv and loved the way the group interacted. Now I sold them because when they got adult my brother and me would have had to many offspring of both groups. Now I keep 6 leucomelas in this viv (unfortunally there is just one calling  )










greets,
CF


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## carbonetc (Oct 13, 2008)

Wow. Very nice haul. I'd definitely buy those guys.


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## AAroneous (Aug 14, 2009)

Wow.
I've been assembling and growing a new vivarium. It's my first true effort at putting one together. While I'm proud of how it's turning out, it still doesn't quite compare to yours. Yours looks very nice.
Handsome frogs, too. (I haven't quite made it that far.)


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