# 10g Vert!



## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

I had a vert kit laying around and saw a 10 gallon tank for sale for $5 so... ta-da!

When I tried to fit the top vent inside the rim, it didn't fit. By maybe a mm on each side. Instead of going insane (after a bad day at work) I took a knife to my problem and scraped off the inside plastic on each side and a little bit at the top of the frame. Very tedious.










After double checking the vent fit came the background work. Stuck a couple of pots in there for good measure.










Everything is all taped up and ready to be silicone/coco fibered. 










Done. (Don't I wish it was as easy as saying "done"!)










I only had one tube of silicone so the bare spots you see I covered using Gorilla Glue and coco.

Some plants. 










Planted!


















All of this took a couple of weeks of work here and there. On Friday a probable 1.1 of R. lamasi "orange" are going in here. 

I used a "Craft-It, White Plastic Canvas" I got at Walmart for like $1.70, 6 came in the pack. This separates the coco fiber, charcoal, moss, crushed magnolia leaves, that is the substrate from the leca drainage layer.

Once the little ones get here I will post more pictures! Hope everyone likes it!


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Looks great!


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks! I'm super excited about the frogs!


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Very nice! That piece of wood goes perfect


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## Reefer420 (Oct 18, 2009)

simple and sweet. I'm a big fan of vert tanks.


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## jfehr232 (Apr 13, 2009)

Made it into a really nice 10g vert for sure!

Whats going in it?


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks everyone! 

On Friday a probable pair of orange lamasi are going to call it home.


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## xsputnikx (May 11, 2010)

Looks good


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

nice work!


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## ryangreenway (Apr 30, 2010)

How'd you mount the brom on the background?


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Thankfully the 3 broms that are mounted to the background each had a nice size stolon when I got them. 
I just took a knife and poked a little starter hole through the silicone and into the Great Stuff background. After that I just kind of stuck it in there. Then I wrapped a bit of moss around the base and that was that!

The brom (and its pups) in the center is "planted" in a mesh pot with some moss and that teeny leca stuff. 
It's pretty much held in place by the wood and is off the substrate with the aid of the mesh pot.

Hope that answers your question!


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

ryangreenway said:


> How'd you mount the brom on the background?


He probably shoved it into the Great Stuff.

I had a chance to see his new frogs tonight. Beautiful! Can't wait to see the posted pics.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Operation: "Get Frogs" Successful! 

I met up with rcteem and frogface for a little fly/plant/frog thing. frogface was kind enough to give my wife this cool orchid! she really likes it 

After a 6 hour journey there and back again here are my first little froggies!
They took about 3-5min to leave their little shipping cups and proceeded to explore the viv from top to bottom. Gave them a little snack, took some pictures, and put them to bed.





































I can't take very good pictures. These 4 were the best out of like 50! Will try again later tomorrow. I'm so excited!


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Yay! Look at them exploring! Beautiful frogs.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Hehehe. Thanks! I'm slightly worried about the viv being like 2 ft from the TV. I don't know if the late night noise/light will stress them out. 

Hopefully tomorrow I can find some suction cups for my film canisters.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Hmmm, could maybe put something over the sides at night to block out the light? Drape a cloth over the tank at night to muffle sounds and give them darkness? I dunno.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Good idea. Kind of like a bird cage huh?


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## rcteem (Mar 24, 2009)

so is it true the pair you got from me already laid eggs??? How many days was that. Glad the are doing well for you.


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## champagnerob (May 10, 2010)

Looks good man! I can't wait til I start my own, but it'll have to wait.
If anyone has any leftover patience, could you please send me some. I'm running low.
Thanks.


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## MeiKVR6 (Sep 16, 2008)

Looks great! Very open layout for a 10G tank.

You might consider not wrapping the base of the neoregelias with moss tho... They can rot that way. So long as the humidity is 75%+ and there's water in the axis the bromeliads will do very well.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Pics of eggs please


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

The one I did wrap with moss has already sent out tons of roots.

As for the eggs... My wife said she saw something that looked like eggs the day I left for the field. That was on the 17th. I came home on the 20th. I looked where she said they were but, didn't see anything.


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## rcteem (Mar 24, 2009)

patience, the green lamasi laid eggs according to taz


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

These guys hide. All the time. My wife sees them more than I do!  They seem to like the morning right after lights come on and right after lights out. I increased the time the lights are on by 2 hours for the summertime. Now the lights are on for 14 hours instead of 12.

I've had some issues with heat. Temperatures would creep up to 80 during the day. Fixed by a combo of A/C and a computer fan. 

Here are a couple of quick videos.

YouTube - R. lamasi "orange" female


YouTube - R. lamasi "orange" male

Are the flash marks typical? Either these are very pronounced or the pictures I have seen don't do them justice.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

They look great! Glad you finally got a chance to see them, even if it was in video, lol. 

I suspect that they have been hard at work behind your back. Then one day you will see the babies crawling out of the broms.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Hahaha, I sure hope so! 

The way the broms are positioned in the tank I can't really see inside them. The female changed her prefered sleeping spot from a horizontal film canister to the main brom axil in the largest brom. I don't know if she's sleeping with her babies.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

A little more than 3 months later I wasn't really happy with the layout because I didn't think the inhabitants were.

While trying to catch these little guys so I could remodel their home one jumped out. Thankfully my wife was acting as spotter and helped me catch the little guy. When I tried to cup the other one she ran up my arm making it very convenient to catch her.

Basically I just pulled everything that wasn't doing well, put another fern in, and added tons of leaf litter. 










Although I don't think its as pleasing to the eye now; it's just that both frogs liked hiding in/behind that fern and there wasn't enough leaf litter in there. Snuck a couple of film canisters in with the leaf litter too.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Looks good! The trick is to make a barrier between you and them, while making it so that you can still spy on them. A faux barrier if you will, lol. Looks like your new design accomplishes that with the placement of the plants.


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