# 40 breeder for D.azureus



## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

I am working on a 40 gallon for a trio of breeding D. azureus. I am laying the tank on its side so I can make a front hinged door and have more height. The pictures say the rest. Let me know what you think. 

This is the tank, I got the glass siliconed in and will worry about the door later. 










There is a pesky drain hole in the back left corner which I have not decided if I am going to use or not and how. There will be a large faux tree there so...ideas?










This is the start of the pond area, just started stacking styro which will be shaped once I get the general look. what do you think? I gave up on this version at 2am. I cant decide to keep or not. 










In the back left corner there will be a tree with roots spreading over the rocks and into the pond. my goal is to have them so dense that the frogs can utilize them instead of just having a big pond they cant use. 



















Let me know what you think.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I think you're off to a great start. I like your idea for the dense roots in the water area. My only concern is that you must be careful about the spacing, so a frog can't get wedged in there, unable to escape, and drown. I think as long as you take your sweet time planning, it will work out beautifully. You could even use the roots to create seperate smaller pools, and let the frogs deposit tads in them. Keep us posted.


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## rhino43grr (Oct 2, 2011)

hey, you stole my idea! haha
looking good. i'm interested to see how you do the door since that's the part of the project i'm still trying to figure out.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Well I want it to be a very uninterrupted view so I am either going to use 4 small clips and have the door removable in one piece, or I am going to put a living hinge or similar at the top so it doesnt run right through the tank. I have been playing with a few ideas havent settled yet. I havent seen anyone else turn the 40 on its side! make no sense as you get more height and a great about of floor space still, plus front doors.


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## rhino43grr (Oct 2, 2011)

i'm picking up a 40 breeder tomorrow and plan on doing the same conversion. i had thought about doing it with a 20 tall (actually started a thread about the idea) but decided to wait until i had a bigger tank so things weren't so cramped inside.

i was toying with the idea of sliding doors, but i think it might be beyond my level of expertise. now i'm thinking the way to go might be to have a clear living hinge across the top of the substrate barrier glass and have one solid flip-down glass door.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

the sliding doors are not hard, just find the right track. you are right the hinge you described would be the easiest. for this viv I want to avoid having a big hinge running through the tank. it will be close to the substrate yes I just want a really clean display. thats why I was thinking the hinge at the top attached to the plastic frame. or just one big pull off panel. if you have never played with hinges the flip down is super easy and very strong. I was going to do the sliding doors but decided it wasnt going to be clean enough. good idea on waiting. a 40B is perfect size.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

So update! 

I have been working slowly and have played with quite a few ideas which is why I havent been super quick with progress. But here are some pics of where I am at now. I have roughly sculpted the styro ready for the grout next week hopefully. I have made a filter because the pond will house galaxy raspora's and an ancistrus anddd maybe something else small. I found a sweet stump which I am going to use as a base trunk instead of making the whole thing out of apoxie. I will work on the roots soon and those will be foam, covered with apoxie, stamped with bark texture, and painted with acrylic paint. I will also give making some muschrooms out of the apoxie a go. I saw this add below at the movies and thought the mushrooms would be awesome. Might make a fantasy mushroom viv for some auratus or something next lol. Anyway pics! enjoy, and let me know what you think. 

Fantasy shrooms 









Now the tank 

this is the foam shaped 



























The filter (this will be hidden by a thick black foam and seeded with moss so I can remove it easily for maintenance and it should still look good.










you can see where it is in reference to the foam rock wall 









close up 









egg crate in place and you can see where the hidden hatch will be









This is the log I will be using, I carved the back out to save some weight and it will sit higher than in the pic once the roots are in place 









and the full tank shot with other root structure. these will be covered with vines and more roots soon. cant decide if I want to make a stream or not.....help me decide!









Thats it, will update soon and Happy Christmas! if its not before the big day


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## rhino43grr (Oct 2, 2011)

make any more progress?


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## Darrell S (Jan 9, 2011)

Hi,
great project.
be sure and silicone the plastic frame. I did what you are doing on a 20 tall.
the plastic rim gave me a mystery leak.
I put a pump under the false bottom and pumped the water into the pond down low with small gravel in the pond. it stopped the water from becoming anaerobic under the false bottom and was very discreet


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Will try and post some more pics tonight. I had a mishap where the log fell over and smashed the bottom of the viv so I have changed the design around a bit. Will be ordering glass today to fix the top. after is smashed I decided to remove the rim, I had a nice clean set up before it broke but now it should be even cleaner. I have some pretty cool glow stuff going on too. update tonight or tomorrow!


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Ok update! and I am being very undecided with this viv. I cemented the first version of the rocks and didnt even bother to start painting because I just am not happy with it. I took some pics and carved out a few rocks for another idea to see what it will look like. let me know your opinions. 

here is the original version grouted but I just dont like it, not natural enough. 


















and here is the new idea, I put the wood in there just to get an idea. 



















ok so the question is, go with the bolder look but obviously make it more molded into the tank of stay with the original?


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

alright I decided to make a whole bolder strewn bank and see what that looks like, started the GS, will carve tomorrow. here are the pics, and where I moved the filter and stream pump to. 




























This is where the filter and pump will be, same concept, it will be covered by thick black snug fitting aquarium foam which will have leaf litter over top.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

So this is what I have come up with, I may shape it down a little to make more water area available. 

before carving 




























After carving 





































i need to sand this and do some detail carving but thats the overall idea, the stream will cascade over the cobbles. let me know what you think por favor!


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Anybody? make water bigger by carving rocks down more or keep the same?


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## ckays (Jul 26, 2011)

Looks decent. I can't help much as I am not a water feature guy. . 

Go with with your gut..


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Been a little while, busy with classes and what not. but I just was not feeling the last set up. I pulled it out and just started building on the fly. I will post some pics tonight, I have also worked on another viv and experimented with some glow stuff which worked out quite well. Im stoked to see how natural it all looks.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Well here is the new version, Just was not digging the last one. The idea is to have a very natural water feature with plenty of land area for the trio. The stream will be sealed with epoxy and sand to look like rocks and the back will have a ventilation system covered with GS and a ton of root to look like the side of a river bank. i have been playing with glow stuff which should look really cool when done. 










The start of the GS


















I added a rock for the stream/river transition 









got a bit heavy handed with the GS. 









waterfall after carving 









The stream idea-cascading through the tree roots 



























I smeared silicone over the egg crate to fill in the squares for the stream's test run


















stream in action- it worked perfectly, I was able to carve the stream sides down to look more natural.









the top part of the stream with a little bubble pool









Video of the stream test 
40 breeder :: DSCN3158.mp4 video by britreefer - Photobucket

and finally, I decided to carve a cave under the stream section as there was a bunch of GS that looked ugly. It is not very big so no lost frogs.


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## Finchfrogs15 (Apr 28, 2011)

Im liking this version a lot better. its gonna look more natural and im looking forward to seeing it progress. i want to do the same kind of set up. good job!!


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Thank you! yeah Iv never had such a "tank fart" during a build. on the right track though.


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

That water feature is friggin SWEET. The video displays it well. I'm now wondering why I didn't make mine that way =\

1 question - do you have a way to access the pump to repair / replace it when it goes bad?


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Thabks! Yeah the pump will be easy to get to, There will be thick black aquarium foam filling the gap that will have leaf litter over top. to get to the pump just remove the leaf litter and pull out the foam. easy and light.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Well it has bee a while and I am finally at a point to update. I have been doing a little something every few days. The final coats of epoxy and sand have gone on the pond area, the stream is complete and the glow effects have been added. The background was started and rough carving done. The pump assembly is good to go just waiting on a pump. The background will have a very root heavy theme. I posted a thread somewhere else but just incase someone knows who is reading, Is acetone safe to thin silicone with? 










This is the stream in the light, the epoxy/sand rock effect came out pretty good, I will make it lighter next time though. 



















To allow the water to drain behind the pond walls I used aquarium filter foam for the right side of the pond bank with GS over top, then covered with the epoxy. The foam is black and will prevent debris getting to the pump and serve as a biological filter. This is the black silicone hiding it partially. 










here are some mushrooms I made as test pieces, they came out pretty good. I still need to paint them and make more. the next ones will be more delicate than these as these came out quite strong but a little bulky looking. 



























An now the glowing stream...



















sorry for the blurry pics 



















not sure how it will look with water running over it but it looks sweet now.


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

I am changing the left side to this most likely, may play with it a little.


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## Finchfrogs15 (Apr 28, 2011)

Any updates on this? Really wanna see what this tank looks like when its finished


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Coming up to spring break will update in the next few days. I have added my weed blocker, finished the pump area, and will finish the background and vines. Will add some more glow stuff too. Stay posted!


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

UPDATE!!! sorry for the length of time. lots of pics, I am not pretty much done. have to secure the final roots, may add a few more vines, and have to get the glass which i will do this week. enjoy. 

Here is the tank as left before but with weed blocker added.









Nice clear shot of the pump area.









The main land area weed blocker.









Background before.









Background starting.









Halfway through.









close up of how I made the vines/roots.


















Background after.









Close up.









These are the roots to go in the left corner


















MORE GLOW..better pics anyway 









Frogs eyed view



























Will update again in a day or so! I will have the stand/small rack completed, and hopefully the 20g vert done and my 18x18x24 "exo" tank for a or maybe 2 baby veild chameleons from the richmond show next weekend. Anyone going?


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Man its hard to ruffle up some comments on here...Anyway, Almost done with the hard scaping. I secured the roots on the left, placed the wood on the right to its final position. Finished the silicone/peat procedure on the areas I had missed. I hooked the stream pump up but have to adjust it for flow and need to get some parts for it. Here are some shots of what the final product will look like. Almost there!

The roots









The pond filled









close up of the rock effect underwater 









Whole Viv shot


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## MrMonterrubio (Sep 29, 2011)

Subscribed


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## Finchfrogs15 (Apr 28, 2011)

any updates on this?


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## eyeviper (May 23, 2006)

Had to move house so Havent finished it. It just needs glass for the top and door and its done its just finding the time for it. Hopefully soon as my azureus need a bigger house.


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## Finchfrogs15 (Apr 28, 2011)

make sure you post some pictures when its done


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