# Some builds



## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

I'm the kind of person that can only study so much before I want to get started so I made some mistakes in these builds and would do some things differently. I have 2 more builds coming up and am still figuring where to go with them. Anyway, hope you all enjoy...

These first few pics show how it started. I got a big pile of wood and a few exo terras. I siliconed the areas that I planned on GS'ing.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

The first pic shows the temp cage I set up for a trio of mint terribs. They seemed to do fine on paper towel. The next pics show the start of the vent system made from corrugated plastic, egg crate, zip ties, lots of duct tape, window screen and computer fans. I learned later not to just make a box like this. Then you have to attach the stem part with duct tape. You can just make one long piece. Still not sure if I would bother with internal ventilation in the future. I've seen euro vent cages with solve the problem of glass fogging and allow small amounts of fresh air to get in. Coupled with a misting system this might be better due to the fresh air and maintained humidity.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

The first pic here shows more detail of the vent tube. The next shows a big manzanita branch that cut down the middle to give the illusion that two side by side 18's look like one cage. I stole all of these ideas and wish I could remember who from so I could give credit. Anyway, the last pic shows one thing I learned - if you are building more than one cage, make the parts like an assembly line so you don't reinvent the wheel every time you start a new vent tube.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

The first pic shows how I was going to set and conceal the intake (air blows out the top). Second pic shows an abandoned idea to have a free standing wood sculpture in the middle of the viv. Took up too much room. Last pic shows how I siliconed the inside of the out vent to conceal it. You can see the screen too.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

First pic shows an abandoned idea. I built a tube thing to allow me to siphon water out if necessary. Second pic shows the first round of GS. I went overboard and used the black. Expensive and probably not necessary in hindsight. Third pic shows the siphon. The idea was that i would run a smaller tube into the big tube and suck out excess water. Problem is the tube is hard to access. And since I hand mist it's not really an issue. Next build, since I'd like to get a misting system eventually, I will drill the glass and attach a spigot.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

First pics show how I taped everything up to prep for the backgound (a mix of coco, fern fiber, peat and TiteBond III. I mixed it up until it was a pretty loose paste and looked light gray). This wasn't necessary. After working with the mix it wasn't so hard to control or clean/touch up. I should mention that I trimmed down almost all of the GS so the mix would stick better. Last pic shows the cage with leaf litter. Again in hindsight I probably would have planted first. I just wound up getting the litter dirty when I planted.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

First pic shows how I had to silicone where the wood meets the glass. This is still an issue and the wood has pulled away a little. One day I might go in and fix it when I have a good temp home for the frogs. It's not really a big deal right now. Next is the first (sparse) planting. Last is the trio hanging out.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

This pic shows the mirror viv. Next is the first viv after a little growth and more plants. They are both 18x18x24. I've since moved the terribs to an 24x18x18 for more room to run around, built in basically the same way. I've had no luck with tillandsias and usually kill moss although a new batch of moss is holding up decently in a couple of cages. My goal with the cages was to maximize floor space which I think I succeeded with. As far as aesthetics I've seen much better. The frogs seem to be happy though. 

Last pic is a Brazilian Orange Head tinc. Right now I have the trio of terribs, another 4 baby orange terribs, a trio of Matecho tincs, 4 Azureus froglets, 4 BYH tinc froglets and 4 Super Blue auratus froglets. I'm pretty new to this but have been keeping some kind of creature almost all my life. Living in an apartment I love having a little piece of the forest and that the operation is basically self contained - breed your own food and no cleaning cages (in the past I kept big constrictors which were cool but I'd only keep them again if I could do a huge viv setup). 

I'll try to get some updated pics of these vivs and of the other vivs. I'm going to build another 18x18x24 and a 24x18x24 soon. Thinking of either going water feature or simple with a fern fiber background for plants to overtake. Anyway, hope you enjoyed.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Updated pics. This was right after I threw the mosses in. Some are holding up, some not so much. Enjoy


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

More new pics


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## tfox799947 (Jun 4, 2012)

Love that photo of the mints. Makes me more excited to get some of my own.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

The terribilis are great. Always out in the open, very enthusiastic feeders (love crickets). Almost remind me of little mint green bullfrogs whereas the tincs are more like little aliens. Thanks for the comment.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Just some thoughts. 
I'm generally happy with the fan setups but in the future would make sure that they face the front glass. I have one that circulates the air to the side and the front glass is always wet. 
Next time I will incorporate more tree fern panels to have more anchoring points for epiphytes, vines and mosses. They don't seem to grow too well on the Titebond mix.
Also, I would stay away from grapewood which is something most of you probably already know. It's starting to rot and the other woods (malaysian driftwood and mopani) are holding up much better. On the bright side, the grapewood sprouts mushrooms pretty regularly.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

*Some new pics. Got a whole bunch of broms from Blue_Pumilio*

Just wanted to share some pics of the old builds with a whole bunch of bromeliads. Still moving things around but I like the cover the broms give and the frogs seem more secure. 
I also got an R/O system and am going to start drilling for a misting system. This hobby is quickly getting away from me. 
2 new builds on the way also, taking what I've learned from these. Going with a false eggcrate bottom on them, incorporating tree fern panels and some horizontal cork tubes for depth. I've found that even my "terrestrial" frogs, like the terribilis, like to climb around their vivs so I'm going for a layered effect. Using smaller (40mm) fans in slimmer ductwork for air movement and keeping the glass clear. Eventually going to have to tear down the 2 horizontal builds to replace the grape wood, which is rotting (but not too bad yet). Once the misting system is up and running it will probably speed up the disintegration. 
Anyway, I'll start a thread for those new builds soon. 
Hope you like these pics and I appreciate any comments/suggestions. 
Oh yeah, one last thing. I bought a set of cheap plastic drawers and have been using them to keep my fly cultures in. It's very dry here in the winter and the drawers with a little water in the bottom have really helped with fly production. I'll get a pic later.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

One last pic. In anticipation of the misting system, I drilled and installed simples spouts on the fronts of the vivs so I don't water log the substrate. They're not in a traffic area so I'm not concerned that they'll get broken off.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

*Frogs enjoying the new scenery*

I love these azureus. They're the most bold and active of my frogs. The terribilis are bold in an "I can care less" way. These are active all day out in the open and always hungry.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Nice work! I love that pic of the mints


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

more pics - Matechos and Azureus


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Super blue Auratus, mint Terribilis and the plastic drawers I got at Home Depot for the cultures. I keep the top drawer dry and the bottom one with a layer of water on the bottom. I can move cultures around if they're drying out or getting too watery.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Just thought I'd share some pics of new builds. I'm building 2 12x12x18 exos for thumbnails and one 18x18x24. Taking what I learned from the last round, for the 12's I'm going with cork slabs on the background with fern panel sides. Any gaps will be filled in with Titebond 3 mixed with tree fern and peat which I'm hoping will match the texture and color of the fern panels. I'm building more layers into these, both horizontally and vertically, using cork tubes, wood and possibly homemade "vines" (depending on how they turn out). I decided not to use ductwork for the fans and stole an idea for free standing 40mm fans. I shaved down the corners of the fans on a grinding wheel, stuffed them into PVC rings and hot glued screen on both sides. Then I hot glued a super magnet to the top to keep it in place. If I have to replace the fan I'll have to build a new setup but the fan and PVC are cheap. Hopefully I'll salvage the magnet which was pretty expensive. I fly proofed all of the cages too by popping the front vent off and stuffing it with screen and using a split piece of tubing on the doors. Any gaps were filled in with silicone (after covering one side with saran wrap, fill the gap with silicone then, when dry, pull out the wrap and trim the excess with a razor). On to the pics.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Here is the cork background. I was initially afraid that cork would rot but have been assured by this forum that it will last years. The next two pics try to show the fan setup. One magnet is glued to the top of the fan, the other goes on the outside of the glass to hold it, Very strong magnets. I drilled through the plastic crossbar to run the wire. Incidentally, on my first builds I used 1/4" glass for the tops which I believe was overkill. 1/8" seems sturdy enough.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

This pic shows some ideas for building in layers in the 18x18x24. I filled the cork tubes with Great Stuff for stability and to prevent frogs from getting lost in them and Great Stuffed one from the wall to the background. I plan on building much more texture into the Greatstuff with these builds to give the frogs places to climb and perch and for good bromeliad attachment sites. I siliconed any sides that are going to be Great Stuffed for better adhesion and leave the sides that will get fern panels clean since I've read that silicone (which will be used to attach the panels to the glass) doesn't adhere well to cured silicone. I'm using an eggcrate false bottom covered in 2 layers of mesh which will be covered with thin layer of hydroton, an inch of Turface MVP and finally a thick layer of leaf litter.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

This pic shows the fly proofing. Like most of my ideas, this one is borrowed from the forum. I tried siliconing the entire door gap but found that just slapping a piece of split tubing on the door edge gets the job done, is neater (at least for me) and much easier. Hopefully you can make out the tubing in the picture. It's right below the blob of silicone which was used to fill in the remaining gap.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Lastly for today, the vine station. This is another borrowed idea. I covered lengths of stainless steel wire with Great Stuff and then shaved off any excess. As a first attempt I coated the vine with Titebond 3 and rolled it in the dirt mix (coco husk, sphagnum and ground up cork). It didn't adhere well. Next I'll try making the dirt mix into a slurry with the Titebond and coating the vines with that (like I use on the backgrounds). I might also try coating the vines in thinned out silicone and then rolling them. 
This is an experiment. For the cost of the materials I would probably be better off just buying some branches and vines at the next show. I like how the wire sticks out of the end of these though which allows them to be attached into the Great Stuff background. Of course then I would seal it all with more Great Stuff so the wire is not exposed at all.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Bonus pic. Got a new group of these. Very excited. They are in a temp quarantine cage awaiting their new home.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Here's a short build I'm working on for orange terribilis. Running out of room.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Here's pics of one of the thumbnail builds.


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## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Dworon1 said:


> Here's a short build I'm working on for orange terribilis. Running out of room.
> 
> View attachment 38106
> 
> ...


Looking good!


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## RabidWombat (Aug 4, 2012)

It looks really great. I've had a vision of something similar for myself.

I also wanted to say THANK YOU for a post I just saw in this thread. You'd mentioned your ventilation setup in your earlier enclosure and said you'd used corrugated plastic. Well.. Funny story.. I wanted some but didn't know what it was called. I must have looked really stupid talking to 5 different people at Home Depot saying... "I'm looking for sheets of plastic... They're like the foam board at craft stores... but plastic!"... they had no idea what I was talking about.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

You've been on Dart Den...caught 'ya


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Good post...I admire your admitting to the things you think were wrong...I had to chuckle because some of them were the exact things I did...thanks


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Thanks for the comments people. 

The first time I went to Home Depot for it it took a good 20 minutes to get the corrugated plastic. I almost wound up buying a bunch of "for sale" signs before some guy realized what I was talking about. I learned the name later. 



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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Just wanted to add how I did the top on the thumb build. To make sure they couldn't get into something they couldn't get out of, I put a layer of gs on top of the back wall, covered it with cellophane and put the glass top on. When it cured it was perfectly molded to the top with no gaps.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Updated pics. First is a thumbnail build. Second is for a tree boa. Third is an established tank. Last is a new build that needs more plants and time to grow in.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)




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## bobrez (Sep 10, 2011)

Dworon1 said:


> Just wanted to add how I did the top on the thumb build. To make sure they couldn't get into something they couldn't get out of, I put a layer of gs on top of the back wall, covered it with cellophane and put the glass top on. When it cured it was perfectly molded to the top with no gaps.


Great builds an a nice collection going! Just a warning if you were unaware. Is that gs will shrink esspecially when exposed too sun, i dont want to see any ya frogs getting out


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)




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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Thanks. The top won't be exposed to sun and the lid is on securely anyway. It may form a gap that they could squeeze into but they can't get out.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Thanks. The gs isn't exposed to sun and if it shrinks it will just form a gap they can squeeze into. The glass top is still secure so they won't get out. 

Here's a pic of a trio of matechos. They've been together since they were tiny and aren't too aggressive so far.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Frog actually using the layers in the cage.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Super blues aren't shy in the morning.


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## JonRich (Oct 19, 2012)

Your tanks look great Dan!! Nice collection too..


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Thanks Jon. With the lights and misting system the broms are finally rooting and pupping after about a year. And now that I've got the flies figured out the hobby is transitioning from stress to fun.


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## JonRich (Oct 19, 2012)

Dworon1 said:


> Thanks Jon. With the lights and misting system the broms are finally rooting and pupping after about a year. And now that I've got the flies figured out the hobby is transitioning from stress to fun.


Sweet, glad to hear! I just got my lights in and I'm making some progress on my build. Went with a quad t5 HO and holy hell this thing is brightt!! 









I order the damn titebond 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't even shipped!! That's all I'm waiting for to finish the background. 

Are you coming to the NYC Frog meet this Sat? Looks like it will start at 1pm at my place.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Can't make it sat - have a wedding. 
New setup looks cool. Love the water feature. Can you use tb2? I've always heard you should use tb3. I get mine off amazon and it usually ships right away.


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## JonRich (Oct 19, 2012)

Dworon1 said:


> Can't make it sat - have a wedding.
> New setup looks cool. Love the water feature. Can you use tb2? I've always heard you should use tb3. I get mine off amazon and it usually ships right away.


I'm actually considering silicone.This tank will be humiddd and wetttt!! I hear TB3 breaks down over time in really wet conditions.


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

I heard 3 was the waterproof one. It's all I used so time will tell. About a year so far and no problems but i dont have the water feature. Ive heard the substrate sometimes wears off silicone. Anyway, hope it works out. Have you considered quickrete? You'd have to let it cure but I heard its good.


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## zachxbass (Apr 21, 2008)

Dworon1 said:


> I heard 3 was the waterproof one. It's all I used so time will tell. About a year so far and no problems but i dont have the water feature. Ive heard the substrate sometimes wears off silicone. Anyway, hope it works out. Have you considered quickrete? You'd have to let it cure but I heard its good.


I haven't used titebond yet, but I am on the tank I'm building now. You are right. The 3 is the waterproof one, but I think some have used 2 successfully. The silicone can go bald in time. I've used grout with success several times, just be sure to cure it completely and spraying it with vinegar can help neutralize the pH

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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Updated pics


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)




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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)




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## zachxbass (Apr 21, 2008)

Nice looking tanks!

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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Beautiful tanks, for sure! But what is this?


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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

Good question. I don't know. It started growing out of the wood a few months ago. Fungus I guess.


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## zachxbass (Apr 21, 2008)

rigel10 said:


> Beautiful tanks, for sure! But what is this?


Whatever it is it looks cool

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## Dworon1 (May 19, 2012)

More updates. The LEDs are working. 





























And another pic of these weird things. They're growing. This is a chunk of grape wood stick to the wall and its covered in these.


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