# My First Vivarium...Custom 66gal Part 3



## kwazarr (Oct 4, 2007)

Hey all!

I just want to thank you all for the awesome comments you've sent so far and I want to say that I appreciate any kind of questions and feedback you've got to offer! 

I hope you enjoy!

Ross.


The Landscaping:

Now that I had the stand and tank structure completed, it was time to start working on the landscaping of the vivarium. I had spent some time thinking about it and already had an idea as to the design that I wanted. I wanted to have a naturalistic, vertically oriented background with several plants, a fair amount of driftwood, and a natural looking waterfall. I was a bit scared at this point because as much as I’d planned this stage, much of it, particularly the waterfall, was going to have to be designed as I went and some trial and error may be involved. This basically meant that I could end up with a wonderful-looking, perfectly functioning waterfall or a very nice, but otherwise useless rock pile in the back of my viv! After taking a few more days to procrastinate and worry, I finally decided to start with the waterfall itself.

I wanted it to look natural and I didn’t want to have to deal with fluctuating pH levels that some rocks can cause in water flowing over them. After doing some research I decided on using slate. I managed to find some at a place called Pappas down near Main and Terminal (East Vancouver) that specializes in slate tile. I bought one for $5, brought it home, put it in a plastic bag and dropped in off the top of the staircase a few times! Quick, easy and really effective!  I played around with a few pieces for a while before getting an idea of how I wanted them to go together.

















Once I’d found a configuration I liked, I applied some of that clear DAP Silicone II Titanium to the pieces and let them set overnight. I didn’t silicone them to the acrylic reservoir lid just yet because I didn’t yet know in what position or how high it was going to sit in the end.

















I decided to start on the rest of the background as well. I used Good Stuff Big Gap Filler to secure this piece of wood in place and let it set for a couple of hours with the tank on its side. I also decided to make a GS platform to raise the bottom of the waterfall above the eventual creek bed, but held off again from securing the waterfall piece in place til I was sure it would be in the proper place.

















As I said before, I wanted the waterfall to look as natural as possible and I didn’t want it that people could easily see the spaces surrounding the removable unit, I decided to turn it to the side and have a piece of the landscape obscure the front of it. I also added a little foam around the back side of the waterfall unit to give it a little more rigidity.

















I thought this second piece of driftwood might serve well as a natural plant pot due to its curved left end. I gradually formed the waterfall-hiding hill piece out of more GS. So one thing I discovered here was that although several recently stacked layers of GS may be solid feeling on the outside, that does not mean that sticky goo won’t come shooting out from the inside should you poke it! :shock: I think it’s probably a good idea here to mention that wearing a mask, eyewear, and ESPECIALLY GLOVES is a good idea…unless of course you like the scaly, peeling look or want to be a before shot for Lubriderm! Cya later Alligator! Lol Ahem…not speaking from personal experience, of course!  










After humming and hawing about it, I finally decided on making my creek bed out of GS Pro Series, as it has a finer bead and cures waterproof. I should also mention that the squared piece of foam sitting just behind the back of the creekbed is the platform on which the waterfall unit will sit. I made it so that it's removable, so I can gain access to the pump should I need to adjust the flow or replace it in the future.

















Now that I had the waterfall basically in place and sitting at about the height I wanted it to be, now I had to start forming the background and setting the top waterfall piece in place. I wanted to keep the waterfall tubing to be kept out of sight, but I still wanted to be able to gain access to it should I ever need to fiddle with it. I’m always paranoid cuz as Murphy’s Law will have it, something will always need to be fixed or replaced! I positioned the hose where I generally wanted it to go before carving out a crevice in the GS for it to sit in. Once that was all ready, I slowly formed an overhang which eventually hid the tube from sight.
































Now I’d gotten the inspiration for the top of the waterfall one day while walking through some random fish store. I came across this resin aquarium decoration that was shaped like an old stump with a deep groove between the roots. After having tested to see how the water would run down it, I finally GS’d in place along with some other driftwood and an undulating vine from Black Jungle.










Okay, I was hoping to get through the rest of it tonight, but it's just gotten too late and I've got an 8:30am class tomorrow! I promise I'll write more when I can! Maybe after the weekend! 


Part 2 - http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33898
Part 1 - http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33852


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## frogsoftheworld (Oct 20, 2007)

sweet


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

looks good so far, what are you looking tp put in it?


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

oooohhh, I am excited to see what it looks like planted.


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## Amphiman (Nov 8, 2007)

Looks great.it is going to suck siliconing the GS though..i had to start over twice on my 15 gallon.. I wasnt puting enough silicone on so there would be white spots..it was so annoying.....as i said looks awesome good luck


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## nelcadiz (Jun 27, 2007)

Woow!! great job guy!!!, how much cost (money) the acrylic?? because I´m thinking to do the next viv as you.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Looks great, keep the updates coming.


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## Skibadee (Mar 22, 2007)

any updates? it is truely amazing, great job


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## kwazarr (Oct 4, 2007)

I've got some updates in the works that I've been itching to finish, but I have some pesky final exams that are getting in the way! hehe  I don't think I'll have any to post before the 14th, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to get something down shortly after! *Fingers crossed*

Cheers,

Ross.


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## Skibadee (Mar 22, 2007)

goodluck on exams, I too have exams
I like to browse through the forum on my breaktime lol
I look forward to then! thanks


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## kwazarr (Oct 4, 2007)

I'm a big fan of browsing the board as a means of procrastinating! hehehe Good luck on yours as well!


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## kwazarr (Oct 4, 2007)

Ummm...okay, so I lied to you all in my last message! :shock: I know! I know! I couldn't sleep and I didn't particularly feel like studying at this hour, so I figured why not finish off my post? For those of you who I've upset by lying to you...I'm really sorry! I hope this might help make it up to you!  

Comments, questions, concerns always appreciated! I hope you enjoy!

Ross.



With most of the structural parts of the landscaping finished, I felt I was ready to start getting the tank ready to plant. I’d been doing some reading and I’d seen a few people use a mixture of soil, water and some kind of adhesive for fixing the soil to the background. So I played around a bit and found a mixture that seemed to work:

2 parts coco fibre
2 parts peat
1 part Weldbond adhesive
1 part water.

Using ½ a cup to represent 1 part, I stirred up this mix til it was good and tacky and started to paste it onto the background. I tried using a spatula at first, but found that it just made more mess, so I did it by hand instead, using gloves. Unless you’ve got LOTS of time on your hands to work on this, I wouldn’t make up more than what you’d get using ½ cup parts, as this amount goes a LONG time! In the back you can kind of see where the waterfall insert will sit.










I let this first portion dry for a couple of days…it was under lights and had a fan drawing air across it with pretty low humidity (less than 35%). I think normally it would take 4-5 days to fully dry. After it dried, I noticed a couple of things. One thing, is that it dried solid as a ROCK! This didn’t seem right as plants are supposed to be able to root themselves into it. Secondly, it cracks as it dries and often exposes little bare spots where you can see the foam behind it. So this time, in going over it and other areas, I decided to alter my mixture a bit to:



3 parts coco fibre
3 parts peat
1 part Weldbond
1 part water

I also premixed the water and glue this time and stirred in the soil components gradually, which made mixing a LOT easier! This time round, after drying, the mixture took on a much more natural look and feel and seemed a LOT better! The difficult part about this mixture is that it was tougher to get it to stick to the GS in some places and I sometimes had to re-apply it here and there as I went. Once I got it to stay the way I wanted it, I didn’t DARE touch it for AT LEAST 2 days, at which time the glue had hardened and the mix would stay put. I ended up getting a feel for what types of places tended to be problematic for this mix, so after that I would apply the first mix before applying the second. This was time consuming, and although it worked out well in the end, I may consider going with applying soil to silicone like some people have done in the future…or maybe a combination of both…who knows?










I thought the landscaping could use something more and managed to find another piece of Malaysian driftwood to serve as an accent piece. With the background moreless complete, it was nearly ready to do some gardening! Starting from the substrate up, I added in some hydroton (expanded clay pellets). They are super light weight and they help provide good drainage in the soil which helps prevent root rot.










Before I could go any further and start planting this tank, I needed to make sure it was all ready to go beforehand. I decided that I needed to set up the lighting and misting systems. 

Lighting:

Med size Zoo Med lamp shades x5
26W Sun Blaster 6500K 2500 lumen CFB’s (from Pacific 
Northwest Garden Supplyin East Vancouver) x2
26W Exo-Terra Tropical CFB UV 5.0 x1
150W Exo-Terra Sun Glo incandescent bulb x1
50W Exo-Terra Infrared bulb











All of this is powered by a dual timered power bar from Big Al’s Aquariums in Richmond BC that is mounted under the back support beam inside the stand. It allows automated day and night cycles, and the actinic sockets allow tank heating to be transferred from the Sun Glo bulb during the day to the infrared bulb at night. The incandescent bulbs were plugged into dimmers so that the ambient temperature in the viv could be adjusted when needed.











Misting System:

I went online and purchased a misting system and a bunch of accessories from http://www.mistking.com

Diaphragm Pump x1
Quad-headed mister x1
Dual-head mister x2
Bulkhead x1
4 port manifold x1
Ball valves x4
¼ inch tubing (lots)

Inside the stand, a 10 gal Tupperware container supplies the system with reverse osmosis filtered water.

















The system is automated by an Encore repeat cycle timer which allows you to regulate both the length of watering cycles and that of the intervals between them.










Because this system was being added to one I already had for my two other tanks, I installed the manifold and made it so I could independently regulate the flow going to each of my 3 tanks with the ball valves. 










To adjust to the watering needs of the plants in the tank, I added short lengths of tubing to some of the mister assemblies. 










Buckets are filled with the excess water overflowing from the viv’s drainage compartments.










Next on the list was making an appropriate soil mixture to use as a substrate. I’d done some reading on a number of viv-related forums and finally decided on:

4 parts black earth - (high in nutrients and no fertilizers which could be harmful)
2 parts sterilized landscaping sand - (helps drain excess moisture from the soil)
2 parts chopped up spaghnum - (keeps wet soil from compacting, aerates the soil)
1 part coco fibre - (holds some moisture and lightens up the colour a bit)

I also decided that it would be good to monitor the temperature and humidity levels in the tank, so I went out and bought a combination digital thermometer/hygrometer made by Zilla, as well as another digital Exo-Terra thermometer each with external probes so I can monitor both sides of the tank. Now being the anal person I am, I wanted everything to look as natural as possible, so once I figured out where I wanted them to sit, I fixed them in not so noticeable spots and covered the wires with more of the background dirt mixture.

And now came the fun part – PLANTS!! It was here that I decided to pay Hawaiian Botanicals a visit – http://www.hawaiianbotanicals.com . They are a small operation at Westminster Hwy & No 7 Road in Richmond, BC, but they are the only place in Vancouver that deals in bromeliads, and they are fantastic to work with. It was just my luck that my getting in touch with them happened to coincide with their ordering their first shipment of bromeliads suitable for vivarium use! I put my name down on a bunch of them and within a couple of weeks, they were in! Their place is pretty unique, as not only do they deal in bromeliads, they also carry a number of epiphytic orchids and carnivorous plants among other things. I won’t get into just how much I spent there, but let’s just say it was enough! Hehehe

Using rubber coated paper clips, I pinned the broms directly to the background with some spaghnum wrapped around their roots to promote growth. Here is a list of the initial lot of plants:

Bromeliads:

Cryptanthus ‘Earth Star’ x1
Guzmania patula x1
Neoregelia ampullacea X2
Neoregelia ampullaceal var. purpurea x1
Neoregelia Fireball x2
Neoregelia “Red Bird”? x1
Neoregelia tigrina x1
Neoregelia tristis x1
Vriesea vagens x1
Vriesea racinae x1

Orchids:

Barbosella fuscata x1

Carnivorous:

Drosera carpensis “Red” x1

Other Tropicals: 

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens (Areca Palm) x1
Chlorophytum Amaniense (aka Fire Flash, Tangerine, etc etc) x1
Pilea nummulariifolia (aka Creeping Charlie) x1
Rex begonia (unknown cultivar) x1


Okay…enough reading…here are some pics! :wink: 

Neo. ‘Fireball’










Neo. (Not sure…maybe ‘Red Bird’?)










Neo. ampullacea var. purpurea










Barbosella fuscata










Vriesea racinae










Pilea nummulariifolia (aka Creeping Charlie)










Neo. ampullacea

















Cryptanthus 'Earth Star'










Neo. tigrina










Guzmania patula










Chlorophytum amaniense










Neo. tristis










And here's the final product of several hard months work!










Top left view









Bottom left - Guzmania patula, Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, & Rex begonia










Bottom right










The waterfall in action (top portion)










Waterfall (bottom portion) - I am still, btw, trying to figure out where the darned thing is leaking into the drainage compartment! I hope I don't have to rip up the creek bed to find it! :? 











Another full view










So that's it! :lol: There's the beast! I hope you enjoyed checking this out...I know it's a LOT of reading!

I have done some updating of the viv since these were taken, but I'll leave that for another day!

Take care for now!

Cheers,

Ross.

Part 2 - http://www.canadart.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4005 
Part 1 - http://www.canadart.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3981


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## beachbabe18509 (Oct 29, 2007)

You did an AWESOME job it looks really really nice!


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## Skibadee (Mar 22, 2007)

wow that is fantastic!
I understand wanting to wait till exams are through
your work on this tank surely has paid off! its a very good read and very insightful on the processes you used. I enjoyed reading every bit of it
thanks


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## dartboy2 (Aug 22, 2007)

Thanks for sharing, that is one awesume looking viv!


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

tanks looks great, nice work!


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## NickBoudin (Nov 3, 2007)

No words can explain how beautiful this tank is.

Well done, and Thank you for more inspiration!


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## CrotalusCo (Dec 5, 2007)

jeesh my first isnt coming along anywhere near that nice, great job


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## pilo0024 (Aug 22, 2006)

i definitely just read all 3 parts of your journal. excellent job. i feel pretty incompetent about now


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