# Experimental temporary 29 gallon springtail culture/pumilio tank



## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

I had this 29 gallon tank I found in the garage of my building sitting in my living room holding potted plants and broms in it waiting to go into the cayo tank I'm building, but it was kind of an eyesore next to my plasma tv so I decided to try some stuff out - like doing my first false bottom since I always used vivaria's peat bricks directly on the glass bottom as a substrate, or gravel with something on top of it; I wanted to see if I could come up with a simple well draining substrate that would keep springtails really going; I wanted to try planting broms in sphagnum moss; and I wanted to house these guys http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/36589-uyama-pumilio.html in it until their permanent tank is done after the cayos'.


I decided not to use a background since after their tank is done this one will probably go back to holding plants and I also wanted to keep as much floor space as I could (I might put static cling auto window tint on the outside of the left side and the back), I did the false bottom, with fiberglass screening double wide and folded in half for a double layer. Then took a vivaria peat brick (they are great, you can do so many things with them), sliced it at an angle to slope down for a water area and for an area to pour water into due to evaporation:










I went to a nature center and collected a bucket full of dead oak leaves off of oak branches (winter here), boiled them, ripped them up a little, mixed them with tree fern fiber, coco bedding and peat moss, put it in the tank and then dumped my most booming springtail culture that was using coco bedding and peat moss as a substrate on top and spread it around:


















Leaned a piece of malaysian driftwood in the corner, put the stolon of the little tiger striped brom in a hole in the wood, then for the other broms, scooped a little of the substrate out of the way, laid down some sphagnum moss, put the broms into it and put a little more moss around the bases, some pothos cuttings, boiled some magnolia leaves, waited a couple of days for a little of that menthol smell to go away and put them in there, also packed some sphagnum moss down around the left edge and back edge of the tank and sprayed it down where the substrate looked a little thin:


















Easy custom cut glass and screen:


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i would have place the broms on a piece of drift wood though as they like to dry out a bit and don't do too well when constantly wet.


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Yeah that's part of the experiment, i did put one through a hole in the wood cuz i couldn't resist but the rest are in the sphagnum moss to see how they do. they aren't tightly packed though, i would almost say that the sphagnum moss is just holding them up and isn't soaked with water


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## afterdark (Jan 16, 2007)

How's this tank doing Chris? Have you moved your 'Umaya's' in there yet?


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Yeah, lost the female but getting another sent next month. Broms are actually doing really good except the red one is now more greenish probably from not enough light and the springtails are going nuts in there


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