# Twenty-nine Terribilis Terrarium



## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

I have some preferences when it comes to building vivs for Darts. I like it simple, but still naturalistic. I like functional,low- maintenance set-ups. While I enjoy elaborate, computer interfaced, 99 lighting preset mega-environments as much as the next guy, I find myself needing more vivs and fewer display masterpieces for now.
There will hopefully be some interesting design elements and tips on quick construction that will make this thread worth checking out- especially for noobs, being a recent noob myself. 
So this is a twenty-nine gallon fish tank that no longer liked the pressure of being full of water (it was starting to bow). I like 29's because they have some good depth, and I think things work better with a good deep substrate/water layer. I prefer an eggcrate bottom layer with freely communicating water. I put expanded clay pellets on top, and then soil. It takes some depth, so this tank is great for viv conversion. Clay pellets are easy to find and cheap here in Colorado, thanks to a booming "indoor agriculture" industry. 

I always lay out the "layers" on the outside of the tank first. I draw a sharpie line for: eggcrate top, Clay Pellet top, and final soil level. The sharpie is durable and easily removed with alcohol once you are done. In this tank I placed a drain, made of a cheap plumbing T. It will serve 2 purposes: If I even need to drain the tank (in almost 3 years I have not, but who knows?) it will allow me to run a siphon directly to the bottom. And secondly, it will serve as a support for a really cool piece of driftwood. More on that later.

So here's the tank. The drain and one shelf are pre-siliconed to the wall. The slate shelf tilts down on both attachment axis's so water will drain off of it completely. You can see the lines that let you make sure everything will line up in the end. If you use eggcrate on the bottom, you need to make sure that all fixed background elements don't block the insertion or removal on this bottom plate.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Next, I layout the background wood and mark them on the tank back as well. When I like the layout, I cut the coco husk sheeting to fill in everywhere that won't be foamed. The coco husk sheeting is also common and cheap here thanks to the "budding" indoor grow industry.
In the first photo, I am gluing the fiber mat down. Doing this before the wood is glued in makes it easy to get a flat and clean background. I lay gorrila glue out in the marked area, use a business card to spread it evenly and then mist the back of the sheeting before pressing it down. You could use cork sheeting or tree fern panels as well.I try to have big open flat walls that can be climbed on, vined up of mossed over. It looks good, reduces the time and material of foaming everything, adding to the speed of just "git'en 'er done".
In the second photo, the mat is glued, and the Cork bark is silicone'd in place. These 2 cork round sections in the middle of the back wall will be planters. I silicone'd mesh into the bottom so it could hold ABG and keep crawlers out. The one in the corner is open and intentionally left as hide/jungle gym tunnel. There will eventually be a platform that is reached via the cork tunnel. It is open to the back so you can look right inside if you have to catch or count the froggies.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Now comes the foam. It sticks great to cork bark and the mat, but areas where you want it to attach to glass should be cleaned with alcohol first. I mist lightly before foaming glass, it seems to help it spread out evenly and get full contact.
The first photo is the foaming. I do it and all subsequent procedures one area at a time. Turn the tank on whichever side you are working so that the area of contact is "down". You can switch to a new side every hour, it cures in 8-10 hours.
The second photo shows the foam carved. I had to make sure the eggcrate would still go in and out, and that the driftwood would fit into the drain. It is considerable tighter and smaller than the massive foam wad from the first photo. You can always take foam away, but it requires another application/setting period to put more on. Don't worry when foaming that you are overdoing it, it really expands so always looks like the stay-puft marshmallow man after it sets.
The next two photos are close ups of the carving. You can see the platform dry fit in the third. I carve with a serrated steak knikfe, a razor blade, and often use a wire brush to round things out of just open the foam. The GS foam does not hold glue or ground coco well to the smooth surface. You need to get to the open cell foam structure to get good adhesion.
The fourth shows the plant pot in place with a hide below, The pot drains through tubes in the foam. There is also another hide under the slate shelf.


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## AOA (Jan 19, 2017)

looking great! keep us posted!

JD


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## CaptiveColor (Dec 12, 2013)

Looks great. Cant wait to see more! How do you go about making the drainage for the pots in the foam?


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Thanks folks,
So, CaptiveColor, to answer how to do the foamed pot w/ drainage. You can actually see the pot in the second Pic of the second post, but it's behind glare so not too clear. Here's a pic with the basic concept. I ran out of tubing the right size, but you can get vinyl tubing in variety of sizes at the hardware store. Just find the size that fits snugly in the pot hole. 
I put baling wire (cheapest type of iron wire you can get) inside the tube for two reasons. First, it allows you to bend it into shape so it stays where you want it while foaming. And second, when the foam it set and you pull it out, it clears any crap out of the tube. It kinda bites to go to all the trouble of putting tubes in the background, only to have it clog with coco husk or glue.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

The next step is gluing coco fiber to the foam. There's a lot of info on the boards about that, but I wanted to be pretty precise about how I do it now. 
I "draw" the glue onto the piece, outlining the area to coat and then following the main contours. Gorilla glue flows downhill, and will soak in to the open cell GS foam, so do small areas at one time. Then move to the next.
I used Q-tips to "mop" the glue around and get as even of a coating as possible. This uses a bunch of Q-tips, so have them handy.The first pic is actually doing the second, moss coat, but is a good illustration since I have no pics of Glue/Coco coatings. It's tough to use the phone with Nitrile gloves on. And this is a good point: Use Gloves. They are cheap and this step can be messy.
Once the foam is coated with glue, give it one single blast of water with a spray mister (One ping only). Then Immediately, cover it with heaps of moist (not damp) Coco husk. Press it in, trying to find all the nooks and crannies and compress from all directions.
Get a beverage, because you are not done.
In about fifteen minutes, the magic happens. The glue will begin expanding into a foam under, and involving, the Coco husk. In some places it might even rise in big bubbles- like good pizza crust.
Push it back in. With your gloves, of course, Re peat the pressing from all angles. The second pic is also from the moss coat, but you can see the foaming quite well.
Wait 10 minutes and do it again. This foaming and pressing does a really good job of capturing a LOT of Coco husk into the glue. 90% of the foamed shaped should not require a send application of coco husk. You can keep pressing back the coating for as long as it still seems to be rising. In One hour it will be set, and you can move to the next section. Do not brush off the coco husk. let it fall as you turn the terrarium or just fall on it's own.
The third photo is the end of the moss coat, and similar to the coco husk application. When I glue on moss to cover bald spots, or create accents, I push the moss down into the foam twice. The third time I coat it in Coco husk and press with the coco fiber to fill in any areas of glue between the moss fibers. Again, I don't actively brush off the Coco, it will come out of the moss from tilting, moving, and finally from misting while the tank ages.
The reason we use GS ( or pond stuff, which I will use when I'm actually making a display tank someday) and Gorilla glue is they handle the constant humidity well. The Coco husk and moss expand when moist and make for a richer, fuller, and less patchy looking background. That said, I've never encountered a 100% perfect background coating in one pass. Results will vary, and get better with practice.
The moss in particular will look pretty pathetic after this application, but one it re- hydrates it looks awesome.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

So here it is, with the background pretty much complete and the driftwood test fitted into the drain access port.
Last night I did the lid, which I might do as a separate thread, because it's pretty cool, and dirt cheap (my favorite part). This viv cost about $80 to build,but that's considering the tank as free, since I already had it. It also reflects great deals on plants from trading, and lots of found objects, like stone, the driftwood, and rocks. I collect a lot when I'm out in the woods, and I work in the woods about 60% of my time, so I have piles of cool rocks, roots etc,
If you collect wood in the woods, don't use Pine wood- it contains volatile organic solvents that aren't good for froggies. This piece of driftwood is actually a birch root section that was uprooted by a flood in a mountain stream. I live and work a long way from cities and civilization, so the stuff I collect is pretty much guaranteed to be toxin (pesticide, exhaust condensate, etc.) free. Know what you're collecting and where. But, collecting is a great way to get cool "vivarium furniture".


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## stepheneashia (Feb 3, 2017)

Do you collect any moss in the woods? If so, how would you recommend cleaning to eliminate the possibilities of snails or other pests?


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Stephaneashia- Gas them with Carbon dioxide. There's a really awesome thread on here about building a generator. I believe it's a sticky in General discussions.
I keep them in a cloning chamber and gas at 0 weeks, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, that seems to get the eggs and dormant form critters.I am at about 20-80 ( 80% losses) at keeping wild bryophytes alive. The ones around here are extremely sensitive to anything but hyper pure air. The same with lichens which will croak if you breathe on them. Or look at them funny, it seems.


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## deeloc (Jan 21, 2017)

I like this thread! Very informative for a noob like me


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Moving in for the close.
The first image shows the test fitting of the eggcrate "false bottom" plate. It was slightly off and the gap from the bottom of the drain to the top of the plate was about 1/2". I wanted 1/4" to 3/8" so that a single expanded clay pellet couldn't get inside. The idea is to have a path all the way to the bottom (through the plate) to drain water. I fixed it by grabbing a threaded coupler from the sink drain kit and slipping it around the down pipe. No more gap. You can see that in the second photo.
In the second photo I am fitting the "bog" into place. This area will contain gravel and allow for planting of Cryptocornes, as well as give a wet surface, but not a pool. Tincts really seem to appreciate this feature and I have used it a couple of times. It's just slate plate cut with a tile saw. It matches the slate shelf on the back wall as well as the slate platform in the upper left of the tank. I doubt the frogs mind mismatching rocks, but it's a simple way to get a natural feel, because any given place generally has one (maybe two) dominant rock type.
The third shot is filled with expanded clay pellets. The slate sides of the "bog" are pretty tight, but it's actually the rock pellets that keep in in place. I build up in layers and pack to keep the feature in place.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

What happened?
Filling with the "ABG" and planting happened so quickly that I didn't get any shots of it. My son helped so that we could go from soil to planted in about 15 minutes. We put the plants in their pots around until we liked it, and then Boom!
We wanted to move the tank into place before filling it with water. That just makes it a lot lighter. And it's pretty light without the water, maybe 35 lbs.
The final shot is the planted tank. We filled it with warm water (80- 85 degrees) to really fog it out and get the plants and background quickly humidified. This leads to a misted front that you can't see through. I let it sit overnight, cleaned the front glass and took this shot.
The P. terribilis are about 2-4 weeks OOTW, so the tank will get 3-4 months to grow in while they grow up. I usually try and let them grow in for at LEAST 2 months before adding livestock. That said, I have already seeded it with isopods and springtails. 
So the final stats:
I'm standing by the $80 price tag.
It took *9 days* from start to finish - 2 weekends and evenings during the week.
Cheap, Fast, pretty easy.
And very cool.


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## CaptiveColor (Dec 12, 2013)

Awesome! Thanks! definitely going to try that method of drainage on my next build. Tanks looking good


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

*Twenty-nine Terribilis Terrarium w/Inhabitants*

I thought I'd finish the circle with the tank as it's grown in, and with it's new "frog crew" I know I called this the twenty-nine terribilis terrarium, but alas, the Teribs will stay where they are and get a new viv soon. Thanks to board member Julio, I now have a bevy of D. tinctorius Awarape juvies. This is a great tank for them to grow out in, and to be honest, it's a set up better suited for tincts than terribs.
There is a built in marshy area, which is there as much to break up the land and allow for sub territories as it is to provide a "weep" for boggy plants. P. terribilis does not like getting their feet wet, it can lead to a debilitating fungus on their toes. There is no liquid on the surface, but a simple adjustment of the water level can change that. Tincts seem to like a little shallow puddle in their homes, so I think maybe this was actually a tinct. tank all along.
Thanks everyone who check out this thread, so here are the latest pics:


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## Serafim (Mar 29, 2017)

I may have missed it somewhere but what about the top. are you using cut glass or a pre made aquarium top?


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Nice work, Jeff!


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Serafim said:


> I may have missed it somewhere but what about the top. are you using cut glass or a pre made aquarium top?


The lids are cut glass with a double fine fiberglas mesh strip as both a hinge and ventilation. I have several that have lasted well for a couple of years now. But it was more a design of necessity, than some cool innovation. I did take pics as I made it, but left them out to keep from making the thread too long. That- and because it's functional (and cheap), but for the time it takes make it: just a rabbit hole- really.
I am now working on a design for sliding tops with ventilation for aquarium conversions and will post a thread on that when I am satisfied it will be practical and not a "work in progress" that may encourage others to use a half-baked design.


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## rjs5134 (Feb 1, 2017)

Can you explain your glueing process a little more? 

You coated small areas with glue and coconut husk. What size areas did you coat with glue before adding the coconut husk? Did you begin glueing the next area immediately after coating with coconut husk or did you wait the hour for the glue to setup before starting the next area?

I assume there were some small areas that the coconut husk and/or sphagnum did not stick and you had to apply a small amount of glue and repeat?

I like the look of the coconut husk. The tank looks great, thanks for sharing. I've already foamed my next tank and will be cutting the skin off tonight. Should be trying your glue method this weekend, just not sure what material I'm going to use. Choices are sphagnum, peat moss or whatever my local pet shop has. I want to try tree fern fiber but don't have any at the moment.

Thanks for the details.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

rjs5134,
I apply the glue by squeezing it out in globs and strings and then spread with a "Q-tip". I do what ever seems reasonable, one side at a time so that it's horizontal when applied. Maybe 10X10" max, but usually 2/3rd's that at a time. I apply the moist coco-moss mix right after the glue application. I wait 15 minutes or so for it to bubble and press back. Once a section has been pressed back the first time (you might press back 2-3 times depending on the amount of glue in that particular area) you can move to the next section providing it is on the same plane. So if it's on it's back, you can move 4-6 inches per application. Often you will find that the background is going to tell you what area you can do at once- one inter-bark gap, so to speak. I usually wait over night before rotating the tank to the next side, but you could get away with it after a few hours.
Powdery substances don't particularly like being glued to uneven surfaces, so I find that leaving it alone for longer is better.
And, yes, then you really need to do a second application once you find the thin/bald spots. I usually use mostly dried moss on round two.


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