# Another build



## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Hey guys, well I'm building another 18x18x24 zoomed and I think the background looks good, but I just can't get the landscaping and planting and everything looking good... I'm not very good at planting. Do these plants look a little too big? They seem a little big. If not where would you suggest putting them? Or maybe just one? I also have a fern if you want to suggest that anywhere, or you you guys can suggest other plants I didn't mention to, and I can go look for them. Thanks.


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

personally I dont think I'd do all three in that one viv, I'd use the broms and let some smaller stuff grow in between and up the back and save the violet for another build

I'll be following along


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Yeah man that's what I was thinking to. All three of those just doesn't work. I'll take the African violet out tomorrow. Where should I put the broms at? Where would be good placement.


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

I'd put the lime green toward the left back and the other towards the right front
but thats just me, this is your tank after all haha


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

I'd use none of those plants and invest in some nice neos, vines, and maybe a begonia or pep. sp. I don't like the cheap home depot/lowe's plants. They're not very flattering in a vivarium. My view is if the vivarium is going to be set up for a while why not invest in some nice plants? You can enjoy them and the frogs will too


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

Mitch,
I usually feel the same but think variety is enjoyable as well and if done correctly, the big home depot broms can look nice as well


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Yeah, I think these broms look pretty nice. I'll get some more nice broms for the background or something to probably. Thanks for the help fits. Any help is appreciated.


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## RMB (Nov 26, 2009)

I think the one on the right is a tillandsia actually, you should mount that high up in the tank in a pocket. It won't hold a lot of water but may serve as a hiding place for smaller thumbs. Then I'd maybe do the brom mounted halfway up on the opposide side of the background, since it's already rooted in soil I'd pin it to the cork with a paperclip or something and a bit of sphagnum around the roots and the violet on the ground with maybe a couple smaller plants. I also usually try to incorporate more ledges/caves/branches into the background to add depth and more areas for the frogs to choose from. What species are you planning this for?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

I think all those could work. Here is what I would do... I'd slope the soil up to the background, basically burying the frist 2-3 inches of background, making that area a few inches higher then the substrate level at the front of the tank, and plant the brom in one corner. The tillandisia (the needle leaf brom looking thing) will prefer it a little dryer, you may actually get away with mounting it on the background itself near a corner just a couple inches above the substrate, enough moisture will probably wick up the background to keep it watered along with occasional misting. As for the violet, I'd probably leave it about where it is in the pic but build a mound of substrate there and pant it in the mound. It will do better being planted higher in the substrate since violets don't like as much moisture as many other viv plants. I would then get some creeping oak or ficus and plant that along the back so it climbs up covering the background. At that point you may be able to squeeze another plant or 2 on each side of the violet, and then jam leaf litter between all the plants. Might even have enough room for a little strip of moss lawn at the very front. 

I uploaded your pic showing where I'd put the 2 broms to my db gallery, so I could post it. Here it is...










If you can't actually get the tillandsia in that spot on the background, you can just slope the soil in that corner up to that height and plant it there...being planted in substrate that height should keep it dryer then if it was lower on the floor of the viv and give it a better chance of making it. Those things are prone to rot though if they are to wet. You could even make that slope part of the mound where you plant the violet. Basically a spot that goes from the back left corner and slopes down from that corner to the one in front on the other side. I think that is probably better then my original idea of just sloping the substrate from high in the back to low in the front.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Cool thanks for the replies guys, the only thing that might make it hard to pin them on re background is that are already rooted like in the pot with all the dirt around them, so idk how would I be able to pin that on the background?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

heatfreakk3 said:


> Cool thanks for the replies guys, the only thing that might make it hard to pin them on re background is that are already rooted like in the pot with all the dirt around them, so idk how would I be able to pin that on the background?


You can pull them from the pot, pick/wash most of the soil away from the roots and dig out a spot on the background. Its ok if you tear away some of the roots, just try to minimize that as much as possible. Or you can also do what I suggested and pile the soil up in the corner and plant it there, then slope the soil down as towards the front, or front right corner of the tank. Your call. Ok i'm going to bed...up way to late


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Haha alright thanks Dave. I'll give both those methods a try and see what I like the best. Sleep tight ha


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## ryan10517 (Oct 23, 2010)

i look at planting a viv the same way as aquascaping a planted aquarium. A strong focal point is very rewarding. Keep it filled with mostly green plants, but add one or two nice red or other colored plants to provide contrast (this can work as a focal point as well.) Your tank seems kind of tall so don't forget the top portion of it. A large empty space tends to make the tank look boring or spacey so it would be a good idea to have a couple broms or tillandsias mounted to your background up top. And most importantly plant it the way you like it. There is no point in having a tank that you don't enjoy looking at haha. Just play around with plant placement and go with what looks best to you 

Btw what are you going to put in the tank? curious to know lol


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

ryan10517 said:


> i look at planting a viv the same way as aquascaping a planted aquarium. A strong focal point is very rewarding. Keep it filled with mostly green plants, but add one or two nice red or other colored plants to provide contrast (this can work as a focal point as well.) Your tank seems kind of tall so don't forget the top portion of it. A large empty space tends to make the tank look boring or spacey so it would be a good idea to have a couple broms or tillandsias mounted to your background up top. And most importantly plant it the way you like it. There is no point in having a tank that you don't enjoy looking at haha. Just play around with plant placement and go with what looks best to you
> 
> Btw what are you going to put in the tank? curious to know lol


Good advice


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Alright so I put the brom and tillandsias where you suggested Dave, and I think it looks pretty good. Ryan I know what you mean about making sure the top is full to, to make it look more full. The tillandsias I put in the top left corner actually taked up quite a bit of space on the background. I like how it turned out. I'll post pics later. The tillandsias fills it pretty good. I'm still going to add a little bit more plants and good stuff (of course leaf litter). As for whats going in it, I'm not real sure. I was planning on putting my pair of Citronellas in it, but I'll take other suggestions if you guys suggest anything else that would look good in there either.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Here is an update. How does it look now? I'm going to put some moss in the front, and all in the back and under the plants will be leaf litter.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Better...looks like if you sloped it from back to front diagonally you went the opposite direction then I suggested, but still looks good  Now you just need something to fill in that back left corner and the background. Creeping oak would work. You may be able to fit 2 vining plants in that back corner and the middle of the back next to the red fittonia. Basically you just need to get some stuff growing up that background and you'll pretty much be set, once you toss in some leaf litter and/or moss.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Alright cool thanks Dave, I'm actually going to try and run down to lowes today and get a big pot of creeping fig, they have a lot of nice plants for sale there right not. I plan to COVER the background in creeping fig lol, I think it would look pretty cool... I'll post updates later.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

heatfreakk3 said:


> Alright cool thanks Dave, I'm actually going to try and run down to lowes today and get a big pot of creeping fig, they have a lot of nice plants for sale there right not. I plan to COVER the background in creeping fig lol, I think it would look pretty cool... I'll post updates later.


Creeping fig is good, but it grows fast so you might have a lot of pruning to do, thats why I suggested the creeping oak, it tends to grow slower so less pruning, but either will work. Both also come in a variegated form where the leaves are white and green on the ficus, or on the creeping oak they are white, green, grey, light green...kinda camo looking...pretty cool and a lil different looking then what is in most vivs. You can pick up the firefly lights too while you're there


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Another update.


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## cheezus_2007 (Aug 20, 2009)

lookin good chris, throw in some leaf litter and you;ll be set


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Leaf litter is comin up tomorrow lol. I'll post one last update when it's in. Maybe I'll take a good one with my nice camera.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Loving it


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## bricespice (Jan 4, 2010)

Chris-
I have some fireball broms on their way from flordia and i have some magnolia leaves as well.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Final update


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

...FAIL LOL...No just kidding, looks good. Not sure if that stuff will take to the background like you are hoping but if not easy enough to replace, and as I said experimentation is a good thing


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Chris,

This looks good as a terrarium, but there just isn't enough room left for the frogs. I see this a lot, where the frog doesn't have enough room to turn around. I would take out the African Violet (as it takes up a lot of floor space and the leaves will rot if they get wet). You'll find that Pink Fittonia makes a nice little canopy under which the frogs can move (this is the number one plant I use in my many (many!) terrariums now).

Just remember, the terrarium is for the FROGS! Richard


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Richard, this picture was actually taken kind of a like a over view. There is actually room for the frogs to go under the fern and african violet. The fern is kind of cool becasue it is kind of "jungly" trust me it may be hard to tell from the picture, but there is actually a lot of room for the frogs, with lots of cover. I'll try to get better pictures later.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Woodsman said:


> Hi Chris,
> 
> This looks good as a terrarium, but there just isn't enough room left for the frogs. I see this a lot, where the frog doesn't have enough room to turn around. I would take out the African Violet (as it takes up a lot of floor space and the leaves will rot if they get wet). You'll find that Pink Fittonia makes a nice little canopy under which the frogs can move (this is the number one plant I use in my many (many!) terrariums now).
> 
> Just remember, the terrarium is for the FROGS! Richard


I'm gonna have to disagree and side with Chris here. I've never seen my frogs have a problem negotiating thickly planted vivs. They go under, over, through...but they go, and they tend to go more then in under planted vivs, meaning more active and visible usually. ...If you can see from the outside through the jungle that is  

You may be right about the violet though, some types don't appreciate the average amount of moisture they get in most vivs which is why I try to plant them in a hill/mound, or some type of raised planter, at least in the highest parts of the substrate layer. I find most do well and flower like that, though even lower they'll survive if not actually flower, as long as you don't saturate the tank every time you mist...which IMO you shouldn't be doing anyways usually.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Well Everyone I talk to say its GOOD to have it heavily planted. I dont see why the frogs wouldn't like this as much as less planted tanks... Heavily planted tanks would give much more hiding sports and stuff. I'm not too worried about the african violet, I have had a african violet in another tank before and it did extreamly well, and bloomed a lot and everything.


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

heatfreakk3 said:


> Well Everyone I talk to say its GOOD to have it heavily planted. I dont see why the frogs wouldn't like this as much as less planted tanks... Heavily planted tanks would give much more hiding sports and stuff. I'm not too worried about the african violet, I have had a african violet in another tank before and it did extreamly well, and bloomed a lot and everything.


I get what Richard is saying, I've actually had the same thoughts in the past, but I just watched the frogs and they put my fears to rest by their behavior basically. Like I said, they went over, under, around, or through...and seemed more visible and active...when I could see past all the plants that is.


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