# Brand New to the Hobby. My 1st Vivarium



## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

Hey guys, I am brand new to this hobby and would like to hear your guys' thoughts on my 1st vivarium. It's an Exo-Terra 18x18x24. It's a Josh's Frogs tank-less kit with your standard Great-stuff/coco-fiber background. Most of the plants were purchased from there as well. I used Slate and tree bark from my backyard for the water feature, boiling then baking to sanitize. I'm in the process of installing a MistKing Starter system and am thinking of housing 2-3 Tincs or a group of 5 thumbnails. Let me know what you guys think. I just finished setting it up today. I'm open to constructive criticism. thanks! 

Short Video Clip:
http://vid61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/kvb2001/IMG_0415.mp4


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## Jjl (Feb 2, 2014)

Do you have a way to drain the tank? Also, you don't need all of that sphagnum moss.


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## B-NICE (Jul 15, 2011)

Hey follow me on youtube, I have 150+ videos...


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

Jjl said:


> Do you have a way to drain the tank? Also, you don't need all of that sphagnum moss.


No I don't have a way to drain it. Should I drill a bulkhead somewhere just in case the MistKing malfunctions or something? Also I like the aesthetic look of the draping sphagnum moss. I am assuming it will green over in time with algae. unless you mean for the bedding. Is it detrimental to have too much sphagnum moss as a substrate?


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

Hello and welcome to the forum and nice job on the tank!

You don't "have" to drain your tank. As long as you keep an eye on the water level in your hydroballs/false bottom/whatever you used and it doesn't get too high (i.e., saturating your substrate). However, I will say that it helps  For the tanks that I have, I don't have a drain in any of them. But what I do is in the event of too much water I use a turkey baster and just pull the substrate back from a corner, usually the front, and suck out excess water. 

The sphagnum moss will eventually break down, so the stuff on the back will go away over time. If you like that look, you might want to try some vining plants along those areas.

I'd suggest adding a layer of oak leaves or something like that on the floor.

Mike


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

tardis101 said:


> Hello and welcome to the forum and nice job on the tank!
> 
> You don't "have" to drain your tank. As long as you keep an eye on the water level in your hydroballs/false bottom/whatever you used and it doesn't get too high (i.e., saturating your substrate). However, I will say that it helps  For the tanks that I have, I don't have a drain in any of them. But what I do is in the event of too much water I use a turkey baster and just pull the substrate back from a corner, usually the front, and suck out excess water.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips. I'm using Josh's Frog's false bottom, which seems to be just Pumice. That fact about the sphagnum moss breaking down kinda makes me sad. Can you recommend a hardy Epiphyte vine that I could drape along the top like I have the sphagnum currently? Also about the leaf litter. I was wary about what kind I could use. I live in the Northeast, standard oak leaf litter from my yard would be fine as long as it's pesticide free?


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## Jjl (Feb 2, 2014)

You can try _Peperomia prostrata_ for your draping plant. Your oak leaves are fine. Just be sure to treat them somehow, or at least let them sit dry for several months.

See http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/50155-sterilize-leaf-litter.html .


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

Jjl said:


> You can try _Peperomia prostrata_ for your draping plant. Your oak leaves are fine. Just be sure to treat them somehow, or at least let them sit dry for several months.
> 
> See http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/50155-sterilize-leaf-litter.html .


 Awesome, yes I will do that. thank you


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

just installed the MistKing and it is quite loud. To be fair though, I didn't fasten anything yet. 

http://vid61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/kvb2001/IMG_0416.mp4


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

Keeferd said:


> just installed the MistKing and it is quite loud. To be fair though, I didn't fasten anything yet.


Yeah, the vibrating Mist King tubes can be very loud. Securing them remedies this. 

I agree with what everyone said about the sphagnum. Leaf litter is better for the floor and algae-covered dead moss is not attractive (to most people). Looks like a good set up to start learning from though. You can always just leave the draped dead moss and see what happens. Learning is fun!

Edit: I didn't realize you also had a running water feature. It might be super wet in there all the time, especially with all the sphagnum, which will bring plenty of problems- dead plants, ugly algae and cyanobacteria, sick frogs... If the top is solid glass, more ventilation would help. 

A viv with good conditions for frogs will typically grow decent plants... So see how everything goes before adding livestock.


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## newebb (Mar 26, 2016)

Great start, I like the look of the moss too, thats unfortunate it wont last.


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

Broseph said:


> Yeah, the vibrating Mist King tubes can be very loud. Securing them remedies this.
> 
> I agree with what everyone said about the sphagnum. Leaf litter is better for the floor and algae-covered dead moss is not attractive (to most people). Looks like a good set up to start learning from though. You can always just leave the draped dead moss and see what happens. Learning is fun!
> 
> ...


you are 100% correct unfortunately. I thought the higher humidity the better but the system has been up for about a day or 2 now and the glass is all fogged up from moisture. I haven't added any frogs yet but I would like to solve this problem before adding them. Should I just tear out all the sphagnum and go straight leaf litter? or drill some holes in the glass top or just re-install the stock mesh top?


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

You could add a small fan to your tank to circulate the air and hopefully it will prevent the front glass from fogging up. I don't think you need to pull everything out, but I do think you should maybe uncover 1/4 to 1/2 of your screen top that should help considerably. You could look for live sphagnum moss and use that in there also, that should grow. It's just the brown/dead stuff will eventually decompose.


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

If it were me, I would take out the dead moss, throw in some leaf litter, add more ventilation... and shut off the water works. It's just really hard to make a running water feature work in a small viv. But you're welcome to try. Just be patient with the results. Fogged up glass is pretty normal and not necessarily indicative of a problem, but running water spreads via capillary action to saturate your substrate.


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

One of my Iquitos seeming to tell me "Mind your own business bro"


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

A quick little update and possibly a tip to other beginners. My Viv has only been up for about 2 weeks now and I noticed 2 of my plants have been growing exponentially. These plants are pilea depressa 'baby tears' and peperomia scandens 'green'. So yesterday I decided to cut off a bunch of nodes and shove them everywhere in the sphagnum moss. Looking at them today, it looks like they are already settling in and gravitating towards the light source. Hopefully these will continue to grow in quickly and cover the brown sphagnum. If any other newbies are looking for a quick growing plant that is easy to work with, I definitely recommend these 2 species. Here are some pics.


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## Gibbs.JP (Feb 16, 2016)

Nice idea, thanks. I might try some of those baby tears in my new tank build. Very cool tank too... love the waterfall design.


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## CAPTAIN RON (Mar 29, 2010)

If the moss is NZ spag moss it should not decompose and die! In all of my vivs i put this moss to fill in gaps between cork backrounds and glass to prevent frogs from getting behind the backround and after a while it turns green and forms dense tufts that i actually thin out,and misc. ferns also start to grow from the moss.Definitley leaf litter for the bottom! Good luck!
Ron


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

CAPTAIN RON said:


> If the moss is NZ spag moss it should not decompose and die! In all of my vivs i put this moss to fill in gaps between cork backrounds and glass to prevent frogs from getting behind the backround and after a while it turns green and forms dense tufts that i actually thin out,and misc. ferns also start to grow from the moss.Definitley leaf litter for the bottom! Good luck!
> Ron


Yes it is New Zealand sphagnum moss. How long did it take for stuff to start sprouting? and yes leaf litter was the 1st thing I did.


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## PoisonArrow (Apr 8, 2016)

Awesome job, I wish when I started three years ago my first one would have turned out like yours. Keep up the good work.


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Jjl said:


> You can try _Peperomia prostrata_ for your draping plant.[/url] .


Nice job on your 1st viv! 

Agreed, Peperomia prostrata is a nice, hardy plant that does great in vivs and has unique foliage.


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## Hungarica (Apr 17, 2016)

I like the sphagnum moss and the waterfall. Looks good for 1st try.


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

well, it's been about a year now and the Peperomia Scandens has pretty much dominated the other Flora in my Vivarium. I don't mind though, because it has grown in some very unique formations and the frogs are happy jumping among their leaves.


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## badwolfgirl (Mar 21, 2017)

Keeferd said:


> well, it's been about a year now and the Peperomia Scandens has pretty much dominated the other Flora in my Vivarium. I don't mind though, because it has grown in some very unique formations and the frogs are happy jumping among their leaves.


Looks great! How did the water feature hold up?


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## AOA (Jan 19, 2017)

wow, the very definition of lush growth. great first viv......ditto on the water feature question???

JD


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

The water feature still works, but only has about 60% of the original flow it started with. The water is also a brownish yellow.


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## Keeferd (Mar 20, 2016)

another update. I have sold off my dart frogs to a friend and am re-doing the enclosure for a Crested gecko. I wanted something with less maintenance and could be handled. I have temporarily gutted out all of the peperomia scandens vines in order to change the substrate with a fresh batch of ABG mix, and frankly they were suffocating all of the other flora in the enclosure anyway. I pulled out about 100 feet of the stuff.




















Stripped down:
https://goo.gl/photos/g7YvFPseqRGttHZL9

Apparently my peace lily bloomed in all this chaos and I couldn't even notice it.










Are these seeds? 










I also went to the supermarket and bought a couple coconuts to made some hides.





































These are mainly going to be a hide for a certain specie of giant millipede as a gecko poo eater. I made a Hanging hide for the gecko as they rarely if ever go to the ground. 

IMG_0744.mp4 Video by kvb2001 | Photobucket

Mods, please feel free to move this to a different forum as it is no longer Dart frog related. Thanks.


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