# My 44G Vivarium Build



## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

So I finally got some time this weekend to actually take down the tank and transfer the remaining fish to a holding tank until my brother in law can pick them up. 

After it was drained I scooped out the sand and basically cleaned it with a rag changing the bucket of water multiple times. I used peroxide and wiped the entire tank again including all the seams and creases. Finally I used bleach and some RO water and wiped the entire inside of the tank and let it air dry.

The next morning I did another wipe down with RO water and it should be good to go from here once it dries.

Also attached some pics, that's just some of the wood that I rinsed lightly scrubbed and baked.


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## Y0urbestfriend (Jan 31, 2014)

The shape of the tank looks cool very 'not deep', haven't seen alot of those.
Are you also gonna use some nice driftwood pieces in there? Because only the corc might look a little round and flat.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Y0urbestfriend said:


> The shape of the tank looks cool very 'not deep', haven't seen alot of those.
> Are you also gonna use some nice driftwood pieces in there? Because only the corc might look a little round and flat.


Yea it does, originally I was getting a 40B for the fish and saw this for the same price so I figured why not!

I will be getting 1 or two pieces of driftwood but I haven't seen any that I like. I don't think I will use any on the wall I might get one nice piece but I will see.

I'm also doing a sort of waterfall in the corner. While I was washing the cork I noticed the water looked really cool flowing over this one piece, after some experimenting in the sink I decided on how I will do the waterfall using that piece.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Hooray for more pictures. I settled on a background config that I thought was nice. You can see I left some empty holes to put some plants I did not foam the corner yet. The piece for the drip wall / water fall is on some eggcrate that I just foamed as well.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Got more done. Second part of the wall is in. Installed the pump and the tubing. Uploaded a shot of the waterfall on the eggcrate. You will also see the tank with lights on and off, one is with actinic lights and without.

Lighting is from my old fishtank, 36 Cree LED's controlled by an APEX.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

No updates today. Spent time cutting up the great stuff foam into shape and letting it cure some more. Put a mix of plantation soil, peat moss and coco fiber to dry for the wall.

I installed a pump i had lying around just to make sure its accessible. Waiting on a reptiflo 200.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Some progress today, The foam is all carved out! I'm pretty happy with the way its looking. I vaccummed the tank out and started on the cover.

Its basically that window screen kit with cicada netting on the right side (computer fan will go over it) and the Left side is a piece of acrylic that is resting on the inside of the frame. I then used some silicone to seal it up all around.

I've heard about the issues with something like this warping but I had a similar top on my salt tank due to carpet surfing fish and had no issues with it.

Last thing I need to do is notch the top left side out for the cords for the pump and misting system.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

I finally got the wall material nice and dry late yesterday and started applying it the same night so it would have time to cure. Spent today patching spots that didn't get enough

Gave it most of the day to set and then I vacuumed everything up and cleaned the tank. Put down the drainage layer and installed the repti flo. I let the tank sit again for a few hours and I just added the water a few minutes ago and turn on the pump. Much success!

The stones are standard large round river stones. I still smell a little of the silicone so nothing else can go in yet, and I'm waiting on more supplies anyway. My spring-tail cultures are booming as well. I will be starting a third soon.

Waiting on my ABG mix from joshsfrogs and my leaf litter from NEHerp

I will order the mistking system before I get frogs, so maybe another 2 to 3 months. I really want to make sure the plants and everything are good before frogs go in there.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Forgot the pics.

I've been researching plants and I'm leaning towards a plant pack from NEHerp... It comes with 3 mix ferns, 3 Mix Neoregelia, 5 Tillandsia, and 5 general assorted potted terrarium plants. It seem like a nice mix but I am still researching my options to see what will be optimal for the frogs.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Now that the waterfall is running perfect I went ahead and shrunk the entire pond area a little since the land space is more valuable. I have about 28 inches across now which should be fine for 3 leucs.

I also waited a day for the water to fully soak into the drainage layer, initially it was a little too high so I removed some water and now its perfect. I can easily remove water if I need to via the waterfall since I didnt install a drain.

The pump actually runs great in very shallow water.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Abg is in the tank and I picked up a nice piece of malaysian driftwood today. Top is on and im going to be monitoring temps and humidity both highs and lows.


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## Bighurt (Jun 18, 2011)

lochanrk said:


> Forgot the pics.
> 
> I've been researching plants and I'm leaning towards a plant pack from NEHerp... It comes with 3 mix ferns, 3 Mix Neoregelia, 5 Tillandsia, and 5 general assorted potted terrarium plants. It seem like a nice mix but I am still researching my options to see what will be optimal for the frogs.


I've couldn't find a plant package at NEHerp that came with Neorogelia.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Bighurt said:


> I've couldn't find a plant package at NEHerp that came with Neorogelia.


Sorry I forgot to mention that wasn't in the plant pack, I added that.


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## Bighurt (Jun 18, 2011)

lochanrk said:


> Sorry I forgot to mention that wasn't in the plant pack, I added that.


I sorta suspected, thanks for the update.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Added some driftwood, leaf litter came today and the other plants plus the mist king arrive on wednesday. Also had some extra plants come in and made some small terrariums for around the house.


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## smoosh (Oct 25, 2014)

Great work so far!


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## Y0urbestfriend (Jan 31, 2014)

The background looks great so far, I would only add more driftwood. Like 1 or 2 bigger pieces.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

smoosh said:


> Great work so far!





Y0urbestfriend said:


> The background looks great so far, I would only add more driftwood. Like 1 or 2 bigger pieces.


Thanks!! Yes i am actually on the hint for another puece of drift. I was trying to avoid taking up too much more floor space as well.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Leaf litter is in. Plants should be here today along with the mistking!

Few more pictures attached. Still haven't found any pieces of driftwood I like yet. Checking one more store today before I order online.

The apex is set to turn the fan on every 2 hours for 5 minutes to help move some air. From what I have seen the last few days I would most likely have to mist roughly every two days.


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## Y0urbestfriend (Jan 31, 2014)

Looks great man,
What is that pinecone thing on the right of the wood. and what type of leaflitter did you use.
Rens


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Y0urbestfriend said:


> Looks great man,
> What is that pinecone thing on the right of the wood. and what type of leaflitter did you use.
> Rens


Thanks! Can't wait to get some green in there! They are Magnolia Seed Pods and the leaves live oak leaf litter. The thing on the left is a Devils Ear Pod.


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## KJM (Feb 28, 2015)

Nice looking viv! I like your lighting.👍


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Plants and mister came yesterday. Just a standard plant pack from joshs. I will list them shortly. I tried to place them as best I could according to the plant type and where they looked good as well.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Moar pics.


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## Tykie (Mar 22, 2015)

looking good! I like the cork background!


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Tykie said:


> looking good! I like the cork background!





KJM said:


> Nice looking viv! I like your lighting.👍
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks!

Got the mistking installed and im loving it! Unfortunately one nozzle was not enough so I had to order one more. Should have a nice even spray after that.

Besides that Im pretty much done. Sitting back to watch the plants grow now.

I still have no isopods. Both joshs and neherp are sold out. Looking for dwarf white and gray.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

And we have mist!! Love this thing!

So far out of 15 plants one plant looks like it died and the button fern looks like its slowly dying but too early too tell.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

So its been a little over two weeks since things have been up and running. So far so good... The plants that I thought were dead actually started throwing new leaves out which was awesome.

The broms that were green are all turning red, which I gathered from reading is a good thing?

Springs are doing well in there, should I be feeding them since there are no frogs in there yet? No iso's yet.

I also noticed some very tiny spider looking creatures. Mites? and some sort of tiny fly, not sure if fruit fly or something else. Probably got in through the screen mesh on the right side of the tank....


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

Broms "color up" (turn red, purple, spotted, etc. depending on the brom) in response to high light, which is fine for the broms and is usually what people are visually going for. The tiny fly is most likely a fungus gnat, look up some pictures, they are very common in terrariums and usually nothing to be concerned about. As far as I know, the types of mite that could be very destructive to your plants are usually under .5mm long, so unless what you are seeing is that small, no worries.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Thanks for the clarification! Good to know they are doing well. They are close to the size of the springtails and have a reddish brown color to them. Can I assume that the frogs will eat them when they see them?


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

They are probably predatory mites (eating springtails, but won't make any appreciable dent in your population), and will make nice frog snacks.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Good to know. I haven't seen any damaged plants as yet so that's good. Yea the springtails seem to be doing fine, I saw another batch of babies so they are doing their thing. Should be frog ready in a few weeks.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

A pleasant surprise today, times three.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

After seeing these little guys my wife went crazy and actually wants me to build a second display viv in out living room. So I will be planning that viv sometime in the next couple of months.


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

lochanrk said:


> After seeing these little guys my wife went crazy and actually wants me to build a second display viv in out living room. So I will be planning that viv sometime in the next couple of months.



Haha that is always great news!! My gf said the same thing after I got my first frogs and built my first Viv. There's no looking back now bro! Go ahead and start making space for your next buildS 😝😎


Loading bowls and building vivs! Braaap!
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## DaisyMaisy (May 6, 2015)

congrats on the new arrivals! Really nice job on the viv, the frogs are going to love it in there.


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

And here they are out of quarantine.

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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

I like that tank man. The background is cool. Hey try using a mango instead of a orange. I find mangos last longer than oranges. 


Loading bowls and building vivs! Braaap!
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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Mohlerbear said:


> I like that tank man. The background is cool. Hey try using a mango instead of a orange. I find mangos last longer than oranges.
> 
> 
> Loading bowls and building vivs! Braaap!
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thank You and thanks for the tip! I actually stopped using the fruit because they actually seem to do pretty well finding and catching all the flies.


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