# Vic's 18x18x24 Euro Style Vivarium



## VicSkimmr

So I finally got this guy to the planting stage so I figured I would move the pictures out of my construction journal and over to this area. We're not sure what will ultimately call this home yet, but it will be some form of imitator. 

This week I have an order of plants coming in from Black Jungle and some substrate for the dry river bed section coming in from ADA 

Pics

The plants are an assortment of broms from Chris Teem and a couple of small orchids from lowes so far. We'll see how they do

Initial Planting by jasonwithers, on Flickr


Initial Planting by jasonwithers, on Flickr


Initial Planting by jasonwithers, on Flickr


There are 5 bromeliads, 2 orchids and a dischidia in there. Here's a couple close ups of the nicer bromeliads I got

Bromeliad Closeup by jasonwithers, on Flickr


Bromeliad Closeup by jasonwithers, on Flickr


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## freaky_tah

Nice looking tank man, that wood is awesome!


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## rcteem

I like the tank...glad the Broms look good in there...what type of lighting do you have???


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## VicSkimmr

It's the exo terra 18" wide fixture, and thanks!


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## VicSkimmr

I set up the water area tonight but I'm not happy with it. It doesn't look natural enough. Maybe I just need some larger rocks and a bit more variety in the substrate, I don't know.


Water Area Planted by jasonwithers, on Flickr


Water Area Planted by jasonwithers, on Flickr


Water area planted by jasonwithers, on Flickr


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## fleshfrombone

Awesome build!


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## Mitch

Looks really good! But I always like to give advice so...
-The transition from land to water is too harsh. It could be softened/made more natural by adding some small stones and some leaf litter between the two areas.
-More vines are needed on the background
-An aroid or fern would look nice in the back right corner. 

Hope this helps. I'm not trying to be obnoxious or anything, I'm just stating how I think this tank could be made even nicer.


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## NRF

Coming together nicely Jason! 

Awesome pictures... as usual.


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## VicSkimmr

Mitch said:


> Looks really good! But I always like to give advice so...
> -The transition from land to water is too harsh. It could be softened/made more natural by adding some small stones and some leaf litter between the two areas.
> -More vines are needed on the background
> -An aroid or fern would look nice in the back right corner.
> 
> Hope this helps. I'm not trying to be obnoxious or anything, I'm just stating how I think this tank could be made even nicer.


Definitely. At this point I'm looking for advice. I just planted some emergent plants around the water edge, so hopefully they'll eventually start to take off and help soften the line (that's the idea at least). 

I just planted 2 vines in the background today  Hopefully they'll take off and start covering it pretty quick. A fern would be perfect for the back right corner!


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## GRIMM

Two words....CLEAN and ELEGANT. Love it!

As for the water section, have you thought about getting some small floating lilypads, or ever duckweed. It can look quite nice if it is kept under control. Plus it will help blend the land and water section together nicely.


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## VicSkimmr

GRIMM said:


> Two words....CLEAN and ELEGANT. Love it!
> 
> As for the water section, have you thought about getting some small floating lilypads, or ever duckweed. It can look quite nice if it is kept under control. Plus it will help blend the land and water section together nicely.


I haven't seen any lillypad type plants available, do you have a link? 

And thanks! 

I have some very dark substrate I could use too, but it's a dark brown color. Maybe I could mix them together to come up with something a little more natural looking


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## GRIMM

I honestly dont know the specific types or names. Im terrible with aquatic plants....But if you wanna see what I mean then check out this link. Scroll down until it gets to the plants and you'll see them.

Streambank paludarium - Paludariums - Aquatic Plant Central

...or go to page 4 and 5 to see his awesome streambank planting. 

I dont think you need much else in your tank other then the vines that have yet to fill in though bud. Looks nice and clean.


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## bkm

Nice pics and tank! Can't wait to see what it looks like after it's grown in


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## HecticDialectics

Nice!


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## dtfleming

HecticDialectics said:


> Nice!


DB just went downhill........................

I think you should try the new aaafrogs LED over this tank.


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## Mitch

Some floating ricca along the stream bank could look very nice!


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## Azurel

I think a couple odd shape larger and differant size rocks would look good as well sticking out of the water....Viv looks great though keep us posted as it grows in...Thumbs up!


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## VicSkimmr

More plants. 



























White Rabbits Foot Fern


















Unknown









I have no idea what this is but I liked it.


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## Wallace Grover

You lucky, lucky person. 

PS: Is that tree fern panel for the background? I thought it was eco-web at first, but I wondered how you could get it. (actually, more along the lines of how I could get it )


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## VicSkimmr

It's ecoweb  As far as I know this is the only place to buy it
Orchid Growing Supplies Semi-hydroponics Hydroponics Orchid Books PrimeAgra

I wanted to use tree fern panels but found them nearly impossible to get in decent sizes.


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## VicSkimmr

So I found some life in the tank, but I'm not sure what they are. Any ideas? Please don't tell me they're pests.


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## VicSkimmr

Frogs this week 

I re-arranged some plants depending on how they were doing with the misting schedule


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## Lukeomelas

The tank is looking great. I see you added a fan, does it keep the condensation off of the glass for you?


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## VicSkimmr

to an extent, but unfortunately it doesn't move much air so I'm working on a different design. 

I only get condensation immediately after misting (8pm), and I don't get any condensation from where the air hits the door, and by the next morning it's completely gone. I'd rather have a bit more air movement though.


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## saruchan

VicSkimmr said:


> So I found some life in the tank, but I'm not sure what they are. Any ideas? Please don't tell me they're pests.
> 
> 
> 
> lol those are food for your frogs lol jk I have no idea what they are but it looks like a tiny spider.


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## fleshfrombone

Looks like a head crab to me. Give it a whack with a crowbar.


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## Qfrogs

There is certainly something to be said about a simplistic design. Too often we try to bite off more than we can chew and it ends up failing (personal experience... Excellent vivarium!


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## VicSkimmr

Thanks!

Teaser! (they're intermedius)


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## Chris155hp

VARAS!!!! =) who did you get them from. They are the most active thumb by far. Mine are always out and calling


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## VicSkimmr

Actually they're intermedius, from Chris Miller


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## GRIMM

Sweet. Im sure the varaderos will love the viv. And its looking awesome btw

And before you were asking about floating plants.... I found a few types that are medium sized, and a lot more manageable then duckweed. A densely covered area could easily support the weight of the varaderos. Plus, they help reduce algae and absorb nitrogenous wastes. 

-Hydrocharis Morsus-Ranae (frogbit)
-Salvinia Auriculata (eared watermoss)
-Pistia Stratiotes (miniature water lettuce)


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## VicSkimmr

Thanks! That's a huge help!


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## Yobosayo

Qfrogs said:


> There is certainly something to be said about a simplistic design. Too often we try to bite off more than we can chew and it ends up failing (personal experience... Excellent vivarium!


Ditto. This tank looks very clean...so simple, yet very tasteful.

Well done.


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## VicSkimmr

1 of 2. This one so far is way bolder than the other


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## GRIMM

Chazutas? Nice looking guy anyways!


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## VicSkimmr

Just intermedius (Uhern line)  I suspect they might be the same thing.


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## Mitch

VicSkimmr said:


> Just intermedius (Uhern line)  I suspect they might be the same thing.


Nice intermedius! I love mine, plus they just started breeding which is great.


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## schg

Jason, great job. Still sad you broke down the reef though. I decided to sign back up on here (used to be a member) since you got me thinking about a vivarium again. I'll keep following.


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## Mitch

This was a reef before? Got any pics? I think I saw your thread on Nano-Reef but I'm too lazy to search for it


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## pnwpdf

Nice. That glass is very clean. I love the look of a lush jungle through a crystal clear pane


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## VicSkimmr

It replaced a reef. That thing was nothing but problems for me


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## davidadelp

that was a nice looking reef, it looks like you had some money invested in that thing! I know that vortech was an expensive investment, I also see you had a urchin in that tank, something I def wouldnt want in there with all of that coral


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## craven

That is a sexy looking stump you got in that viv. I like how you really brought the attention to the center of the tank. I've only got one viv build on my record but I am already knowing what to do differently with the next one. Seems like I concentrated too much on making a busy looking background when in reality, having a 'centerpiece' of a viv really brings out the 'wow' factor. Especially when you have a very complex-stump feature, with all the holes it really allows you to attach plants in a variety of locations on it. Great job.


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## VicSkimmr

davidadelp said:


> that was a nice looking reef, it looks like you had some money invested in that thing! I know that vortech was an expensive investment, I also see you had a urchin in that tank, something I def wouldnt want in there with all of that coral


Thanks! And yeah, I did have a lot invested. The urchin was actually really good about avoiding all my corals 



craven said:


> That is a sexy looking stump you got in that viv. I like how you really brought the attention to the center of the tank. I've only got one viv build on my record but I am already knowing what to do differently with the next one. Seems like I concentrated too much on making a busy looking background when in reality, having a 'centerpiece' of a viv really brings out the 'wow' factor. Especially when you have a very complex-stump feature, with all the holes it really allows you to attach plants in a variety of locations on it. Great job.


Yup I feel the same way!


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## tstratton

That stump really is epic


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## VicSkimmr

Yeah it turned out pretty nice, especially since it's 2 separate pieces of driftwood stacked on top of each other.


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## VicSkimmr

A few more of the frogs  They definitely seem to be enjoying their new home so far.

Same as pictured earlier









And the smaller one


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## mikefromearth

Hey Jason, awesome pics! What type of lens do you use? 100mm macro?


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## VicSkimmr

Thanks! It's a Sigma 150 macro


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## VicSkimmr

Uno mas (I'm bored)


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## eos

Superb pictures!


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## GRIMM

Super nice pics. Awesome detail. I need some extension tubes for my 100mm so I can get those really close up shots.

So...Got any new plants, or anything filling in that background slab yet? If you made a moss slurry you could have an epic green wall within a few months. 50% dried sphagnum mixed with 50% live tropical mosses and spores. Paint it on and mist it frequently. That is what I will be doing on sections of my background. It works even better on epiweb from what I have seen.


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## VicSkimmr

Hmm, that's a good idea. I originally had some cuttings of creeping fig, but they dried out and died when I switched to misting every other day. I replaced them recently and went back to misting at least once a day so hopefully these will take root.


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## BBoyette

Some of the best intermedius ive seen!


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## whatamithinking02

Very clean and nice tank.. Curious i didnt see you put any filters in the tank.. Also did you drill a hole for water changes?

water is very clean.


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## VicSkimmr

There's no need, I can just siphon the water out of the water area. No filters either as nothing is meant to live in it.


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## Nigel Moses

Love the pictures.


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## toksyn

I really like how clean this vivarium looks. Any updated photos of the growth?


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## VicSkimmr

I'll take some tonight. I haven't noticed a lot of growth, but then again I look at it every day. All the plants are rooting like crazy (except my creeping fig :angry: ) so they must be happy.


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## VicSkimmr

Yeah, not much growth yet


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## VicSkimmr




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## Azurel

Great shot....You definitely have an eye with the camera.


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## VicSkimmr

It's just luck really, and a lot of sitting around waiting until they decide to pose haha.


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## VicSkimmr




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## VicSkimmr




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## herpin1579

Very nice. Has to be one of the cleanest and tidiest setups I have seen


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## VicSkimmr

Thanks! It's getting a little hairy at this point, I think I need to do some pruning.


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## Mitch

Looks great! What happened to the water area? I may have missed something.


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## VicSkimmr

It was just turning gross from being stagnant, so I stopped watering it so much and it dried up. Now it's a breeding ground for springtails


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## VicSkimmr

god i love this lens

male









suspected female


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## GRIMM

Ridiculous shots Jason, they would look great blown up. Would you mind posting the exif info for me?


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## VicSkimmr

Hmm, I guess I have it set to not export exif data when I upload pictures to flickr.

The settings I used were:
ISO 100
F/8 (ish) set in AV mode
Shutter speed controlled by the camera (around .8")
Minimum focal distance

Post processing was just a minor crop, a little bump to contrast (because shooting in RAW doesn't add any at all) and a little sharpening.


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## GRIMM

Awesome, thanks bud. I was wondering how you got a good dof without a long exposure. Turns out you need lengthy exposures just like myself, unless I up my crappy iso.

Gotta love how still the frogs are sometimes for long exposures though! My longest was 8 seconds at moonlight and it came out super sharp  Damn statues sometimes!

Looks like you got my 1000th post. Online hi-five! I was gonna save it for a new build, oh well


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## VicSkimmr

Yeah you can tell a massive difference between my hand held shots and my tripod shots. If I'm trying to do it handheld I'll have settings somewhere in the realm of:

ISO 800-1000
f/2.8
1/150-250

I've found that you typically need an aperture of at least f/6 to get enough depth of field for a picture of a frog if you want to encompass the entire head with a macro lens.


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## VicSkimmr

Well I missed the one year mark by about a month, but here's what a years worth of growth is under this light. Some plants have been removed and trimmed, obviously.


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## jacobi

Wow. Really nice. Any plans to get moss growing on the back?


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## VicSkimmr

Definitely. Usually that stuff randomly pops up on it's own, but I've just now started to have some moss sprout out of my wood, so hopefully soon it'll get to the background. My creeping fig also finally took off, so that should help cover it soon too.


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## Betta132

Woah, I love it! Those frogs are sparkling.....*is hypnotized* *grabby hands* *almost knocks computer off* *puts on sunglasses* *begins writing letter of apology for rambling*


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## cschub13

Looks really good man! The foilage looks like it's filling out nicely, and the frogs are stunning. Any breeding yet?


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## VicSkimmr

They're bound to be working on it, but I haven't found any eggs yet. The female is always hanging out in the film canisters.


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## dendrothusiast

This is my favorite stump viv ad I really like the way it's matured out. Have you considered trying some different orchids? It's great looking and growing in really nice.


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## karag

Very nice tank.


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## VicSkimmr

dendrothusiast said:


> This is my favorite stump viv ad I really like the way it's matured out. Have you considered trying some different orchids? It's great looking and growing in really nice.


Thanks! I'd love to try some orchids, but I keep hoping this hobby will one day support itself so I've decided to not purchase anything else for it unless it comes from the proceeds of froglet sales. Buying orchids is a slippery slope and I have plenty of expensive hobbies as is lol.



karag said:


> Very nice tank.


Thanks!


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## tnwalkers

great tank! any updates?


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## FrogNick

looks great but how is euro style? How come in the states nobody seems to put in a front bottom vent will solve all your condensation problems. The pic below shows you want i mean, even when i cover the front top vent the glass is usually clear.


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## VicSkimmr

tnwalkers said:


> great tank! any updates?


Sorry, I'm a little late getting back to you. Been a busy summer. I'll take some pics tonight. It needs a serious pruning but otherwise all is well.



FrogNick said:


> looks great but how is euro style? How come in the states nobody seems to put in a front bottom vent will solve all your condensation problems. The pic below shows you want i mean, even when i cover the front top vent the glass is usually clear.


I consider a custom built enclosure (as in, not a converted fish tank) to be euro styled. It has a front opening door and is styled similarly to the majority of vivariums in europe.

I opted out of the bottom vent on both of my tanks because, to be frank, they're an eye sore and distracting and completely unnecessary. I've never had a condensation problem with either tank.


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## pet-teez

It looks so snazzy!
I miss the water area, but I understand the reason for it's demise.

I'll be keeping an eye on your thread


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