# my first dart tank, 65 gal



## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

masking back and side walls with black silicone and setting aside pump space. I eventually covered left side too so that only front glass is open.

















divider goes in









placing in some wood, setting up pump access in right corner... that came in handy, I have to keep messing with pumps. Plus I add water through there.









time for messy stuff









and more sticky great stuff... I put up a lot of big and small planters just in case









look from above









finishing up pool









water test









mister tank









temporary lights









ventilation slits just weren't doing enough to keep front pane clear so I added couple fans









mister nozzles from under









that's it for now, Antone's plants should be next step.

Although I have a big question, can anyone tell me what lights to get? Ones I have right now are just 2 old tank lights I had in storage, I don't think they output enough, certainly not to make plants in water happy.

I've put 2 feeder guppies in there few months ago and damn things keep breeding like well... guppies :/


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## PDFanatic (Mar 3, 2007)

I use coralife aqualights exclusively, they are expenxive but they work awesome for me. http://www.hellolights.com


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## VanillaGorilla (Mar 11, 2007)

*Very nice!*

a couple questions...


1) What did you use to create the pond? grout?

2) What is that valve thing that is mounted on that board for your mister system?

3) How much money do you estimate you have in this so far?...


Looks like it will look spectacular when done... keep us updated


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## VanillaGorilla (Mar 11, 2007)

for lights check out aquatraders DOT COM

they are good quality at a good price


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## VanillaGorilla (Mar 11, 2007)

for lights check out aquatraders DOT COM

they are good quality at a good price


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## dracotaz (May 15, 2007)

AH supply http://www.ahsupply.com/index.html
is where I got my lights... it is highly reccomended on other groups I have been in. very easy to assemble and not too bad on prices.


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

*Re: Very nice!*



VanillaGorilla said:


> 1) What did you use to create the pond? grout?
> 2) What is that valve thing that is mounted on that board for your mister system?
> 3) How much money do you estimate you have in this so far?...


1) yea I think that's what it was (I started doing it sometime last November so don't remember right, but I got idea from forums here). Figured it'll look good after time.

2) not sure what you ment, you mean pump?

3) too much :lol: over 1k easily, but I sold house just before I started so it didn't hurt much


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

Fey said:


> that's it for now, Antone's plants should be next step.


So I got some great plants from Antone in spring and had tank planted for a while (I'm slow).

Now I'm trying to figure out what sort of inhabitants would be appropriate... I like bold frogs, both in color and spirit 










left side of tank with corner waterfall and log that carries sort of stream/waterfall into main pool









Right side of the tank









pool (I forgot to wipe of algii ) Water coming in from left bank is excess water from pool in the back (motion also keeps water in this pool moving more so it's not stagnant)









suprised plants are still going as bad as I am with them 









cleaned up underneath


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## jpstod (Sep 8, 2005)

Looking Fantastic.

It never stops amazing me how the Tanks evolve..The Pictures without the Plants look so Blah and unNatural. Sometimes its so hard to believe that the Completed tanks are even the same Tanks at all.

The Pond is natural looking. The plants are looking great.

I wish more reptile keepers spent this much time on their Tanks.


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## TheDoc (Aug 8, 2007)

Looks Great,

What jkinda timers are those your useing?


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## Mikee (Oct 23, 2007)

Is that a creeping fig ficus pumila in the back left? I need to get some of that for my tank background. It looks great I like what you have done.


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

Thanks for kind comments guys 

Now I just have to decide on inhabitants (might be too late in the year to get them so maybe for next spring... so it would have taken 1.5 years from start till frogs moving in :lol



TheDoc said:


> What jkinda timers are those your useing?


It's timers I picked up in Home Depot (or maybe Lowe's), outdoor digital timer by Intermatic (http://www.intermatic.com/?action=prod& ... 44&sid=116). They were about 20 bucks each.

Mikee, yea creeping fig, I've been trying to spread it at few point in tank without much luck so far. It's all over my REtF tank tho


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## DenZ0r (Oct 19, 2007)

very nice tank, like your pond! Nice placing of the wood!

Have you figured out which frogs you put in?

GL


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## Hayden (Feb 4, 2007)

Wow, I wish my first tank looked even half as good as yours!! Simply amazing!!


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## NickBoudin (Nov 3, 2007)

Awesome man! Kepe an eye out for my construction journal as well, you've given me some ideas, I hope I can do the same for you!


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## cliner (Oct 31, 2007)

Wow!!! I'm starting my first Viv this weekend. I find your set-up very inspiring. 

What kind of moss do you have in your tank?


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

DenZ0r said:


> Have you figured out which frogs you put in?


No! :lol: Any suggestions? I kinda like red galacs

Cliner, it's mostly java moss since it's so damp it grows very good. I'd love to find tropical pillow moss and see how that would work out but I can never find it for sale


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

Thread resurrection  It's been 7+ years so here's a little update. Viv still hasn't housed any darts, or anything aside from some feeder guppies and shrimp once in a while (either I was moving, or it wasn't good time, or I chickened out on keeping darts, etc. However I finally tracked down some red galacts so it might happen real soon 

I do have a question (and if this is not best forum to ask, please point me to one). I don't think I'm getting enough light on bottom plants, specially in some of the deeper recesses. So I was thinking about adding 2 smaller lamps that are easily moved onto front of the tank top (parts that are lifted to access the tank, which is why they should be easy to move). Any suggestions? If you look in last picture I would possibly put them to the left and right and hopefully not something that gets real hot since mister lines are near there.

And also, damn front glass... I never used anything but distilled water in here and I still have some calcium on front, what's the best, if any, way to remove it from living tank (IE not with using oven cleaner)?


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## BizaroStormy (Mar 20, 2013)

Try using a lemon cut in half to clean the calcium off the glass. I read it the forums a while ago and that is what I use on my glass. Seems to work well and my frogs don't mind.


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

I use aquarium glass cleaner from petco.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

thanks for suggestions guys, Safe & Easy from pet store and a razorblade got it all off... it looked like I was doing lines on my front glass, that's how much calcium build up there was.

I'll post some pictures once I have frogs inside (should be couple weeks).


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## Fey (Nov 21, 2006)

I've got a 20w Grow and Glow from Todd at Light Your Reptiles Incredibly helpful, can't recommend him enough. The GnG made my tank light up, I've only had it for a week and can already see difference with plants responding to it. I was thinking of replacing T5s I have with another GnG, but if I think I will just put them on different timers and have sunrise/sunset thing going instead.

Viv with GnG turned off:









Viv with GnG on (trust me these pics do not do it justice, it's like night and day):









Got 5 6 month old red galactonotus from herpetologic.net (they're local to me so I just drove over yesterday, which is far more exciting cos I got to have a tour of their awesome place  Barbara was super friendly and answered all my newb questions over last few weeks, once again highly recommended but I'm sure everyone already knows that.

Since tank has ridiculous amount of hidey places in plants, and leaves and caves and what not I don't see them that often (of course it's just been few days so they're nervous) but I did manage a few snapshots.

This little guy has staked out cave from which middle waterfall comes out. Both waterfalls are 2 hours on, 2 hours off so it's probably nice and humid in there, and good vantage point.









Hunting in leaves in middle of tank









Hanging out in leaves, I think he went up there after one of the fruit flies (seems some of them are um.. not flightless... I just noticed one made it to my monitor 20 feet from tank). You can actually see him in upper left in full tank pic above.


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