# 56 Column Finally Done



## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

It's been a long time coming, but I finally got this 56 column done, and it looks like just in time for a pair of Doc's yellow terrors. I tried to leave a lot of room for these big guys to grow and the sphagnum to green up and lawn out...so we'll see.

The background is cork and Great Stuff. I wish I had heard of the coir / concrete binder method before I did this...as I was very careful and still not impressed with the silicone / coir thing...thank GOD I used brown silicone. I am looking forward to trying that other method. Nothing fancy on the water feature, just Patrick at Saurian's buried pump method. It has worked well for me.

I'll post a pic in a few months, hopefully the "flow log" just right of center will be covered in Riccia (three clumps visible on the log). The stuff seems to stand up to water flow real well and cover anything wet. I'd say Riccia is one of my very favorite accent plants.


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## iridebmx (Oct 29, 2008)

i like the wood setup!


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## S2H5287 (Sep 7, 2006)

Yea i like how easily it can be climbed, nice setup


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## gold3nku5h (Jul 24, 2008)

I like how your background looks, kinda like after a recent lava flow, after it cools.* What orchids do you have in there, and where do you get ricca moss?


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Looks very nice, I've always thought about getting a 56 column. It would looke even more spectacular with a nice thick bed of leaf litter


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## MzFroggie (Mar 22, 2008)

It looks really good!!


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## kristy55303 (Apr 27, 2008)

lookin good i second the leaf litter. very nice. kristy


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## tkromer (Dec 20, 2007)

I'm lovin the wood setup just like everyone else. Leaf litter would be good, but I could also see doing a fern for ground cover on part of the tank and leaving the rest alone...


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

looks great!


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## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I will probably add a few oak leaves, as they do look great, but I am more concerned with the sphagnum. Hopefully in a few months the whole floor will be alive and green. Wherever the sphagnum doesn't start to green out is where I'll concentrate the leaves.

By the way...thanks for reminding me...I need to get out and get some oak leaves for the year. I use them and dry sphag crunched up as substrate for my feeder crickets. As a side note...I found that when I added a 1/2" substrate for my crickets (regardless of type of food), my losses went to almost zero. I keep them in a 2.5 gallon tank. 

Anyway, thanks again


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## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

After three years, this tank has done a lot of maturing. This is it 2 years ago, when the sphagnum moss was still alive:










Here it is today...the fresh sphagnum in the back left is due to my recent pruning of a Philodendron wendti that had went bananas and had to be cut way back.










I have learned a few things over this time: 

1. For many plants, and definately for frogs, false bottoms are, IMO, an unnecessary waste of space. This tank's pump is just wrapped in black FG screen and buried in the gravel. I originally had it in a "pump box", but that clogged in about 6 months. 

I dug it out and cleared it a couple times, and then said screw it...I pitched the box, wrapped the pump in screen, and made sure the pump was surrounded with very small aquarium gravel and voila! It hasn't clogged since. I have two other tanks set up like this now, and my brother has one as well...they all work great. The very small gravel and the screen filter anything but the smallest detritus from getting to the pump, and the 4" bed of gravel across the bottom of the tank serves as a great biological filter...tank smells great after three years.

2. The gravel is covered in a bed of sphagnum, and just as someone predicted, the sphagnum came to life...and then died. However, what has replaced it is some very small species of moss that has carpeted just about everything down low...even the entirety of the sarong vine in the center. Looks freakin awesome.

One downside to the sphagum is that it is degrading, and I will soon have to lift the carpet moss, add more spagnum, and then put the carpet moss back down...don't know how well that will work...we'll see.

The tank started with three terribilis, and one has grown to adulthood without some weird affliction. One developed a crooked spine, and the other a raisin sized goiter...both have died. 

The third appears perfect and is now alone. I will be looking into tank mates soon, but would like to know the sex of the frog I have left first. I will be buying in a manner that assures whatever was wrong with them won't be passed down the line. Both of the dead frogs were active climbers and ate like pigs right up until the day they died, so I have a hard time believing that their problems were environmental.

After all...their sibling, who lived and ate with them its entire life...is perfect.


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Nice pics... good to see the transformation over the years.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

Hey nice viv Jarrod, Is that the beautiful frog you plan to use to produce those grass green terribs? Nice viv, I'd reconsider mixing terribs in there.

Michael


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## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

poison beauties said:


> Hey nice viv Jarrod, Is that the beautiful frog you plan to use to produce those grass green terribs? Nice viv, I'd reconsider mixing terribs in there.
> 
> Michael


Thanks, Michael...yes it is.


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## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

Crappy phone pic, but it continues to mature. Added a new sarong vine, as the original is spongy and preparing to fall over, the volunteer moss has completely inundated it. Also added a Cissus amazonica on the right side, I am very anxious to see what it will add to the tank.

Sorry about this crappy phone pic.









Here's an intra-jungle shot.


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## KVans (Jun 21, 2012)

Very cool tank!!! I love the vines!!! I need to get some vines for mine....


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## KarmaPolice (Apr 25, 2012)

Great carpet after these past few years, and has a good flow for the plants and setup now. very nice.


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## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

Thanks guys...it really has been a great tank, and so simple to set up, EXCEPT for the great stuff background. They look great, but what a PITA. I've been waiting for a better alternative, but I don't know if there is one, all things considered.

And yeah, the volunteer moss is awesome, and it happens every time I use Lowe's Better-Gro Orchid moss. Keep it moist and well lit, and the sphagnum comes back to life. After about eight months it dies...and then Bam...tight, thick carpet moss of another species just takes over. I've seen it on everything, rocks, wood, snail shells...cool stuff.

I just wish I could figure out why my Dossinia starts won't grow.

Anyway, thanks.


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