# my first viv



## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

this is my first vivarium from constructionn, till its current state


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Thats big!!!


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

dude,

This is a frog forum....hydroponics and recreational herb use is in the "High Times" forum down the hall.



Nice Acrylic though....whats the lighting and inhabitants like?








You do look a little baked in the second pic though.....a little.....


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

nice! Is it acrylic? Do you have frogs in there or just plants? Me thinks you might want bigger doors on the side. With a viv that big you could put some dwarf or normal sized heliconias in there for pumilio to lay eggs and raise tads in.


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## crw.dft (Oct 14, 2008)

Totally jealous, that's rad. I wish I had a tank that size. Very nice.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

hey phil- his eyes aern't nearly red enough.. lol


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

inhabitants
hyla marmorata
phyllomedusa tomopterna
hyla geographica
hyla luecophyllata
dendrobates azureus
dendrobates imitator

too many plants to list right now, but that big one is ceiba pentrandra, with epiphytes growing on it


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

the tank is acrylic, the 4 doors provide access to all areas of the tank, and are big enough that i was inside of the tank during construction


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Man!!!!! You could have a commercial cacao plantation in that terrarium!!!

Much props!!


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

I can see the h. leucs stuck all around on the walls  so what's the watering like?


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## MzFroggie (Mar 22, 2008)

Philsuma you are a fool....LMAO..I have been laughing for five minutes. But goodness that thing is huge..


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

lol....that large "plant" in the third pic....did look a little sticky, didn't it?


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## Ed Holder (Sep 26, 2008)

Now that, Is one impressive viv to say the least! Whats size (Thickness) acrylic did you use? And what are the dimensions?

Ed


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## 013 (Aug 9, 2006)

Wow great tank! I'd love to see some more pics!


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## Yarak_Eric (Jan 8, 2009)

Looking forward to more pics. Did you custom build that or purchase it somewhere? What's a setup like that cost?


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## Mywebbedtoes (Jul 2, 2007)

And the winner for the first ever use of a tree in a vivarium goes to....


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## Yarak_Eric (Jan 8, 2009)

Mywebbedtoes said:


> And the winner for the first ever use of a tree in a vivarium goes to....


Something makes me think that Bonsai would have to have been incorporated in a few vivs before.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

looks great, what kind of lighting you have over it?


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## Fishman (Jan 16, 2007)

That thing is awesome! I would also like to know the details on materials and cost. 

To Mywebbedtoes "And the winner for the first ever use of a tree in a vivarium goes to.... "
BJ has a viv with a ficus tree growing in it. It is really cool looking and does a great job of providing a constant supply of leaf litter to the viv. In fact the auratus in the tank have been raising their own tads in it because they stopped laying under the cocohut and have started laying in the leaf litter making it impossible for the staff to find the eggs.


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

The rain system consists of a reverse osmosis system, mounted beneath the tank, with storage capacity of 5 gallons. The RO water gets feed to a pump that leads to 6 mist kings nozzles evenly spaced in the top of the tank. It produces a VERY realistic rain in there, the mist condenses as it falls, but mostly it hits the higher plants and drips off. When its running and you open the door you'd swear it was raining outside. The bottom of the tank has a sink drain and is constantly allowed to drain water through. The soil mixture is nearly 50% sand to provide very good drainage.

The current lighting setup consists of 3 icecap 660 ballasts driving 8 t5 bulbs. The ballasts come on in succession and go off the same way. The pic i posted was with only 2 bulbs lit. The lights and tank are cooled by 2 4" fans mounted above the lights. Air is drawn in through the bottom front pane on the tank, up through the tank into a channel at the front across the light bulbs and up and out the back of the canopy. The setup keeps anything from ever fogging up and temps in the low/mid 70's on the ground and low 80's toward the top. There are also heating cables run throughout the soil, feed through the bottom by way of a reverse trap.

I designed and built everything myself. The tank is made from 3/8" acrylic. The doors on the sides are routed with an overlap providing a near airtight seal. The base has a welded steel frame. Both it and the top are then covered in 3/4" plywood. 

as far as cost..... the acrylic at the time was over 900, i looked at buying something rather then building but anything remotely close to what i wanted was way more then what it would have cost me to make, but that's because i was able to do everything myself

there are many many plant species in there (many of them tree species from the rainforest), in fact it was designed more with them in mind then the frogs, it just happens to work great for frogs as well

i will post better pictures of it soon, but it changes so rapidly anymore. i was looking at what pictures to post and in just a month's time the plants have grown dramatically


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Cool, so what kinds of feeders do you throw in there with all those species and how often?


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

the most visible frogs are always the hyla geographica, they don't really ever hide in anything when they are sleeping, and they are what you see in the pics

as far as feeding, melogaster and hydei FF, bean beatles, and crickets are added regularly, there is always at least some of the above crawling around in there, there is also a huge earthworm population and i've seen at least the azureus go after baby earthworms after a rain, the tank was also seeded with tropical springtails and isopods and grown in for a few months before any frogs were added, with the addition of some rotting pieces of wood, collected in nature, i seem to have added a termite colony as well.... not sure if any of the frogs ever encounter them though...


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## bobberly1 (Jul 16, 2008)

Wow!

Haha, that does look like something illegal until you zoom in. Really cool system.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I would love to have a viv that big. I would have heliconias and dutchman's pipe and some of the BIG neoregalias in there


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## Anoleo2 (Feb 1, 2006)

Wow, now that's a real jungle!


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

bobberly1 said:


> Wow!
> 
> Haha, that does look like something illegal until you zoom in. Really cool system.


Yeah until you click on the full tank shots they look like bud city


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

*dude!* check out my blueberry frog buds...lol


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

here's some better shots of some of the inhabitants


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## Ontariofrogger1973 (Oct 18, 2008)

wow awsome huge enclosure!


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

How old is that viv?......meaning time set up and animals introduced?


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

it was built march of 2008, the first plants were put in 2 weeks later, the hyla geographica about a month after that, the azureus came in september. the most recent aditions have been some of the orchids and some broms i got at the white plains show


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## RikRok (Nov 5, 2009)

I know this is really old! but why not: Is this tank still up and running? any updates/pictures?


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## Uniceros (Mar 19, 2011)

I want one!!


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## SamsonsFrogs (Mar 4, 2009)

What did you use to bond the pieces of acrylic together?


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

This tank is still up and running and will hopefully be up and running for many many years to come. Some of the inhabitants have changed a bit. The most recent additions have been birds. I'd like to update the status of this tank when I have more time soon. In the mean time, check out video on you tube YouTube - ‪steveknott1980's Channel‬‏


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

As far as bonding acrylic, I used weld on cements. # 4 for most of the joints, but I used weld on #40 at the bottom and made sure it was absolutely water tight around the drains. Its all pretty standard acrylic work though.


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## mavhammer45 (Apr 7, 2011)

That is huge! What u gonna put in there.


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## ashb (Dec 9, 2009)

I would love to see a plant list of what you've got growing in there. Very impressive.


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

I still haven't had time to compile a plant list, but I did get some updated photos. The main kapok tree in there is almost 4 inches around at the base of the trunk. The plants have shifted to many more epiphytes then my main goal was when I started. After a few years of housing some softbill birds, I have reverted it back to just herps and plants. My basement now houses a larger collection of birds and epiphytes mounted all over the room.


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## SteveKnott (Feb 12, 2009)

Some more pictures with a few of the inhabitants. Most of the frogs are very very hard to find, including what started as 5 orange galactonotus. Its been years since I've seen more then 2 at the same time though. At night the treefrogs come out and just cover the sides.


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## ruairidh_ (Feb 9, 2016)

Thats a fantastic slice of nature, could I be rude and ask if theres any updates? 

Sent from my CUBOT CHEETAH 2 using Tapatalk


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## Oscar (Mar 6, 2017)

Is this viv still up and running? Would love to know how it's going.


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