# No false bottom ?



## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

Can i have a tank with no false bottom. the idea is to have the entire bottom area of the tank with water ( not so much so the frogs drown) and have ledges (that are connected to the back via magnets) on the back of the tank and use that as the land area so it mimics a river bank persay. and on top of the ledges a bunch of plants etc. ? and inside the water i would like to have aquatic plants. So would no false bottom be OK ?


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## tim13 (Feb 1, 2011)

im no expert, im just a noob as well. but from the research i've done it seems "water" areas are mostly useless to dart frogs. they take away from land space, and microfauna habitat. if you want to do a riverbank type setting maybe try aquatic frogs or maybe even firebelly toads?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

That's a big no in my book. Dart frogs are land frogs. If you do a small water feature, that's one thing. But these are terrestrial frogs. Not water frogs. They need land and lots of it.
Doug


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Pumilo said:


> That's a big no in my book. Dart frogs are land frogs. If you do a small water feature, that's one thing. But these are terrestrial frogs. Not water frogs. They need land and lots of it.
> Doug


Agreed. You're just asking for problems if u do that.


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## SmackoftheGods (Jan 28, 2009)

I haven't seen anything indicating what you intend to put in this tank so I'm going to withhold judgment for now. I will say if you intend to keep dart frogs this is a HUGE, resounding "no!" However, if you're thinking of keeping some vietnamese mossy frogs or something then it may just work. The one issue I would have is with magnets. That doesn't sound very stable.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

I don't like the sound of magnets.

I've done a similar build in a large (~150g) vivarium I constructed for a customer. I basically created an "island" out of egg crate, which was held up by 1' lengths of PVC which were disguised to look like rock/wood. This allowed a very large volume of water for fish. It worked very well - the tincs in the tank would occasionally go into the water, but could easily get out. Dart frogs can swim just fine - just make sure that they can easily get out of the water. In deeper water, corners (IE the corner of the tank) can be a problem sometimes - the frogs seem to get stuck there. I siliconed small pieces of cork in the corners at the water level, and the frogs were able to get out of the water and eventually find their way back to the main 'island'.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

I just finished the foam and coco on this one. Is this what you're trying to do? I'm trying to make it look like a river edge. I intend on having some protruding rocks in the water and will soften the edge with plants and rocks. Water can flow from the false bottom to the front water area. There are screens between the two, to allow for flow.


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## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

zBrinks said:


> I don't like the sound of magnets.
> 
> I've done a similar build in a large (~150g) vivarium I constructed for a customer. I basically created an "island" out of egg crate, which was held up by 1' lengths of PVC which were disguised to look like rock/wood. This allowed a very large volume of water for fish. It worked very well - the tincs in the tank would occasionally go into the water, but could easily get out. Dart frogs can swim just fine - just make sure that they can easily get out of the water. In deeper water, corners (IE the corner of the tank) can be a problem sometimes - the frogs seem to get stuck there. I siliconed small pieces of cork in the corners at the water level, and the frogs were able to get out of the water and eventually find their way back to the main 'island'.


Yea the island idea sounds great. but my tank would have about 6 1/2 inches of water. so could it work with islands?


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## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

frogfreak said:


> I just finished the foam and coco on this one. Is this what you're trying to do? I'm trying to make it look like a river edge. I intend on having some protruding rocks in the water and will soften the edge with plants and rocks. Water can flow from the false bottom to the front water area. There are screens between the two, to allow for flow.



Looks amazing ! but for the background i think i am just going to do mag rocks, rather then use great stuff and coco pannels, i dont want to over complicate things right now plus i dont want to empty my tank.


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## illinoisfrogs (Apr 16, 2010)

ianizaguirre said:


> Looks amazing ! but for the background i think i am just going to do mag rocks, rather then use great stuff and coco pannels, i dont want to over complicate things right now plus i dont want to empty my tank.


wait....what's in the tank now? I'm confused. 

And the "magnets" thing would work if the magnets are strong enough. There are fake "mushroom" or "shelf fungi" products that I have in one of my tank....not sure who makes them, but I bought them at petsmart. The frogs, of course, are light enough to sit on them, but I wouldn't put plants or anything else up there that might cause them to fall.....


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## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

No animal is in the tank right now I just have 2 Mag-rocks for the background which i am planning on getting more ( Some are made to hold the weight of plants, which i have). I have a heater for the water area, a 4, 24 watt T-5 HO light fixture, and a Next Reef MR1 substrate reactor that i modifed to act as a filter for my water area. My substrate is AZOO plant grower bed. the only plant i have right now is one Anubia. I have about 6 1/2 inches of water. I will post pics some time tommarow. 
What i will be buying is a mistking system later on, when i get more plants.

-The only thing i am scared of regarding the aquatic type plants is that i buy one with Hair algea for example and infect all my aquatic plants. Or i get a million snails, because of a hitchhiker.


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## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

bump.......


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## Arpeggio (Jan 15, 2011)

Mix up some super diluted bleach solution and just give them a dip. Try not to get the roots under. Under proper nutrient to light to co2 levels algae _shouldn't_ grow. I keep a planted tank and with about 30ppm of CO2 coupled with medium-low light with the addition of ferts and there's no algae.


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## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

So far i have one of each 
Plant list
1-	Anubias 
2-	Wendt’s Cryptocoryne, water trumpet 
3-	Narrow leaf chain sword 

Using Azoo natural substrate bed 

I will not be doing CO2


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

I'm confused, are you asking us if it's a good idea to do a dart tank with an aquatic bottom and very little place for them to walk, let alone feed, or are you telling us you are doing it?

sorry, just a little confused for some reason...


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## ianizaguirre (May 27, 2009)

haha this thread is done i have no questions for now ill start a journal soon thanks for the help. as for dart frogs ill do the half aquatic tank with the small areas of land dedicated to plants so it will be easy to fully convert it to a dart tank. but my tank is still a vivarium/plaud


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