First Viv, 24X18X24 Exo in progress!

[scrubbydan]

I did the back with the GS pond foam. Then I did the sides one at a time, with the side I was working on against the floor. I used like 6 cans of foam but ended up carving a lot out. Sorry for the crappy i-phone pics, the globs in the middle are ledges and I have some good holes on the left side and back right for them to hide in. Just waiting for my dang black silicone to arrive. Was paranoid so just ordered aquarium grade lol.

[RanaVenenosa]

Hi Dan
Your viv is coming along nice. Are you planning to use a false bottom? If your using egg crate, you might get that fitted and installed before building out too much more.

-Scott

[scrubbydan]

Gonna do hydroballs/ABG/Leaflitter. I have the pvc pipe in the corner incase I need to siphon later on. Just contemplating where to put a fan or skip it.

[RanaVenenosa]

I would avoid an internal fan... just keep it simple and put some glass insets on your exo terra lid, but leave enough room that allows a gap over the screen. That will be plenty of airflow for the purpose of your viv. Where do you live (climate wise) ? that would influence some of my tips.

[scrubbydan]

I live in the middle of Minnesota. Yea I will avoid it then especially since I am going to hand mist. I figure if I do this it will freshen the air once in awhile at least. I will vent at the top also. I have a dual 24" t5 fixture coming with 6500k lights and they have the coolest mounting brackets so they will be above it a few inches or so. That is my plan so far. Thx for all the input!

[Philsuma]

Use a clip fan - from bed bath and beyond, trained on the front of the tank (mounted outside of couse).You'll be suprised how effective an outside the viv fan blowing onto it will get inside the cracks in and around the lid - moving the inside air and clearing the front glass of moisture.

[scrubbydan]

Sweet idea with the clip fan, that will totaly work for me! I just picked up the exo thermo/hygrometer. Is this one accurate enough at least temperature wise? I am not to worried about the humidity being super accurate since i've heard most people say the condensation on the glass is a good indicator. Thanks for the quick replys by the guys!

[Philsuma]

yep...you'll be good to go as long as there is some false bottom water and you see some moisture on the side walls ect.

You have a glass top, right ?

[Juand15]

I think i will buy my 2nd Viv like this.

[scrubbydan]

Yea I was going to build the glass top while my silicone/coco fiber is drying (still waiting for silicone in the mail) There was a video of Grimm making a glass top with a bead of silicone in the fold for a hinge. Looked really simple and cool which was kinda what I wanted to go for. I can't seem to find the video again.

[Philsuma]

check our youtube channel on the homepage here on Dart Den. We are subscribed to Grimm.

[scrubbydan]

The T5 lights came today (2X24" 24 watt 6,500K) so I fired them up so see how they look. The light is so bright and I could barely feel the heat coming off them with my hand right under the fixture! See why everybody loves them now. I also sanded the foam on the shiny spots because I heard someone say the silicone doesn't stick as well to the shiny parts. I also have a bunch of polished aggots that my grandpa gave me. I put some flat ones on the ledges as little extensions. Still no silicone in the mail!

[Philsuma]

Looking good - Love the "3 sided" or Shadow box style backgrounds. so much more usable space and the frogs feel more secure.

[scrubbydan]

Ok so the two pieces of wood on the left are grapewood. Someone said that it turns to crap in 2-3 weeks in a moist enviroment. Am I going to have to tear these out of the GS and put better wood in or will they be ok?

[Philsuma]

Hard to say. It also depends if you are going to have a misting nozzel always hitting the wood or not.
If all else fails....grow a bunch of vining plants and boms and stuff directly on the wood. Most times, backgrounds start out elaborate and then just get covered over with growth and you never see it.

[scrubbydan]

I am going to hand mist and i'm also not really worried about how it looks, just worried if its going to decompose and shrink and fall out of my GS background?

[Philsuma]

^^ No way to tell. Most "solid" wood holds up well and doesn't out-right disintegrate. Some woods are better than others but again, so hard to predict what and when things may happen to the wood. You're just going to have to "go for it"...

[scrubbydan]

I might just go get a big piece of mopani and throw it in instead. I figure I might as well do it the right way the first time and I am still waiting for silicone for some reason lol. Thx Phil!

[fieldsmith]

I used to use a lot of grapevine in my gs backgrounds. Had mold issues for the first few months, but never had one rot enough to fall out of the bg. You should be fine.

[scrubbydan]

I tore it out and found some Malaysian Driftwood at the petshop which they never have usually! Only took one more can of GS and im back on track! Of course the silicone arrived today when I was working on it so I will have more pics soon! Thx for all the advice.