my new 40 gallon setup and i need advice

[xsputnikx]

hello everyone I am new to the forums and new to darts.... I know im going to muck up and make a few mistakes along the way... but here is my new setup



Here i started building my water fall using pink foam from home depot

i measured and cut the pieces for the wall to make a square frame with a bottom for the waterfall



next i cut out several pieces each a lil smaller than the rest and layered them on using foam safe spray ahedsive






Next i cut off the excess foam and carved out some channels for the water fall and tried to make the foam look as rocky as possible



next i used quickcrete mix and applied first a very thin coat then after that was close to cured went back over with a thicker coat.. the thicker coat worked way better than the thin coat did



after that i moved on to a hideaway piece that will cover the all the wires and tubing.. same process as before measure, cut, shape, and quickcrete, cure




here again did the same thing for the main wall background piece this one was kind of neat to make.. I added the spray glue to the areas i wanted the rocks to be on and just let falling pieces stick wherever.. and then done that 3 or 4 times with left over scrap pieces and it gave a very neat and natural looking rock background..

same steps onece again..



next measured and cut out my false bottom added pvc fittings on the bottom cut out space for river bed, tank equipment, and added mesh screen across the top



next i started adding hydroton pellets for drainage layer



sorry guys as i got more and more into building the tank i forgot to take pictures cause i really started getting into it

tank includes a water filter, water pump for waterfall, exo terra mister, water heater... but here is how it turned out with various plants put in and other decorations..

its not much now but im sure once the plants start taking over the tank it will really look nice





[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r187/sputnikxxx/vivarium%2040%20gallon%20build/103_0773-1.jpg[/IMG}

[xsputnikx]

OK... so you see my tank setup.. but now im having a few problems with the tank... and i am confused on how to fix it..

I got my dart frogs in today and i figured they would be larger than they are but now that i realize how small they are i have found all kinds of lil corners and crevices they can get behind.. and in the far right corner where everything like the wires to pumps and stuff that are hiddien by a wall.. has a hole right into the false bottom and im concerned about the frogs getting behind there and falling into the false bottom and drowning as there is no outlet anywhere in the tank....

should i chalk the tank up as a loss remove everything and try do a new one?..

should i just transfer the froglets and wait till they reach matuity then put them in?...

Ii just got them in the mail today and i dont want to stress them out too much by moving them around but i dont want to take a chance in loosing them either.. i didnt silicone anything to the tank so later if needed there would be easy removal..

but i think a lot of it is that maybe im just being over paranoid of my frogs because i had to save up to afford these and my setup..

[ChrisK]

Yeah maybe you got in too deep for your first try, you woulda been just fine with leca, then fiberglass screen or substrate divider on top of it, then substrate on top, lots of safe plants, and a glass top to keep the humidity in, what kinds of frogs are they and how old? Also you should be QTing them and getting fecals done before they go in the permanent tank anyway so you got some time - put them in 10 gal tanks with glass tops till that's all done

[xsputnikx]

ok... I got some luecs and atueras...

ive already taken them out.. i dont have a 10 gallon but i do have some 5 gallon plastic toats with plastic lids.. will for a temporary time it be ok to put in a damp napkin.. and where can i get fecal samples done at?..

I will quarintine them asap..

i got the frogs from josh's frogs.com and it says on his site they are at least 2 months out of water... so im assuming froglets they are bout the size of my thumbnails

[ChrisK]

yeah they're pretty young - do you have melanogaster ff cultures and springtails going and all that?

rich frye's (a member on here) brother is a vet, he's done all my fecals so far. email him at dr.frye.dvm@sbcglobal.net and tell him about your frogs and you want fecals done, he'll tell you what do to, you should do like 3 for each about a week apart. i don't know about those containers unless you post a pic, but they should be tight-closing lids for obvious reasons, use a couple of layers of wet paper towel and change it out every 2 days or so - really there should be 2 sets of containers so you can put them in the clean ones while you sanitize the dirty ones with a weak bleach/water solution and let them dry for a couple of days

also, you know that you can't keep those 2 species together in the same tank right?

[xsputnikx]

ok.. thanks for the info.. no i was not aware that i could not keep them in the same tank... I was told by someone that as long as i have a large enough tank it would be fine.. I was also told that it was ok if you put them together as froglets and that they would be ok as long as they could get away from each other...

i located someone that loaned me a 29 gallon tank.. i cleaned it rinsed it real well.. put hydroton pebbles cross the bottom covered that with screen put bout 2 inches of substrate put my plants, wood, and coco hut and a few magnolia leaves in there for them to hide under...

the top is a screen top i dont have a glass top for it.. so i hope this is not a major concern.. i washed all the substrate real well so it would have a decent amount of water in it... and im hoping that will create some good humidity..

I feel a lot better and more relaxed about this setup cause its simple and there is no pit falls for the froglets to get hurt..

[ChrisK]

the top is a screen top i dont have a glass top for it.. so i hope this is not a major concern..

actually that is a concern - put a piece of glass or plexiglass (or at least saran wrap) over at least 3/4 of the screen top and there should be some water in the leca (hydroton is leca), like if the leca is 2 inches deep then about an inch, or half the leca should be underwater to keep the humidity up

[xsputnikx]

great minds think alike.. i covered the screen with a piece of plexi i had from another project... and will use that until i can get a chance to get a glass top..

i have a thermometer/hygrometer and so ive been monitering the temps closly.. i have a feeling in a few weeks ima have to go get a heat lamp to throw on top cause i only have a fire place for heat and i doesnt do that well of a job heating the house..

i have been using bottle spring water.. i know tap water is not advised but what about well water?... we have a well system

[ChrisK]

I'm not too familiar with what might be in your well water but I use bottled water too, a heat lamp might make it to too hot so an electric space heater in the room might work better, it's a lot better with less chance of a disaster to control the room temp than the tank temp, where are you located where there's no heaters? Hope you got AC for the summers too since it can't get higher than the low 80s in the tank

[xsputnikx]

i live in GA... I have ac yes so keepin tank cool in the summer is not an issue.. but the heat in the house is gas and the cost to run a gas furnace right now is insane so we got by last winter with just the fireplace cause thats where we spend most time anyway... i do have a small electric heater i will probably run

[sonusood]

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