Brandon's 10g vert for thumbnails & Introduction

[dragonspirit1185]

This is pretty much a copy paste from another forum lol.
I will be piecing it together and leaving some parts off so there may be gaps, if you have any question just ask.
If I forgot to remove any of the old questions then just ignore them.
I thought I would share it tho.
I will interject on certain parts for changes and correction and whatnot.
I did this back in August.

Hey everyone. I'm Brandon.
It's about time I finally start a real tank...
The one I have on her before was just practice and I've learned a lot from it.
I'm sorta being forced to build this tank tho....
My ex is being crazy and I'm having to sell everything I own move away back to Bristol.
Might as well build this while I have a chance cause who know when I'll have another.
I've been saving up supplies here and there.
I'm going to having someone babysit my viv for a month or so and I'm coming back to get it. I hope to find a job quick and get some PDFs. Please feel free to suggest some for this tank.

Ok now for some pics of what's going on so far....

Here is the tank....missing the top peice of glass(door) gonna get it soon.

As you can see I painted the bottom to cover the false bottom and give it a sleek look

Side view


Here is the false bottom...I did a pedestal type of thing and let the edges overhang. That way it can be removed easily and have a tight fit and also it's just so much easier to attach my screen. Plus it's super sturdy so no sense in a support in the middle. The screen btw is bug proof window screen and is pretty much like combining weed block and window screen. Each hole is maybe the width if a sewing needle.


Here is what I did with my false bottom....I attached a stainless steel wire to it so I can pull it up.



I made my light fixture myself. It was a regular 10long fixture but it had incandesant sockets.
I was happy to find this at the local petstore for $5. I cut it down to fit the top of the tank then I expoxied the sides back on. I will be installing a fan on top...(diagram below)




Here is the bulbs I bought....hopefully it will be enough...

Lights on...


As for plants I don't have such an awesome selction as most of you cause I don't have time to order any but I will be updating them in the future.
This is my 29g green house that is lit by a PC fixture and has a fan inside.

Here are the plants I have...


I hope to add a Mist King starter system to it once I get enough money and get better plants like I said...
Now time for a nap and then to go get the adapter and fans.

So here is some gadgets I bought today....
AC/DC power supply with volt control $15 Lowes
2 1 9/16" fans $12.99 Radio Shack
2prong adapter $4(gonna take it back...only got it to test the unit. Gonna splice straight into power supply)
Probably gonna be taking the one fan back and get a cheapo fan and have it resting on blowing on it constantly and the timer will shut it and the light off.
Eventually I'll get around to getting another fan and putting it on the light.

Here is the fan and stuff

Here is the specs on the fans for you geeks out there...


Now back to my air duct system I'm scemeing up...
Here is a rough preview but I'm about to change it. I was to be able to still access the fan in case it burns out...Any ideas on how to make it still accessable?

wound up not using this fan or that air duct design

Finally decided to use the larger fan...
Made a decent air system from what I've had laying around...
Gotta get a longer tube tho...only like 50¢ at Lowes.


I have my vine siliconed and peated...
I'm curious how long I have to wait before sucking it off with my shop vac or brush the excess peat off.
I'm gonna do the bacground in eco earth.

Scored some free pots at Lowes.
They have a recycle rack that people drop off pots they don't use.
So I got a few of them...I'm gonna sanatize them well.
They are pretty small too.


So I got....grapewood :o
I know it molds but I'm sure the mold will go away.
I'm setting this tank up and letting it sit for a while until I get on my feet and by some PDFs.
I know I had mold issues on my grapewood I'm my green tree frog tank but it went away.
Plus the fan cirulating the air you stop mold growth right?


Here is a view from the back
I siliconed the grape wood to the viv before I used the GS.


here is the view from the front


Hey everyone
my tank is finally finished
haha I thought it was done and that it it looked great but I was about to find out that this was crap compared to what it finally wound up being :wink:
except for the leaf litter in the film canisters for eggs.
I'm only gonna get to enjoy this for maybe one night tho....power is getting shut of tomorrow maybe
I got a family member to come take the tank for me and mist it daily.
Hopefully I can get one of them to give me a place to stay but the ex kinda pushed my family away from me :/
I tell ya....women will really drive you into the ground :|
I know you're probably thinking, why didn't you use this money to pay the bill....well I actually have been saving all this stuff for some time and I had money on gift cards.
I maybe speant $4 out of pocket for the glass cause my Lowes card got used up.

I had a few hiccups going along... I made top side pieces, wings I guess you could call them, didn't work they blocked out half a light so I wound up cutting and tearing them out and scraping off all the silicone.

so here you go.....I think it turned out pretty well for my first PDF tank
I hope you all like it.......cause I know I sure do








Here is my leaf litter....I'm gonna boil it soon. Great thing about living in GA is that there is Magnolia trees everywhere....I have a huge one in my front yard. It sure is hard to find small leaves tho :/ and no I don't use any kind of pesticides or anything in my yard.


here's where it get's good
hey everyone I have an awesome update for you

I went to Repticon and got some broms $4 a piece and Tillsandsias, the one in the middle was $3 and the two top ones were $1.25(I think).
I met up with a few members of that forum and they hooked me up with:
ONe hooked me up with some peperomias, a begonia, a bunch of wondering jew lol, and he gave me a small springtail culture. I also bought some of Fields ABG and leaf litter.
Another hooked me up with some cuttings as well...more wondering jew lol, some verigated peperromias, some vine I cant remember what he said it was XD, some type of fern, some ivy(didn't use), fittonia(didn't use).
two very awesome guys who made me very happy today.

so here is all that I wound up coming home with...and only pulled $25 from my wallet...


here is the ABG leaf litter and springs I got from Field





here was the tank before....



and now the chaos begins
the silicone pulled away from the bottom pane of glass cause I wasn't using my brain and didn't think just to remove the top glass.


-____________________-

then I go to Ace and they didn't have good silicone so I opted for epoxy...I called ahead of time and they said they had marine epoxy but nope I get there and there isn't any :/

the tear down...


testing the arrangement...looks good...


arranging more plants...


now I will show you the plants the the full take shot for the finale.
need help to ID some scientific names and the broms....
I found out all the names for the plants except the broms and the one vine and I can't remember what that one peperomia is lol.

this is my fav brom even tho idk it's name XD. been wanting one since I saw it months ago....I'm so happy I found it


love this one..needs ID


this one I liked as well...this one and the one above had stolons so I just shoved the stolons into the background.


shoved into the background..


here is the Tills.
this one will grow upwards so I put it here and it will grow up towards the fan..Tills need lots of air movement in case ya didn't know. Needs ID.


this one is very colorful and shoots blue flowers...
I broke one of the leaves :'(


I think this one is different than the one above although it was in the same basket I think it was there by accident so I grabbed it hoping it's different than the other.


here is a close up of the the broms


begonia...



verigated peperomias they died lol
front of tank

back right corner


pilea creeping charlie...


wondering jew in the back right corner and a pepromia serpens on the right


another wondering jew


a peperomia....ID?


2 types of ferns...one I bought a Petsmart


here is that vine that I cant cant remember what it's called, sorta behind the till...



here is some FTS


from the top...


here is how I constructed my film canisters.
so I made up the film containers and thanks to some awesome info from
this project only costed me $1 for the suction cups from The Dollar Tree.
as I said above I got the film canisters out of the film storage bag in my dad's fridge.

I took a black container and drilled a hole in the side.
Then took one of these suction cups...

and I scored the side right before the bend

then I snapped it in half

I sanded down the end well to get rid of any sharpness.

then I just pushed the suction cup through the hole in the black container and pushed the pin in.


then I made inserts for the canisters so removing eggs would be simple.
I took some white film canisters and cut them in half and this makes two inserts.


then you just trim them up a bit and get rid of those sharp corners and they slide right in


I sanitized them with a 10% bleach solution
The back of the white canisters is like a shelf so when you pull it it pulls the eggs with it....
Thanks for the awesome info Scott
no Slurpee straws for me...you've egg removal a piece of cake

here is the canisters in the viv



I've heard about how some frogs will lay eggs in the top of the viv so I put one up top by the fan box lol


I'm pretty much set now...I just need to make up some more springtail cultures and seed the tank and start making fruit fly cultures then get me a pair of thumbnails.

here is a slide show of the viv...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5IOCUO_hE

Here is my most recent full tank shot of my viv.


Here is what it looks like with the lights off and just the LEDs(its not this bright tho)


I have pulled some of the plants out to let them grow and propagate so I can make another viv.
I don't currently have frogs but I will be getting some thumbnails one day.
I am working on mastering springtails so far I have 3 large cultures of springtails.
Right now I am holding off on frogs for a bit and when I know I am ready for frogs then I will work on fruit fly culturing.
I was a member of the other forum for a year and I have done lots of research.
I'm not a total noob I know a lot but I don't have much personal experience.
Enough about me lol what do you think of my viv???

btw have I just made a record for longest first post haha?

[RanaVenenosa]

Hi Brandon
Welcome to Dart Den. Sorry to hear about your marriage situation - hope things can get a bit more amiable for you. Been there done that so I feel your pain.

Anyways, Looks like you got some great experience building this viv - thats what its about ... practice, practice, practice. Overall, I think you did a excellent job. If I read correct, you pulled some plants - seems you have it packed. I like the results of the rebuild better leveraging the broms, as that utilized more of the canopy space than the crypts (ie.. better frog furniture and more practical if frogs want to deposit tads. The 10g w vent will take daily misting to keep humidity up. Also, be cautious about temps using CFLs as the small size of a 10g makes it vulnerable to heat accumulation. You might consider an LED screw in swap during summer (check out lightyourreptiles.com). Clever idea w your false bottom - just keep an eye on that "stainless" steel - I have stainless steel knives and forks that have rust spots... false advertising : ) Your fan is clever - I would keep eye that humidity doesnt kill it. In fact it would be good to hear your results after 12 mos to see how well it holds up. If it is durable, I might give it a try in my bigger exo terras. Your off to a good start!

Again, welcome and look forward to getting to know you
thx
-Scott

[Philsuma]

yes Brandon....that may indeed be the record for longest first post ! Great build documentation - excellent pics. We can't have enough threads like these, as pics and clear concise step-by-step narration is wonderful for the new hobbyists to follow and understand.

Thanks for taking the time to post it here !

also...heavy duty construction scissors from any given craft store, cuts film cans in half like butter. Much safer than a utility knife.

[fieldsmith]

Welcome Brandon, lots of helpful people here. We need some updated shots so I can see how my babies are growing!

[dragonspirit1185]

Hi Brandon
Welcome to Dart Den. Sorry to hear about your marriage situation - hope things can get a bit more amiable for you. Been there done that so I feel your pain.

Anyways, Looks like you got some great experience building this viv - thats what its about ... practice, practice, practice. Overall, I think you did a excellent job. If I read correct, you pulled some plants - seems you have it packed. I like the results of the rebuild better leveraging the broms, as that utilized more of the canopy space than the crypts (ie.. better frog furniture and more practical if frogs want to deposit tads. The 10g w vent will take daily misting to keep humidity up. Also, be cautious about temps using CFLs as the small size of a 10g makes it vulnerable to heat accumulation. You might consider an LED screw in swap during summer (check out lightyourreptiles.com). Clever idea w your false bottom - just keep an eye on that "stainless" steel - I have stainless steel knives and forks that have rust spots... false advertising : ) Your fan is clever - I would keep eye that humidity doesnt kill it. In fact it would be good to hear your results after 12 mos to see how well it holds up. If it is durable, I might give it a try in my bigger exo terras. Your off to a good start!

Again, welcome and look forward to getting to know you
thx
-Scott

Thanks
That is real stainless steel wire tho from a fabrication shop that my ex's dad worked at.
Yeah I have my doubts about the fan too.
Yet I have seen many people have fans inside some pretty humid vivs but they haven't really said how the fans held up.
I will have to ask around.
There are some designs I learned from the other forum like making air ducts behind your background using cloraplast.
Check out this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99ZSuOvw8og
I pulled some of the plants so I could get them to grow in a grow out tank and whatnot and propagate them before there roots got too big or entwined with other roots.
I'm aware of LightYourReptiles. I have spoken to Todd a couple times and he is a good guy.
I hope to get some of those new Jungle Dawn LEDs and try them out but I wanna see more feedback on them first.
I will be using LEDs hopefully on my future builds.
The CFLs have a fan behind them that keep them cool. My temps inside the viv are at 72


btw we wasn't married and I don't think I wanna ever get married. She was just a gf and I forgot to remove all that drama haha

[dragonspirit1185]

Welcome Brandon, lots of helpful people here. We need some updated shots so I can see how my babies are growing!

You mean the plants you gave me?
I'm pretty sure that's what you meant.
so here they are lol
Pilea creeping charlie and the peperomia serpens


the begonia and the 3 baby plants it has produced.




I kind hung the 2 still attached to the mother plat so they wouldn't root into the viv. I'm hoping they get bigger soon so I can plant them

Here is some of the wandering jew you gave me

here is the rest of it in my plant growout tank


Here is that awesome peperomia you gave me..I forget then name haha


Here is some pothos and some philodendron i also have in that growout tank.
When I moved I had to leave all the plants behind they had no water for a long time and they survived and everything else dried up and died lol. Very resilient plants. I put the plastic wrap on there so they wouldn't grab onto the wire


here is a FTS I just took today

[fieldsmith]

Awesome, they are all looking good. The pep is "Orba" its one of my favorites. You could take some cuttings off of that serpens since its getting pretty leggy. Cut right below the node and it will quickly root. Just let the little saxifraga root in the viv, then pull them out when they get a little size on them.

[dragonspirit1185]

Awesome, they are all looking good. The pep is "Orba" its one of my favorites. You could take some cuttings off of that serpens since its getting pretty leggy. Cut right below the node and it will quickly root. Just let the little saxifraga root in the viv, then pull them out when they get a little size on them.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by node lol
I guess you mean below the parts where it branches out and has the lil roots poking out?
I will give what you said about the saxifraga a try if what I am trying right now doesn't work.
I noticed the last one latched onto a piece if sphagnum and I took a clump of sphagnum and put it under each one on the ground. I have too much leaf litter to try to put them where the ABG is but if this doesn't work then I'm gonna pill some leavf litter out and sit them on the bare ABG.
If you don't think what I am trying is gonna work then let me know and I will go ahead and put them on the ABG.

Yeah that Orba is one of my favs as well. I like peperomias except for the ones that have the round leaves lol.
I think my lights might be burning my Ficus pumila