This took a long time

this is a tank ive been working on for a long time. its still not done. this pic is a little out dated. the tank looks better now. i will get some more recent photos soon.






(Message edited by mike_g on January 25, 2005)

Looks awesome, what size it? what you keep in there? What you use as walls?

well, right now, there is nothing in that tank. i did have my dart frogs in there, but i gave the frogs to my girlfriend. but im moving in with my girlfriend this weekend...so the frogs get their tank back. the 'false background' is just great stuff expandable foam. you get any rocks or logs you want in the background. lay the aquarium on its backside. lay the logs and rocks the way you want them... then just start spraying foam around the logs and rocks and all across the back of the aquarium. dont spray too much however. just spray an inch or so layer onto it. the stuff expands GREATLY!!! you can always use a razor blade to trim the foam once it hardens. oh.. dont touch the foam when its wet. it takes forever to get it off your hands. the substrate on the foam is just peat. there is a glue called Weldbond that is non toxic and water resistant. just mix the glue with the peat and water till its a mud consistency. make sure there is enough glue. squeeze the peat and if it runs white and thin, its perfect. with the aquarium still on its back, you just paste the peat on there. it takes about a week or so to dry completely depending on temp. after that, add plants and whatever else you want. you can also set up false bottoms or a pond area with the same ideas shown in other tanks on the forum. be creative and youll be surprised at what you can do. im working on a c. orientalis tank that is looking good so far.

if you put moss in a setup like that, it will take a long time for it to grow onto the false background...but it will. you can speed up the process by using alot of light and completely sealing off the top of the tank (glass cut to fit the top, plastic covered lid) the glass works best. i wouldnt put any caudates in a setup with lights and a completely covered tank tho. it gets hot.. tropical hot. you can also get a pump and rig up a waterfall down the false background comming out of the top or whatever. java moss does really well in these setups and grows fast. it usually takes like 6 months to get a crazy lookin talk out of this, but its worth it

Nice set-up you've got there Josh. Is the foam you use non-toxic as well?

yes, the foam is non toxic

java moss, can i jus place them on driftwoods? (wet) and not totally submerged???

Nice, did you get that tecnique from blackjungle.com? I have done this many times, but I just was curious. How do you grow the moss? how do you start it?

no, i didnt get it from black jungle. i learned this from some friends of mine in phoenix that breed dart frogs. java moss will grow on any surface in the tank as long as it is moist or wet. other species of moss will grow from spore or eventually start to spread from the clump. if it grows from spore, it takes a long time and looks like green slime algae at first. it eventually grows into the mature form of the moss.

Thats cool, you said "other species of moss will grow from spore or eventually start to spread from the clump. " What do you mean the clump? A clump of what? Where do you get the spores? Thanks

the clump of moss. the spores will come from the parent moss clump. do a search online to understand more what im talkin about

I have done many in the past, and have found little info, that is why I am asking you so much. Thanks though!

Nice looking setup Josh! What kind of dart frogs are you keeping in there and what size is the tank?

Hey Alex you should start another thread and post it there in the Help section.

here is an updated pic of my cage

the aquarium is a 25 tall and the frogs i have are d. leucomelas and auratus. im getting some D. ventrimaculatus taht are going in this set up tho.

wow, that pic turned out small...... thank you very much by the way william!

25 tall ?


what is the size of that tank in cm's ?

That is awesome, what kind of water feature, or water dish do you have?

well, that tank doesnt have a water feature. it did, but i removed it.

a, thats cool. I still think it looks awesome, I recently got a free 20 gallon long, and a job! But I think I am going to make that tank into something of what you got. Thanks

here are some pics of one im doing now


you can carve pockets into the foam to leave room for planting plants very easily.