135x100 Outdoor breeder tank

[eljorgo]

Hey all,
This is my last creation.
It haves 100x135cm in total, usable area.
Started building it in middle August and finished in mid September. Since then all the life inside of it has been growing very nicely. It’s a breeder tank usable to Tylototriton, Echinotriton, Lissotriton, Ambystoma, Plethodon between others. Target is Tylototriton kweichowensis in summer 2011. But in meanwhile it’s housing some Triturus/Cynops morphs (without care) which seem to do just fine.
Pics aren’t the best but might give an idea of the progress.
The lid is simply a tight resistant translucent plastic layer fixed with some iron pins turned upwards stuck in dry cement. Then as protection from windstorms a big plastic resistant net covers the plastic. It’s not totally escape proof yet, but I might build something better later on. At least animals stayed there for last 2 months. Thing is that if they like their setup it lowers the chances of escaping. But It doesn’t avoid it of course.

Some of the critters I found inside of it lately:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...technique-discussion/72151-newt-surprise.html




The "making of":

These last 3 pics were took yesterday. After two months of maturation. I don't have the pics of the tank just after planting stuff right here. Once I have I may post it in this thread. I liked the final result a lot. But I found some problems I´ll have to solve in December.
Hope you guys like it.

Cheers,

Jorge

 

[Opacum]

That is amazingly beautiful! Do you find the Ph high due to using the cinder block and or the concrete or is it pretty chemically inert? Looks like Newt Heaven... LOL!

 

[eljorgo]

Hey Opacum, well I havent checked the water chemestry yet. But When it rains the water is replinished for rain water witch has a p[H] of about 5. Also the plastic lid accomulates lots of dead leaves on top and when it rains this soup of dead leaves+ rain water might have an impact sending the p[H] down again. Also there is organic waste in water witch lowers it again. Anyway water isn't being used so It a minor problem right now. All works in perfection like I predicted before even start. Only some parts get a bit humid and some a little bit less humid, witch is awesome for the animals to choose but the plants get injured from this. Mosses death resulting by drought or death by being constantly in touch with water. Course some species need to be always contacting with water (Fissidens and Spaghnum). But most species need a medium level not extremes.

Cheers,

Jorge

 

[Opacum]

Rain water with a Ph of 5 sounds incredibly low. That would be the epitome of 'acid rain' to be sure. I would try catching it in a glass vial that hasn't been washed with detergent and testing that. The leaf 'soup' can certainly lower your Ph and soften the water as well. You may try making a finer screen cover and using sheets of glass laid across the screen to raise or lower the humidity if you want to try and even things out for the various mosses . The low Ph could also be rectified by placing a seashell or two in the water area to raise the level via natural carbonate, provided the Ph level is remaining consistent. That is a natural buffering agent and works wonder though it is a fairly imprecise way of raising the Ph. You can add one shell at a time and watch the level rise. The problem with that is that the leaf 'soup' that is getting in there is a non-measurable factor... so your Ph can vary considerably depending on how much of that mix is getting into your water. So you may want to merely address that variable before you do anything else. I would hesitate from using any other natural items to elevate your Ph such as coral bits as they can cut up your inhabitants, and dolomite which is small enough to be swallowed. If you want to use dolomite then put a little in a filter bag and lay it in a corner of your water area. But again: check your water chemistry first and see what's going on before you address the Ph problem, if it even IS a factor. Regardless of what may be going on, I'm sure this is still going to be a palace for whatever you choose to introduce. Besides, what you have in there is doing fine you said, so all your hard work has paid off nicely! GREAT job!

 

[eljorgo]

Hey. Well I gone pretty far. 5 is truly not the pH im so sorry, but rather 6,5! My bad. Well to be honest I truly dont care. I´ve got another, older setup like this one that had same treatment as this one is having. And I manage to breed T.marmoratus and house T.carnifex there with no problems. I guess the maturation factor plays a great roll and if the fight is bettwen a pH of 8-9 against a 6,5 things will always get to a equilibrium stage. I never paid attention to this just let it get older and older and older and things do the job themselves. and newts breeded and lived perfectly in these places so not big deal. Water part will only be used in august 2011 so its not a problem for me right right now.
Anyway thank you for the advice cause It may be more than useful in august if water isn´t inside of normal parameters.

Cheers,
Jorge

 

[Jennewt]

Nice set of photos! I don't see any place for water to drain out. If you have a really hard rain, wouldn't the whole thing (including land area) fill with water?

 

[Ezequiel Nahuel]

Hi Jorge.
That´s an amazing set-up, great work!
What mosses did you use? Are there plants in the water?
Bye

 

[Viv]

Thats so cool but are you not worried about escapes. You might of mention that you had a top for it but I just missed it. That is so cool.

 

[Opacum]

My pleasure Jorge. I would love to see pictures of the creatures inhabiting this when you are all done!

 

[Azhael]

Nice work, i have always wanted to do an outdoor enclosure (actually several dozen of them, but youve got to start somewhere xD). I sure hope it has an excellent and tight fitting cover, though, with that irregular border and no horizontal rim, the risk of scapees is huge if you dont have a VERY good cover.

 

[eljorgo]

Nice set of photos! I don't see any place for water to drain out. If you have a really hard rain, wouldn't the whole thing (including land area) fill with water?

Thanks Jen! Yeah It takes some heavy rain in stormy heather but I made two holes with 1,5cm in diameter just at the same level as the maximum water level. You cant see at these pics but they are right there. So all water that falls in water part and in land part get out by there. and land part itself its opened at the bottom trough a line with some milimiters which provides to be enough.



Hi Jorge.
That´s an amazing set-up, great work!
What mosses did you use? Are there plants in the water?
Bye

I use many types of moss in there. Dont know were to start from. Forest mosses from many different families.
No plants in the water. yet.

Thats so cool but are you not worried about escapes. You might of mention that you had a top for it but I just missed it. That is so cool.

Thanks.

My pleasure Jorge. I would love to see pictures of the creatures inhabiting this when you are all done!

Already creatures living there. See the "Newt surprise" thread?

Nice work, i have always wanted to do an outdoor enclosure (actually several dozen of them, but youve got to start somewhere xD). I sure hope it has an excellent and tight fitting cover, though, with that irregular border and no horizontal rim, the risk of scapees is huge if you dont have a VERY good cover.

Yes the risk of escaping is truly enormous but like I said I shall build something way better later this year. Escape proof. For now those morphs pictured in Newt surprise thread may keep living there with no problems. But for larger Sals and newts like tylos or ambystomas may require something really 100% escape proof!

Cheers,
Jorge

 

[Azhael]

Oh, don´t subestimate the powers of juveniles...they are the ones that are really, REALLY good at scaping. The adults are much less of a problem, and depending on species a vertical wall can be enough to keep them in, but juveniles, specially with a rough wall that can be easily climbed, require special meassures. I hope none have scaped so far...C.pyrrhogaster living in Madeira....not good...xD

 

[Yahilles]

Very cool enclosure! I'm jealous about these beautiful Selaginellas!

 

[eljorgo]

Oh, don´t subestimate the powers of juveniles...they are the ones that are really, REALLY good at scaping. The adults are much less of a problem, and depending on species a vertical wall can be enough to keep them in, but juveniles, specially with a rough wall that can be easily climbed, require special meassures. I hope none have scaped so far...C.pyrrhogaster living in Madeira....not good...xD

hahaha I just saw this now. You´re right they are really good escaping! Abou pyrrohs in Madeira well xD if some juvies runs out (high probabilities of that) they will grow well for sure. but were i live there are no water bodies besides some cement channels made to take water to crops. But those have such inclination that water reached unbelievable velocities. If a sad newt falls inside it will be disintegrated as it beats against all types of rocks and walls. If he can take all that will end up in middle of a crop nearly dead to be a meal for a cat or a rat.
Even if they reached a mountain stream from sept till march mountain streams will increase flow and volume of water growing 3 000% the volume of summer witch basically will destroy any living creature inhabiting the place

Very cool enclosure! I'm jealous about these beautiful Selaginellas!

Yeah sure they´re very nice. I found out that giving them loads of not direct sunlight might do the trick. Very dark places or direct sunlight will not be a good treatment for S. kraussiana.

Almost one month passed. I´ll make an update of this and see how its doing right now when I´m back home in a week.

 

[holoublahee]

That set up looks amazing! I only wish i had the patience to do something like this. I really like the way the water reflects the mosses and other plants.

 

[matias]

wow, that is beautiful!!!