In responste to the topic 'this took a long time'

J

josh

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there has been alot of response to that topic. the topic was posted by me and since that posting, i have figured out a few tricks to building successful vivs. now, at the time of the previous posting, i was using weldbond glue. well, as many of us know by now, weldbond falls apart when it gets wet and leaches into the water. i was told to use gorilla glue by an old frog keeper and it works very well. i also want to touch up on the actual making of the background. the whole background (through this process) is 100% submersible and waterproof. now i am going to share some pics of tanks that ive done with this method and later, when i start the construction of a new tank, i will post the 'step by step' process. the look is very natural and grows mosses and ferns very fast.

this is one of my tanks. it has 2 seeps off the back wall. the one on the right flows more water than the left and flows into a pool. the pool overflows down a stream to another pool in the front of the viv. the whole water feature was formed using egg crate, foam and gorilla glue. it worked out better than i thought.

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here is the water feature

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this is the backside of the viv. you can see the egg crate siliconed to the glass and the great stuff is adhered to the egg crate.

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(Message edited by jennewt on November 05, 2006)
 
this is another viv i just finished the other day.
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here is one inhabitant of this viv
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i will post step by step how to build a viv when i start my next project. it will include pictures of product i use and how to build a false bottom (which i highly recommend for caudates as well as frogs)

-josh

(Message edited by josh_r on November 04, 2006)
 
I have been looking for a false bottomed tank to house whites treefrogs in, they are pigs, and require dail cleanings..
my problem is finding a tall enough arboreal tank with the false bottom....might have to have one made
 
hey kara, a false bottom is very simple to make. all u need is

pvc couplings
100% silicone
egg crate
and something to cover the egg crate in (screen, styrafoam, etc) to prevent dirt from falling into the false bottom.

i will be posting a how to very shortly. i need to make some new tanks myself. i have new frogs comming in

-josh
 
when you sa eggcrate, the cardboard variety? or something else??
 
The egg crate that you find in the lighting section of Home Depot. They go into florescent light fixtures.
 
That's quite a tank. Fantastic job. What's gonna go in the first one?
 
besides gorilla glue what can i use to make'it waterproof? i cant find't here
 
What is the Gorilla Glue Ratio? My Weldbond tank is beautiful but I fear I will have to tear it apart and re-do the entire thing because of that damn glue.
 
hey simon, the first tank will have dendrobates castaneoticus. the second tank has a trio of cristobal pumilio and one rio branco.

samuel, you can use silicone in place of the gorilla glue if you cannot find it where u live. you may be able to order it online otherwise.

john, all you do with the gorilla glue is spread it evenly over the foam and take a handfull of peat and spread it on thick. let the peat soak into the gorilla glue and keep patting it down for about 10 minutes or so. continue until entire back is covered. its very simple. you dont have to mix anything in any ratios. good luck. im out of town for a few days, but when i get back, im going to start working on the new tank and i will post step by step procedures. good luck

-josh
 
you mean the glass silicone, and maybe i didnt understand well its it suposed to go all under the great stuff?? or just to make the water fall?
 
i saw in the store great stuff for outdor and indor, the one u used was indor, is there any difrence???? about the paint, glue: the one im triying to use says that release vapors at first, but its used to paint inside water containeres, is from sherwin williams, and that would make it impermeable, now i have to look at the one ill use to do the rest, havent seen nothing yet
 
We used greatstuff to form the back of our 40 gallon bowfront which houses 6 C. Pyrroghaster. Non-toxic, very easy to work with (a picture of it is posted under the vivaria photos forum, but our camera doesn't do the tank justice).

To make waterfalls, we ran air tubing from the lower, submerged half of the tank, out through the back, through an external filter, then back in under the great-stuff. There are 8 waterfalls, though only 5 of them work now (after 4 years). This way the water is constantly circulating, which helps keep the tank cool as well as fertilize the plants.

I'm interested in seeing Josh's step-by-step will look like. We built ours based on step-by step at black jungle.com. There are some good instructions regarding how to use great stuff there.

An important step is to first coat the glass with a thin layer of black silacon before you layer in the great stuff... this will disguise the great-stuff from the outside of the tank. Then, you put in the great stuff, spread black silacon over it, and while the silacon is drying - dust it with dried coco-fiber.

Look forward to seeing your photos Josh.
 
hey, sorry its taking me so long to get this step by step up. ive had a busy few weeks. a death in the family, the holidays and job hunting. busy busy busy. all of this is over however and i am going to be building the next viv soon. should i start a new thread or continue on this one??? take care

-josh
 
i think would be better to start a new one, i have a question do you think i can use waterproffing material, its water based that would be to cover the foam and to add the cocopeat, that im thinking to mix git a bit of earth adn sand, suggestions???
 
thanks i really dont think ill findit, but ill be looking, for now i tryed on a little piece, i mixed the waterproofing material, water based, and tempera, then i let it dry for almost 30 hours and the i placed into a glass with water and it being working very well, ill post picturesm and thanks josh, well one more thing can i use the coco peat direct from the coconut???? they dont sellit here
 
lol, samuel, giev it a try. ive never tried using actual fibers off a coconut. you are in great habitat for many salamanders and frogs. i suggest going out and finding whre some of these things live and set up your tank like the habitat you found them in. what species are you planning on keeping anyways?? take care and good luck

-josh
 
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