The 210 Gallon Toadarium...

[Poly]

At 58" (147.3cm) long x 35" (88.9cm) wide x 24" (61cm) my two American Toads should have a little more room than their current 25 gallon...

Heather (Heatherann) sent me this baby crystal Red-Eyed Leaf Frog for christmas... and now I have the perfect use for it... a "hood ornament" of sorts...


Here it is:







With the "hood ornament"...




It's not sealed yet (I'll be purchasing the Fibreglass resin this week sometime), but once I get it sealed, I'll be installing a 36" (or 48") flourescent light fixture with a 2.0 ZooMed Nature Sun bulb and my Misting system (which consists of 1/4" line with pin holes poked in and a 12V Windshield washed pump), and then I'll have to get half organic potting soil and half coco-fibre.

I haven't decided whether to stain or paint the exterior, either way, it'll have to wait till late spring when I can bring it outside to do the painting.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

~Royce

[DonLisk]

Are you adding in ventilation or will part of the front have screen for some air flow? Once your lighting unit is inside the unit it will add heat due to the ballast getting warm. Ventilation that can is opened and closed would be cool :-)

[frogluver]

Ooo, this is going to be good !! Can't wait to see the finished product, the "Toad Haven" lol!!

[kueluck]

I too can't wait to see the finished product.

[butcher]

Looks like your going to have a fun build.

[Poly]

Are you adding in ventilation or will part of the front have screen for some air flow? Once your lighting unit is inside the unit it will add heat due to the ballast getting warm. Ventilation that can is opened and closed would be cool :-)

Well, I am going to have a 4ft long by about 2-3" tall screen vent over the front doors, should be plenty? Yeah, the light fixture with the ballast is a nice addition of sorts... it'll throw just enough heat to keep them warm, and the grow bulb will make the plants grow like crazy.

Ooo, this is going to be good !! Can't wait to see the finished product, the "Toad Haven" lol!!

Haha, neither can I!

I too can't wait to see the finished product.

Same here!

Looks like your going to have a fun build.

It sure is fun so far!

[Poly]

So as of today (or tommorow), I'm picking up the following supplies:

-1 or 2 1 gallon jugs of Fibreglass Resin, not sure how much I'll need.

-Fast drying (and crueing) wood stain for the exterior.

-4 16oz cans of GS foam, hopefully that will be enough to do all three sides...?

-4 tubes of GE II black silicone, again hopefully that will be enough to cover the background...?

-2 or 3 blocks of plantation soil.

And, that's about it for now


Reguarding the background, do I soak the plantation soil in the water, let it dry then put it on, or just put it on 100% dry? Will the GS background attract mold?

Thanks!

EDIT: Also... is it a good idea to seed a wooden vivaium with springtails? My culture of them exploaded

[Pandora3d]

wow, that is insane, i love it!!

[Heatheranne]

Wow Royce! I'm impressed! That is really awesome! I can't wait to see more!

I'm glad you liked it btw !

[Poly]

At 58" (147.3cm) long x 35" (88.9cm) wide x 24" (61cm)

It's 24" tall, just thought I'd clear that up...

[Poly]

UPDATE:

The tank is currently stained, and the resin will be painted on tommorow.

After the resin is painted on, I will be going out snowshoeing looking for dry tree limbs (dry, but not rotted) for the background, and I don't even have to treat them, because my toads are WC!

Tonight, I got to thinking how I could make a simple water feature, with a small pump... it's not that easy with a wooden tank, but here's what I've come up with:



Now, for the bin, it will be something like this:
Walmart.com: Sterilite 50-Qt Wheeled Latch Box, Lapis, Set of 4: Storage & Organization

At 32" long x 19" wide x 7.0 deep, the toads will have plenty of room to swim, and most of the depth will be taken up with large, smooth rocks & aquarium gravel.

As for the pump, I was thinking the repti-flow 200 would work perfect.

So, the design would go as follows:

The pump sits in the corner of the bin, it pumps the water up, out of the bin (through a piece of PVC tube that will be burried under the substrate), about 40cm away to a large pool like piece of GS foam that would look like this:


Except the pool area would be larger, then the water runs back through the "stream" part of the GS foam, and spills back into the bin.

This way, the toads can either sit in the bin (which I would like to have some aquatic plants growing in) or the GS "pool and stream" area.

Please let me know what you think about this!

Thanks,

Royce