24 x 18 x 24 Mantella build Journal

[DigitalPunk]

Hi All! Well the bug has been biting me to do a new tank so I decided I wanted to design a new home for my Mantella betsileo. They are currently in a 40b tank I setup for them, but I am not happy with the height restrictions that tank is causing. The 40b is 36 x 18 x 16 so this tank will be a tad bit smaller but will offer much more vertical options for the frogs. I initially planned to do this build in a 36 x 18 x 24 tank, but decided against it.... Largely due to the cost of the tank lol.

All the supplies have been ordered and are in various stages of packing, shipping, and delivery.

The initial plan is to have a false bottom that is 4.5 inches deep to allow for a lagoon to be setup in a section of the tank. I will begin the initial staging of the tank tomorrow and the flow of pictures and far to much detail will commence.

Here is the tank on the build table in the frog cave awaiting the transformation




Paul

[jarteta97]

Yaaaay! I can't wait to see its progress. I just put my AGTF tank together w/ custom background, and just have to load the pictures I took. Have fun with it (and take it slow)

[deranged chipmunk]

Nice!! You're gonna have to kick it up a notch on this build buddy. The last one was excellent, I expect better from this one!! Lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Strider18]

Yay another build! I will definetly be watching!

[DigitalPunk]

Oh I have big plans for this one. Now I just need to be able to put it together the way it looks in my brain lol.

[Strider18]

Pshh thats the easy part! (Though I haven't done it yet so I am probably wrong !) It looks like it will be fun!

[jarteta97]

Alright, uploading my build pics now!

[DigitalPunk]

Baby steps have been taken over the past few day.

Supports cut and put in place. In the past I used PVC Couplers because they were the 2.5 inches tall I wanted the false bottom to be. With this tank I wanted a 4.5" gap in the false bottom so I bought a 10' piece of PVC and cut it up with a hack saw. They aren't pretty at all, but will get the job done.



Got going and forgot to take a pic. I placed the egg crate in the tank and then used a sharpi marker to draw out the pond area



Then I cut that out. Look at it and decide if I want it to be different. Until I am happy.




I didn't get a picture of it, but I ended up rounding out the lower part of the cut more. You can see the final shape in the next pictures.

I then lay out the fiberglass screen and cut it to size.




I decided to try something a little dif to hold the screen around the egg crate. I used duct tape to hold it in place and then put silicon around it in various places to try and use that to hold it in place. It doesn't need to be super secure, just hold it on there while I am mucking with the tank during setup.



I realized after this pic that I had the crate upside down so I flipped it and got everything right and then continued. (Sorry for the crappy pic. I had some silicon on my finger and didn't want to get it on my phone.)



I will let this dry for 24 hours before I do anything else with it.

I use a pair of Side cutters to cut out grooves on the bottom of the PVC Supports to allow water to flow out of them.



This is what they look like once the cutting is done.



A little silicone on the bottom to secure them to the glass.



Now we wait for it all to cure.


I got the shipping notification for the rest of the supplies today so hopefully by mid next week I have it all in hand.

[Strider18]

Looks good so far! Can't wait to see it finished

[deranged chipmunk]

Looking good buddy!


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[jarteta97]

I like the fiberglass wrapping over the egg carton. I recently discovered that the substrate barrier from Josh's Frogs is really just weed block, after looking outside in the flower bed.

[DigitalPunk]

Jartet97,

Yeah I used the stuff from Josh's Frogs once, but I found that the water drained off the soil really really slowly with the weed block they sell. I ordered the stuff NEHERP sales as well and it is ZooMeds stuff and it was basically fiberglass screening cut to size. So I just went to the hardware store and bought a roll of fiberglass screening for like $5. It had a ton of the screen on the roll and has worked great so far!

[DigitalPunk]

Another small update.

I rigged this up last night to be a small sponge filter for this new tank.




Today I water tested the tank. I over filled the tank (filled it higher than the tank will be designed to hold, just in case). No leaks were found. I let the water sit in the tank for a couple hours. Mostly because I was lazy and didn't feel like siphoning nearly 10 gallons of water lol. The sponge filet pictured above is to tall for this tank, but I will use it somewhere else I am sure. I ordered a smaller sponge filter today. It will be here Tuesday.

I drained the tank. I decided last night I wanted to put live plants in the pond area. To avoid having to put soil across the whole bottom of the tank I decided to create a short wall that will be under water to help contain the soil and keep it in the pond area. I made the wall short because I want the shrimp and Picos to have access to the whole tank underneath and I am not worried about the frogs that will be in this tank. They have proven time and time again they are very good swimmers.

First I measured and cut the pieces for the wall. I realized I hadn't shown how I cut the egg crate so I took some demo pictures of the process this time using some scrap pieces.

First I measure to find out how big I want it to be. Then a move up to the next square and cut the vertical supports on the far end away from size I want it (cut it one square to big basically).



It will look like this once it is cut (This is a scrap piece and not the same piece as in the last picture). It will have the little legs sticking off down the length of the cut.



I then just break those off with my fingers. The break really easy and will snap off pretty cleanly (about as clean as if you took the time to snip them all off - I actually can get them closer to clean with my finer than I can with my cutters).



Moving on

I measured and cut the pieces for the underwater brim/wall. I measured them to be 2" tall so the water will be 2.5 inches above them.



Once I have them both cut and I am happy with how they are fitting together I secure them together with zip ties.



I then took it out and wrapped it in fiberglass screening. This was to help prevent the soil from falling through. To secure the screen I used a few zip ties. I cut the end of them to a point, this makes feeding them through the screen 1000% easier.



Here it is with both sides wrapped and zip tied.



And lastly here it is in place. I also set it up so it is underneath the top of the false bottom.



More updates to follow in the next few days.

[Happy Frog]

This is unrelated to your build but where are these pictures being taken. Whatever is making up that wall would make a great background. Are you in a basement?

[DigitalPunk]

Yeah lol we call it the frog Cave

[DigitalPunk]

The shipment for the Mantella tank arrived today. It had the following times in it.

ABG Mix
Ghost wood
Malaysian Driftwood
Cork Panels
Sphagnum Moss
Live Oak Leaf liter

and the following plants. (Not all of these will make it into the tank). I always order more than i need :/

Moss - Thuidium delicatulum
Peperomia vine
Frosty Fern - Selaginella kraussiana variegatus
Tillandsia Aeranthos
Neoregelia 'Chiquita Linda'
Neoregelia olens
Hypoestes phyllostachya
Alocasia 'Polly'
Mohagany Fern
Prayer Plant
Pellionia Repens


The order for the Lights from Aquatraders came in today as well. I got a 24" T5 HO dual fixture. It will have a 6500 bulb in it and a plant bulb in it. I almost went with 2 x 6500 bulbs, but after waffling for a bit I decided to go with the former.
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Going a bit of a different route with the background on this tank. I want to cover 3 sides of the tank, but I wanted to do something other than spray foam. I thought about doing a crushed rock back ground like in Bill's Members choice tank, but decided against it. I like the look of the Cork Bark panels on NEHerps site and decided to line the inside of the tank with them. I made this choice during the design phase. I wanted something plants could root into and grow on. Something that will look nice long term and add to the natural look inside the tank. I am hoping these panels make the tank look like it is at the base of a tree or something.

I had to cut the side panels down by 1 Inch to fit them in the tank and give the doors room to open and close without any issues. I did a test fit and then laid the tank on its back and siliconed the back piece into place. This will cure overnight and then I will repeat the process for both side.

Here is the tank with the 2 side pieces cut and them sort of staged in the tank to get an idea how they will look. I think I like the look so far. I did a test stage with the plants to see if they layout I had in mine was going to work and I ended up cutting 1 of the plants form the list. I will do another test once the panels are all siliconed in and take a picture of it. That will probably be on Monday at the earliest.

[DigitalPunk]

All the panels are siliconed in place. I started messing with the hardscape layout and snapped some pictures. Here they all are. My Favorite ones will be first down to my least in descending order. Some of the pictures don't have the ghost wood in the tank, but the Driftwood is what I am looking at. I think I really like it hugging the edge of the egg crate and creating a bit of a divide from the land and water.

There is a piece of wood in the current mantella tank that I think I want to use in here, but I am having a hard time doing anything to disturb the mantillas right now knowing I am going to be stressing them out with a move in a few days anyways.

[DigitalPunk]

I decided to try a piece of deadfall i collected at a local park in the tank to see how it looked.



I really like this piece of wood, but after looking at it in the tank for about an hour I decided this was not the right tank for it. I picture this wood being used to channel a waterfall across a tank and into a lagoon. I did however remove the piece of driftwood from the existing Mantella tank for use in this one. I hated disturbing that tank, but it had to be done.

I played around with the hardscape layout quite a bit after this picture (Probably for a couple hours) I used 4 - 6 different pieces of wood and finally came up with a layout that I loved in the tank. The things I was looking for with the hardscape was to provide some natural hides for the Mantellas. From observing them in the existing tank I have learned they will create tunnels in the moss and soil to hide in (I call them tunnels, but they basically create a path under the leaf liter so they can move around undercover). I also wanted to add some vertical areas they could explore if they saw fit. I have heard from others that M. Betsileo like to sit up above their territory and observe the land, so I wanted to give the a couple spots to do that from.

I unfortunately didn't take any pictures during the last bit of hardscape layouts, I apologize for that.

I removed the hardscape and used Sphagnum moss to plug the gaps between the Panels and the Egg crate



Time to add in the ABG mix. I like to dump some into plastic tubs and mix it well. While mixing it I mist it with water to saturate the soil prior to adding it to the tank.



I spread the ABG mix over the egg crate at a depth of roughly 3 - 4 inches with it being shallower towards the doors. Once I was happy with the soil depth and layout I began adding the hardscape back into the tank. I probably played with the hardscape again for an hour. Seeing the wood in the tank with the soil under it changed my mind. I altered the wood a tiny bit at this stage and settled in on a final layout. With the hardscape locked in I started staging plants in the tank (still in their pots). I spent about an hour rearranging the plants and looking at it, then moving them again. I had to walk away from the tank and come back to it later before I got the plants into what is now the final place.

I planted all the plants into the soil and mounted a few Bromeliads around the tank and pinned the Tillandsia Aeranthos to the side of the tank above the water feature.



I watered all the plants and then put a thin layer of Sphagnum Moss over the entire substrate (the sphagnum moss is wet, I soaked the moss in a bucked of treated water prior to adding it to the tank).



It was time to add crickets to the red tank and turn all the lights in the frog cave off for the night. I will add leaf liter tomorrow and get things ready to start on the aquatic section.

[deranged chipmunk]

i like the final layout. whatcha got planned for the back wall? you're like me, playing it close to the vest, and i know you have something for it, now spill the beans!!! LOL that alocasia is gonna OWN that tank LOL i do have a few criticisms however, if i may. i would move the horizontal ground wood on the left forward a bit, and plant the mahogany fern in front if the alocasia. it's big enough to grow well there, yet not too big that it will affect the alocasia. it will also cover up those long, uniteresting stems as the alocasia grows. i would then move that huge brom(?) to there the fern is currently. it will help hide the fact that there's a gap between the wood and background and gives more room to plant epiphytes on the back wall, if you so choose. Paul, i can hear you screaming at me from here, yelling "what do i do with the back right corner then? well, that, my friend would be where you are going to plant that i am sending you on tuesday (sorry, didn't get mailing supplies this weekend ) i was thinking either schismatoglottis pusilla or aglaonema minima, your choice. they will grow tall and stemmy, so that way what you are planting in the aquatics section won't hide whatever is growing there remember, just suggestions. i think it looks great now

[DigitalPunk]

I love that suggestion lol. had the fern in front of the Alocasia in one of the earlier layouts, but moved away from it to fill in the back wall more, but with the plant you are sending than moving the Broom will be perfect

I will angle the left wood out a bit to fit the fern in behind it. and relocate the broom to the center of the tank (which will make me infinitely happy. I was thinking of removing it because it was casting to much of a shadow on the water area.

Hmm I think the schismatoglottis would look great in that corner next to the Broom.

As for the back wall I have a couple things I am thinking of. One of them is to fashion a sort of cork shelf that will act as a pot to plant a vine in. I bought a Peperomia vine that I would like to use, but don't have a spot for it.

As for the Epiphytes I am still trying to source some for the back wall. having issues finding a good place to buy them online. Would love to have an Orchid or 2 on the back wall if I can find a good place to purchase them from.

I am open to any and all suggestions Bill