Red Eye tree Frog - 24 x 18 x 24

[DigitalPunk]

This one won't be as detailed as the Mantella tank is. A lot of the same stuff will be used in this as my Mantella tank. This is my Wifes build that I am assisting on. I am having her do the work she is comfortable doing. The layout of it will be all her ideas and the plants will be the ones she select. This is to upgrade her 5 Red Eye tree frogs from the 18 x 18 x 24 they are currently in. She is just looking to give them some more room.

I will add pictures as we progress. The tank came in about an hour ago. We cut the PVC supports for the false bottom and cut grooves into them. The silicone has been applied and they are curing to the bottom of the tank now. I also cut the egg crate to size.

Fun Fact: 1 tile of Egg Crate is big enough to cut the top of 2 x false bottoms for 24 x 18 tanks .

I didn't take any pics of it yet, but will as we move forward.

[DigitalPunk]

Still waiting on some items to be delivered at the end of this coming week. I will update this once we have some forward movement. Right now it is sitting on the build table just begging for work to be done

[DigitalPunk]

Ok the work on this tank started tonight.

I played around with some things while I waited for the wife to get home from work (this is her build I am just the guy putting her idea together) and snapped this picture. I am sure this isn't how it will end up, but I thought it looked cool lol.



This tank will have the cork panel walls like the new mantella tank does, I just took them out so I could play with the Magnatural ledges lol.

My Wife got home and spent a long long time moving things around in the tank. She settled on only using one of the ledges and the other will be saved for another build. We put the piece of cork panel in the tank on the wall the ledge will be on and traced the outline of the ledge onto the cork. I then took a Dremel tool and went to work cutting out the shape.





I tried to be as close to right as possible with the cuts, but we did end up with a few gaps around the ledge. No Worries though, we will hide those gaps with moss lol

I stuck the ledge into the hole for it on the panel and then siliconed the panel to the back wall of the tank. I left the ledge in the hole so the silicone would cure with the hole the right shape and I wouldn't end up with a disaster on my hands later.

Here si the ledge and panel in the tank waiting for the silicone to cure.



Paint cans are just being used to push the cork panel onto the glass nice and snug.

Over the next 3 days I will be watching silicone dry. I will add more photos once we have everything siliconed in and are moving forward.

[LilyPad]

Looking really awesome so far, Paul! I think I need a man and some power tools in my house LOL

[DigitalPunk]

LoL to funny Amy

These poor reds have been moved far to many times since Dec. Hoping this tank is a long long term setup. We just keep not liking the tanks so far after a while lol.

[AppleWoo]

This is so addictive, I could build three more, but I think my husband would have an issue with that. Lol, I think I will allot myself a frog fund.

[DigitalPunk]

It is incredibly addictive. I have been telling myself I am going to pause on builds after these current 2 are done, but then I think.... I am going to have an empty 18x18x24 and an empty 36x18x16.... I really really really want to turn the 36x18x16 into a vertical tank (18x16x36). I have a piece of dead fall wood I found in the park a couple months ago that would be perfect for it..... and that 18x18x24 is just SCREAMING to be setup for another Mantella group of for some Auratus (which the wife has wanted for a while now).

Though in all actually I will probably convert the 40b (36x18x16) into a mini green house for plant grow out. I am setting up a 10 gallon tank to start growing and propagating aquatic plants. Ugh this is never ending lol. When the $1 per gallon tank sale starts at petco I am going to be so screwed lol.

[deranged chipmunk]

Hahahaha! And there is no cure!! A grow out tank is very handy Paul, especially if you are running multiple tanks. Saved me a bunch of cash because I would have lost all the plants in my paludarium if I didn't have my grow out tank to store them.
Looking forward to see this one progress after the silicone dries.


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

[DigitalPunk]

The Silicone is dry and we are ready to move forward. Here is how it looks standing upright now. (The plants are just in the tank to get under the grow light)



We have a 2nd Magnatural ledge, but it will not be used for this build.

My Wife played around with the hardscape a bit. I snapped a few pictures of a few layouts she was contemplating.





Ultimately she settled on this layout. The to halves of the cork round were filled to various levels with ABG Mix. It took over 4 Gallon bags of ABG to fill the tank with enough soil lol.



Then she started in on the planting.

She planted a couple Alocasia P. in the back planted section. The thinking is that the cork round will hide most of the stalks. (We will see how this fairs. I am not convinced these will do good back there, but it is worth a shot. The Front cork round got filled with ABG and then toped with Sphagnum moss. This will be where the feeding bowl is placed every night.



This one shows the fave vine in the tank and the Fern planted along the base of the cork rounds. This is a Frosty fern and should (over time) grow up the cork rounds.



This is it nearly fully complete. We still have one more snake plant to transplant into the tank and leaf litter to add. The pothos is in place and the wood pieces have been secured into place.



I will be going to get the glass cut for the top of the tank today. Then we will decide when to migrate the frogs into the new tank and start breaking down the old one.

[deranged chipmunk]

Very cool looking! Kudos to Mrs. Paul, she did an excellent job!!!


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

[LilyPad]

Very nice Paul and wife! Those will be some happy frogs!

[DigitalPunk]

Thanks! Got the glass from the glass shop today and will leave it up to the wife on when she wants to move the reds in. She may let the tank grow for a month or so before she moves the big boys and girls into their new home.

[DigitalPunk]

We had to move the frogs last night. It dawned on me that the water heater was removed from the red tank and added to the new Mantella tank. There are a couple Picos in the water so we moved all the frogs so we could pull the tank apart and fish the Picos out of the water and relocate them.

I went down to check on the Reds last night to see how they were liking the tank. One of them crawled form the back of the tank to the glass and I snapped this picture.



Looks like he is smiling and saying "This new place is awesome" lol.