10 Gallon 70/30 Tropical Pacman Vivarium Build

[frogluver]

Really nice false bottom you've got there Royce! I like how it's looking so far. I didn't know that the Critter Keepers (that's what you have right?) came in size 10gal....thought they only came in 20gal and up. Nice work !

[Poly]

Really nice false bottom you've got there Royce! I like how it's looking so far. I didn't know that the Critter Keepers (that's what you have right?) came in size 10gal....thought they only came in 20gal and up. Nice work !

Thankyou Autumn! Apparently they come in 10 gallons!

[Poly]

Started work on the background, waterfall and water entry ramp.

This is my Misting system, all set up.





It will provide enough mist to civer the entire tank. I used roughly 2" of GE II clear silicone as the plug.


Trying to roughly position the eggcare for the water entry ramp:



Tie-wrapped together:


Made an awesome little bench out of carbboard to apply the GS:



After the GS was applied:








Made a small wall:


When applying the GS I made sure to make lots of gaps and small ridges so, for one; the pacman could easily climb out of the water, and two; there will be a lot of places to stuff the moss into to get it growing.

Placement of the background and waterfall:




Waterfall and stream:


The wall I made will make a nice background piece!


Whole shot of the tank how it is now:


This was my first time working with GS, and I have to say... I love the stuff! Where you see open spaces in the glass of the tank, they will be covered with Exo-Terra Tree Fern Tropical Background pannels.

More photos to come!

Thanks for looking! Suggestions, comments?

Royce

[GrifTheGreat]

How deep are you planning to make the water section? Remember Royce Pacman frogs are not good swimmers and water level can be no deeper than up to the frogs chin no deeper. Also you'll have to find a way to make ease of access from land to water and water to land. Nothing slick or the frog will have trouble getting out of the water. Also don't want anything for your Pac to get trapped under in the water.

It looks good, but it looks like once all substrate is in that youu be almost at the top of the tank correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to picture how its going to look

[Poly]

How deep are you planning to make the water section? Remember Royce Pacman frogs are not good swimmers and water level can be no deeper than up to the frogs chin no deeper. Also you'll have to find a way to make ease of access from land to water and water to land. Nothing slick or the frog will have trouble getting out of the water. Also don't want anything for your Pac to get trapped under in the water.

It looks good, but it looks like once all substrate is in that youu be almost at the top of the tank correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to picture how its going to look

The water section will be very shallow, the empty area you see at the bottom of the entry ramp will be filled with large river stones (ones the Tank won't be able to accidently consume).

The ramp will be coated with silicone and coco-fibre, so even though it is on an angle, Tank will have ample traction to exit the water. In the photos, it looks steeper than it really is.

There is nothing he can get trapped under, but when going down to sit in the stoney "river bed" section (the water will be about 3/4" higher than the stones) he will cross under the waterfall, so I figured having it like this would make him feel more secure to soak.

Also, there is a ledge extending about 2" into the substrate section which he will be able to burrow under, I thought this was another thing that will make him feel secure.

Huh, now that you bring it to my attention, yes the substrate will be about 3/4 to the top of the tank, will this make the 6500K CFL in my Deep Dome light fixture too intense? I plan to have moss and a few broms growing on the tree fern pannels, and on the GS wall, and I'll be planting crepping fig for ground cover, so I need to use the 6500K light.

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

[GrifTheGreat]

The water section will be very shallow, the empty area you see at the bottom of the entry ramp will be filled with large river stones (ones the Tank won't be able to accidently consume).

The ramp will be coated with silicone and coco-fibre, so even though it is on an angle, Tank will have ample traction to exit the water. In the photos, it looks steeper than it really is.

There is nothing he can get trapped under, but when going down to sit in the stoney "river bed" section (the water will be about 3/4" higher than the stones) he will cross under the waterfall, so I figured having it like this would make him feel more secure to soak.

Also, there is a ledge extending about 2" into the substrate section which he will be able to burrow under, I thought this was another thing that will make him feel secure.

Huh, now that you bring it to my attention, yes the substrate will be about 3/4 to the top of the tank, will this make the 6500K CFL in my Deep Dome light fixture too intense? I plan to have moss and a few broms growing on the tree fern pannels, and on the GS wall, and I'll be planting crepping fig for ground cover, so I need to use the 6500K light.

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

It may be to strong at that diatance. Its really close to where tank will be and the full brightness of the light my harm his eyes. Even with your plant cover you plan to place within. I'm wondering if you will even have room for the bromiliads since they do get around 5 inches tall. You may have to rethink some ideas. He doesn't actually need 5" of substrate depth to burrow. 3" 0r 3 1/2" is plenty even for an adult. I'm not sure how much root depth you may need for the Brom since Don says that they don't even need soil to grow. A taller tank may have been easier to build on.

I'm pretty sure that you can get 10 gallon tanks with a height greater than the usual 12".

[ViperJr]

Just to add:
There are broms in almost every size, so there definitely some that can be used in there without a problem. Second of all, like you said, most (if not all) broms are air plants and do perfectly fine without soil (just attach them to whatever).

[Poly]

Just to add:
There are broms in almost every size, so there definitely some that can be used in there without a problem. Second of all, like you said, most (if not all) broms are air plants and do perfectly fine without soil (just attach them to whatever).

Indeed, every size is right, I can get broms from 35" tall down to 3" tall.

[Poly]

It may be to strong at that diatance. Its really close to where tank will be and the full brightness of the light my harm his eyes. Even with your plant cover you plan to place within. I'm wondering if you will even have room for the bromiliads since they do get around 5 inches tall. You may have to rethink some ideas. He doesn't actually need 5" of substrate depth to burrow. 3" 0r 3 1/2" is plenty even for an adult. I'm not sure how much root depth you may need for the Brom since Don says that they don't even need soil to grow. A taller tank may have been easier to build on.

I'm pretty sure that you can get 10 gallon tanks with a height greater than the usual 12".

That's what I figured, but isn't that the purpose of the light? In the wild, I'm sure if a frog stayed in sunlight for 8 hours at a time, it would damage it's eyes too, so when the light comes on, the frog will know it is daylight and hide? I will be providing ample cover, and am going to make up soem vines out of rope, silicone and coco-fibre today to hang from one end of the viv to the other, I hope to get crepping fig or ivy started on these.

Between the vines, crepping fig, bromeliads, large tropical plant I have been growing for this viv, and multiple hiding places, I'm sure he will have enough cover.

To be honest, I do kind of regret building this set-up in such a small tank, but it is practice for my tomato frog, and toad build, not to mention, my pacman has a lot of growing left in him, so this tank should be good for a while at least.

Yeah, and as Martin mentioned you can make a slit in the foam background, stuff the brom into it, use something to hold it upright, and it will grow. I will be using ones that get 3-4" tall x 4-5" around.

[Poly]

He doesn't actually need 5" of substrate depth to burrow. 3" 0r 3 1/2" is plenty even for an adult.

I think the more substrate provided, the better. I had an issue with my chubby frogs burrowing down and sitting on the bottom of their vivarium when there was only 3" of substrate, so I added another two bricks of plantation soil, making the substrate about 7" tall, and now they burrow down about 4" to sit in the semi-water logged soil area.

[GrifTheGreat]

Yeah he will avoid the light. With all that cover he should be fine. you have plenty of time to set it up and test it out.

7":O that is pretty deep. I mentioned that they didn't need that much so you had more height room from substrate to top of tank. It should be fine.

Once you finish monitor your frog closely in there to see how he reacts.