Help me design the ultimate frog tank! I need your ideas...

[rosequoll]

So, I'll start this off by saying I love making things. Anything I can make, create, carve, sew, draw, whatever. So I've been looking at this local (amazing) tank and enclosure builder here in Brisbane and while I'd love to save up and get one of his enclosures, I keep thinking to myself, "I could do that!". And it's true! I could....might cost me the same as buying one from him in the end, but what price can we put on the pride of making a kickarse enclosure?

Here's the custom enclosure site, warning there is music/sound on the site, but you can mute it: Enclosures | Stein Enclosures

So, for the sake of planning, the dimensions I've decided on in the end are approximately 1.2x.9x.6metres (4x3x2ft), height, width and depth. I figure, if I'm going to go all out, I might as well go BIG! I want to go with stained timber and a full glass front locking door, vents at the upper walls

Things I want in the tank:
Water area in the base with drainage piping below the tank in a cabinet
Planting area in the base that will also have a drainage spot
Fully sculpted back wall with 'rock' ledges
Waterfall, running down into the water area in the base and filtered externally
Hygrostat hooked up to the waterfall to monitor humidity
Thermostat with day and night temps
Daylight UV and Nighttime 'moonlight',as well as in build dichroic low voltage lamps for heat

Possible in the tank:
Area on the back wall near the waterfall for plants
heat cord wired into the walls for ambient heat
????

Open to ideas, suggestions, neat things I can work into the tank. Basically, if you had a DREAM enclosure, what would you include in it?

[J Teezy]

hygrostat hooked up the waterfall to monitor humidity? Isn't the purpose of having a waterfall to have it running all the time? I would think you would want to hook a hygrostat up to something such as a mister or fogger to regulate you humidity. The purpose of the hygrostat is to turn on your device that provides humidity to the tank when it drops to a certain level. If you are really wanting to go all out, i suggest you look at one of these EcoZone Vivarium - Product Catalog. The EcoZone pretty much runs your tank for you. Humidity control, temperature control, cooling, misting, dimmable lighting power, you name it it can just about do it, and the software is upgradeable so when they add new features its a simple download off the net to your unit. Can also have it send you emails if something goes wrong and you can log into from the web to see what's going on in your viv if you are out of town. If you're trying to pimp out a viv i would definitely get one, if i had the spare money for one i'd definitely have one.

My dream enclosure would include

Eco Zone vivarium controller
Mistking mist system
Fogger (more for show)
Dimmable light fixture
Moonlighting
Fans circulating air inside the tank to keep the glass from fogging
Waterfall
Vines
super green moss
Drain system
and a robot to clean the enclosure, make fruit fly cultures, and feed the frogs

[rosequoll]

I love all those ideas, especially the robot, though I quite like feeding my guys. I better stick to ONE enclosure and one species or I could get way too overexcited. Though when these guys upgrade to a big enclosure I might need to put something in their old tank. =)

That EcoZone controller looks amazing. The only issue is that it's US only and only rated for 110-120v and we're on 240v here. I'm thinking there might be a chance I can find something similiar here though, maybe made for controlling small green/grow houses? Looks amazing though, and I definitely would love something like that.

Re: the waterfall, you're exactly right. I guess I was thinking more like a ...tricklefall rather than a waterfall. =) But a waterfall down the back wall with the combination of a mist/fog system would be great. I'll have to start making drawings...

[deeishealthy]

Eco Zone vivarium controller is hawt. I just spent ten minutes drooling after googling it.

[DiggenEm]

Sounds like its going to be epic, but I think the first step is deciding what species you want and what their requirements are.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[deranged chipmunk]

holy deadthreads Batman, this one is almost a year old!!LOL