Pic of my Vivarium

[Bdimas]

The viv has been going good for a couple months. Its ready for frogs now, but I'm not ready yet. I'm in recovery from foot surgery and I have to get on a step stool to access my tank.

[deranged chipmunk]

I thought the tank looked familiar sorry to hear about the foot. Hope you feel better soon. those little tincs are gonna look lost in that huge tank, but they are gonna be happy froggies!!

[Bdimas]

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

[tinkgirl77]

Wow your tank looks awesome!! I'm in initial building phase of mine and I'm scoping ideas. That is so freaking cool dude! How will cleanup work? Did you use a false bottom?

[Bdimas]

Thank you. Yes there is a false bottom. The substrate doesn't need to be cleaned out like with other frogs. Dart frog tanks are basically self sustaining. Most folks have springtails and other micro fauna that do the cleaning

[tinkgirl77]

I'm building a RETF tank. Im thinking I'm probably going to go with the false bottom idea but I am still unclear on how to do it and what type of filtration system to use. What substrate would you suggest?

[Bdimas]

For your false bottom you will need
Light diffuser also called egg crate
PVC for spacers to go under your egg crate.
Zip ties to tie spacers to egg crate
Fiberglass screen to go on top of your egg crate.

For substrate I bought materials to make ABG mix. Atlanta botanical garden mix. Its great for drainage and plants.
You will want to have access to either siphon or drain excess water build up from under your false bottom. My tank is drilled so it drains into a bucket under my stand.

You don't need a water pump unless you plan to have a water feature. I use a small pump made by zoo med for my water fall.
Hope that helps.

[Bdimas]

I forgot to add another step I did with my false bottom.

I added pea gravel for the first layer on the egg crate and then my ABG mix. Its not necessary to do it that way but I cut my FB short around the perimeter on purpose so that I could have pea gravel around the edges so that I would see pea gravel and not the false bottom.