110 gallon vivarium build

[Timbo]

Hey I am starting my first vivarium build. I think its a vivarium at least. This is what ive got so far. the quetions I have are what should my water level be in relation to the egg create false bottom and if I coat my strofoam rock wall I made in mortar is that going to create water quality issuses

[deranged chipmunk]

That is going to be very cool! I love big builds. As a rule of thumb, i like to keep my water level 1" below the eggcrate to prevent water wicking up into the substrate and creating a bog condition. Whatcha gonna house in that beast?

[flybyferns]

Hey I am starting my first vivarium build. I think its a vivarium at least. This is what ive got so far. the quetions I have are what should my water level be in relation to the egg create false bottom and if I coat my strofoam rock wall I made in mortar is that going to create water quality issuses

Timbo,
This is beautiful !
I'm curious to know what your planning to put in here as well?

[J Teezy]

you plan on putting some screen over that eggcrate?

[Timbo]

Thanks for the help guys. yes a bed sheet of landscaping paper were suggested to me to put on the egg creates. As far as critters go I want to do frogs... I dont know what knid. the water section is designed to be a stream so I do want to di some small fish and fiddler crabs. I am very new to this vivarium thing so I am up to suggestions for build, critters, and plants.
thanks guys

[J Teezy]

well if you are going to do dart frogs, remember some do better as pairs and others can live happily in groups. Leucs are a good group frog. With a tank that size you may be ok for some other species in bigger numbers than a pair if they have plenty of places to hide out in. If it were me I would be putting a nice group of leucs in a tank that size, probably fine spot leucs to be more specific

[Timbo]

hey guys Ive got another quetion. is it going to be an issue if there is no still pond water?

[J Teezy]

most dart frogs dont need a pond at all or a waterfall. What are you planning on keeping

[deranged chipmunk]

Thanks for the help guys. yes a bed sheet of landscaping paper were suggested to me to put on the egg creates. As far as critters go I want to do frogs... I dont know what knid. the water section is designed to be a stream so I do want to di some small fish and fiddler crabs. I am very new to this vivarium thing so I am up to suggestions for build, critters, and plants.
thanks guys

with a paludarium of that size, i would seriously consider a nice family of Vietnamese mossy tree frogs. They are semi aquatic and would be able to handle a little bit of flow more so than most other species.

[Timbo]

with a paludarium of that size, i would seriously consider a nice family of Vietnamese mossy tree frogs. They are semi aquatic and would be able to handle a little bit of flow more so than most other species.

thoes things are very cool

[Timbo]

most dart frogs don't need a pond at all or a waterfall. What are you planning on keeping

honestly I'm not sure what i am going to house. the one thing I am admit I want is some sort of fiddler crab. I do want frogs I just don't know what kind. and that is largely do to the pet store where I live do not carry allot of frog species

[deranged chipmunk]

If you really want to have fiddlers in there, you can go with white's tree frogs. Just make sure they have aerial space to occupy and places to get out of the water. I kept my 6 in my 125 paludarium with about 8" deep water. There's a thread on here somewhere of it. The fiddlers will occupy the lower section while the white's occupy the arboreal areas.

[Timbo]

so here is one of my sections of "rock" I just finished mortaring I mixed the mortar mixture with an acrylic fortifier because i herd that if you do that is shouldn't leach junk into your water. I am planing on do some painting on them to make them look more like rocks, with acrylic paint of course. I have been seeing people coating there stuff in silicon in this case is that needed??

[deranged chipmunk]

i wouldn't coat those. they are too nice to cover with dull, hazy silicone. wanna make some for me??? i just do not have the patience for cutting out all that styrofoam......LOL

[Timbo]

i wouldn't coat those. they are too nice to cover with dull, hazy silicone. wanna make some for me??? i just do not have the patience for cutting out all that styrofoam......LOL

HAHA i could the only problem is I would have to ship them to philly from Canada.... flyers fan by any chance?

[J Teezy]

Whenever I have done grout work that I paint I seal with about 4 coats of Shields All then if its going to be wet or have water on it a lot a rub silicone on it

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD

[deranged chipmunk]

HAHA i could the only problem is I would have to ship them to philly from Canada.... flyers fan by any chance?

Kind of. My beloved game of hockey just isn't the same. Too many rules changes ruined the game imho. Not if i catch a game, great, otherwise, eh.....lol

[Timbo]

Whenever I have done grout work that I paint I seal with about 4 coats of Shields All then if its going to be wet or have water on it a lot a rub silicone on it

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD

Would a coating of latex not seal it from water?

[deranged chipmunk]

so how goes the build Tim?? any progress?

[Timbo]

Well I have got the mortar on all my rocks which is excellent At this point i am in a state of learning and waiting for more cash to come in so I can buy more material. it is killing me!!!! but its probably good because I will probably think through what I am doing more thoroughly. here are some pics and thanks for checking in. also I have decided to take 3 pieces of styro with mortar on them. one i will set to the side as a control. the other 2 I will coat the exposed stryo side with a latex paint preferably clear but, on one of them I will also coat the mortar side as well. then I will put them into some water submerged with a current and wait... wait... wait some more (for a good while) then I will see what the damage is. I know for sure the silicon will keep out water but i would really like to stay away from it if I can.