Uh oh...I am at it again.

[Sarosaurus]

I hate those moments when you are getting getting ready to fall asleep and a genius idea hits. This happened to me last night and I stayed up an extra hour trying to figure out placements for cork branches for my upcoming tank build. It was all because I was looking from my frog tank over to my rat tank.

I had this genius idea to swap tanks! My rat is housed in a 20L at the moment and my frogs are housed in an 24" x 18" x 24" Exo-Terra terrarium. I know it's a little short, but it fit perfectly for where I had it housed at the time. I realized that there was not going to be much room for my rat to run around and not enough depth in to 20L for fixing it up the way I want, so I nixed the idea until I got to work this afternoon. I, luckily, work at a pet store and since we have re-vamped most of our fish area, I figured I would try my luck and see if we hand any old tanks laying around. I got lucky! I now have a 29G to work with after I cleaned it up! Instead of buying the conversion kit, my boss is going to build it for me! I am super excited! Basically...The new tank is free! SCORE one for Sarah.

Of course, now that I have this tank at my disposal, my mind was coming up with some neat things. Or, I think they are neat. I just couldn't keep my mind off what I want to do. We have some awesome cork branches at the store and they are pretty wide which I am sure my female would love. She's a big girl. My idea is to secure these branches diagonally from front to back (as I would like to see if it encourages my frogs to come to the front of the tank instead of hiding out in the back. Does anyone think that this would work?

I would also like to install a rain system or mist system that I can turn on periodically to raise the humidity in the tank and water the plants. Anyone have a good idea on how to do that? I was thinking about installing a spray bar or, IF the glass isn't tempered to drill some small holes in the top of the tank where I could fashion some sort of system using those. Not sure on this..

This is still in the planning stages at the moment (though my boss will be taking my tank home with him tomorrow to start the conversion), so it's no rush. Just trying to get some ideas here.

Thanks!

[NickHendrix007]

I'm doing a DIY misting system, though I have yet to test it. Using a 300gph water pump to pump water up to the top of my 20gallon long FBT tank via the basic clear tubing (hidden behind my background). Securing the tubing up there where you can't see it and plugging the end with some silicone. Then, poking SMALL holes in the tubing with a pin. The idea is that the pressure will build up enough to spray water out the holes, but, being small, will instead create mist!

[flybyferns]

Oh Boy ---- you guys got the bug.
It's very contagious Have fun !
Lynn

[Sarosaurus]

I brought home a couple of awesome cork branches last night after figuring out the placement for them in another 29G that we have in the store. My co-worker helped me after we closed and I am happy with the brainstorming session! I just need to procure some black silicone, new substrate and figure out the misting system. I have a feeling that my one day off is going to be devoted to this project.

NickHendrix007 - You will have to let me know how that works. I really want a misting system, but am not finding ones that I like the look of.

[lilblack94gt]

You should look up on youtube how to build a misting system. there are alot of videos on how to build one. mainly you need a pump, pvc pipe or hose, sprayer nossles, and a bucket.

[deranged chipmunk]

The difficulty lies in the pump. For a misting system, you need a high pressure pump that can deal with high amounts of back pressure. Your standard aquarium pump cannot deal with the high back pressure required. You need a diaphragm style pump and they are much more expensive than vane style pumps.

[Sarosaurus]

I had a brilliant idea for a misting/watering system...

and then I bought ZooMed's ReptiFogger. With my employee discount, it would be just about the same price for everything to build my own as it would be for the Fogger. Now I just have to wait for my boss to install the front and drill a hole in the glass for the fog to come through.