People give names to a lot of things. i know many people who name their planted tanks, and i have seen people name their vivs. i was never one of those people, until now. Please bear with me, for a little backstory. a few years ago, we lost my mother-in-law after an 18 year battle with ovarian cancer. she was a strong woman and i learned a lot from her. she wasn't an wide open animal lover like most of us, she was more reserved about it. but i caught the look in her eye when were strolling through sea world the year before we lost her. as you guys know, we can spot each other out in a crowd.....lol anywho, her favorite movie was the wizard of oz, hence the name. the tank is a tribute to her.

anyway, after many negotiations a LOT of arguing, and more revisions than i care to remember, the architect, the contractor, the property owner and the newest member of the team, the engineer, finally agreed on one concept, one design. they all decided to go with a "true" rainforest floor design. no broms, no orchids, just ferns, vines and aroids. sounds really boring, doesn't it? only one way to find out ;-)

now, i am not going to be updating this one like i have with past builds. i'll update it when i feel as though there's progress made enough to show. and also keep a few of my own secrets, secret

as some of you know, the frogs for the tank came in last week and are all healthy and doing well! this is a pic of their temporary enclosure.


and here are some of the little ones living there, in case you missed them




btw, the ferns in their tank are for the 125. a lemon button fern on the left, with a few bonus plants growing in the pot, and a miniature tree fern (blechum brasilienese) on the right. yeah, i said tree fern

construction actually started last week, the engineer was WAY busy. then he and the contractor went to work on the filtration and the rain/watering system. the main issue was that everyone wanted to maximize space which meant no maintenance tunnel. this proposes a HUGE problem, what if something breaks. that's why we have the engineer. he figured it out here's a sneak peek, it's a mess, but, "it's a process" as Paul Jr. would say..lol



see ya next update, or until someone has a question.....LOL