180 gal 4x3x2 FwoGiZ Living room display vivarium journal

[FwoGiZ]

Hey guys,
I decided to make the first part of the journal, a video.
If you prefer pictures and more writing lemme know ;P

I am extremely excited to start this project and this will be my nicest/biggest vivarium as of now. I have been trying out several different techniques and methods and those are what I came up with. First time building a vivarium with a sump too.
Let's see how this goes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5JsivPA1FY

Multispecies info: http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/beg...ence-page.html

[FwoGiZ]

Well looks like no one's really interested but I'll still post la suite

I forgot to make it landscape style haha... next one will be fine I swear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ5AObrDnd0

I also put a picture of those agate stone slices and quartz I could use for more glitters bling bling in there!

Then this is what I am going to try and reproduce for the fake rocks that are going to be in the pond. Not sure what substrat to use for the aquatic part... fluorite? I'll have to read on that as as it is now, I have only ever done 1 aquarium with plants sooo.... :P

​If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Have a good one

[DigitalPunk]

I will be following this with great interest. I would love to do a LARGE show Paludarium in my living room or dining room. Love the video blog style as well. Would also like to see some more photos of the process as you go along.

Paul

[FwoGiZ]

yeah palu are awesome... I wish I had more skills with aquarium .. I'd be more confortable making a nice one!
I already have one with my mossies and danios but it's VERY basic but it works haha!
This one viv is going to have a small pong area with couple fishes, maybe shrimps we'll see!


as you'll see in this next video, I'm leaning toward a kinda pirate/treasure box theme vivarium. I'll put LEDs in the skull, the stream and the pond! I want glittering rocks in the stream bed !


so this is just a small clip of where about each pieces of cork, driftwoods, and that skull are going to be. I am wondering if it isn't going to be a bit too much along with the kinda streammt
my goal is to create different "rooms" in the viv so that all the animals won't always see each others! but I gotta remember that I will also have to put plants in there


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9rnR-_qxGo


next video is going to be the skeleton of the fake rocks and maybe more!
air duct, stream bed are next!
Anyways, comments always welcomed!
Cheers

[FwoGiZ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC6mvmdf3Ak

[DigitalPunk]

It is coming along very nicely! I love that piece of drift wood you have standing up like a big old tree! Keep the updates coming!!!

[FwoGiZ]

Interested in the hardware and the frog room itself or mostly the tanks/animals?
Lotso temporary and not so maintained tank in there ahha. I need to make a big clean up soon!
But I am putting lotso time on that bigger project!

[rjm2653]

You can use the sliding glass tutorial. I googled diy glass sliding top. Very cheap and easy

[jarteta97]

Lol, I was interested in the tanks/animals, but hardware is always cool too. If you want to wait until you clean it up first, I wouldn't mind. Everyone loves a clean tank

[FwoGiZ]

Ok well I will try and make some overall video of the frog room some time soon

Meanwhile, here's a video about my concerns in regard to the sump. If any of you have experience with sumps, any advice would be most appreciated... still trying real hard to figure out what to do for this.
I have never worked with those before so this is new to me, and I obviously don't wanna mess it up!
So I was thinking mechanical, along with wet/dry bioballs filtration, then refugium then pump area. Seems good enough for me considering there will be lotso water with very few fishes/shrimps but I have to consider land stuff falling in there.. leaves substrate flies... etc

You can use the sliding glass tutorial. I googled diy glass sliding top. Very cheap and easy

Thanks a lot for that! I Will be looking into it as I haven't been able to find anything good up til now ;(


Anyways here's the video! Lemme know what you guys think!
Thanks

[FwoGiZ]

Forgot to mention in the video that I have a kinda small drug cabinet if I may call it so with various medical supplies to treat common illnesses or diseases those animals may have or get!!!

It's a long video!! enjoy ;p

[Mentat]

My recommendation is to forego the sump and get a Fluval FX6. If going with sump; for that space would use a 30B size (36L, 18W, 12H in in.). Make sure the sump corners are well supported by 2x4s resting on floor; they can get heavy.

[FwoGiZ]

That's the gemstone riverbed


The real gemstones that are gonna be in the treasure chest


A stack of wood that I preselected.

A full shot. I started laying abg mix around and planted fake mushrooms


Getting there!

[bcreps]

cool so im not the only one with quartz in my tanks.

[bcreps]

you have alot tho.. i just put a rose and a clear quartz in two

[Frogger00]

Wow I'm so excited for you! I want to do a big display tank as well, possibly this summer?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[FwoGiZ]

Yeah I like bling bling ehehe. I put a big piece of quartz and amethyst on area where I don't think the frogs or geckos will jump on. I really want this vivarium to be different... to many "all natural, biotope" vivarium out there.. How about something excentric for once right Not like the animals care.... ! Everything they need and more will be avail in this tank !
I'll have to start working on the top. The plan is in my head, a bit different than the one in my previous post.

[FwoGiZ]

Oh god I haven't done an update in so long... vivarium is pretty much all finished heheh<br />
I guess I wasn't doing videos anymore because of the almost total lack of interest;p maybe you guys don't like videos or my french accent or... hmm maybe something else.<br />
Oh well.. I put all the animals in there yesterday... 5 mins later my frogs were calling, courting and doing their sexy thing all over the place I couldn't believe it!!! The geckos are VERY shy as it is but I am sure they'll get better. One of the gecko was VERY bold and unstressed... with a tiny bit of training I am sure he'd hop on my finger to get fed so I don't think this guy will have an issue feeling at home in this giant vivarium!<br />
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I also been having issues with cycling my sump... basically water was way too acidic and apparently I have so much algea on the riverbed that it's acting as a MUCH better filter than any sump could ever be so in the end, it's all good except it looks ugly... but hey it's eliminating everything... no nitrate left! I made a 90% water change yesterday so I am letting water get to the right temperature and putting in the fish tonight; guppies, platys, otos... eventually get ghost shrimps or maybe cherrys<br />
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I am pretty happy how the whole lid thing turned out! The only thing left is to finish the stand but that will wait hehe...<br />
I will make a final video real soon I guess. Will also post pics... ALL flaming will be ignored... NO I am not gonna let ANY mutt eggs hatch... as soon as I start having good eggs, the mints and the yellow will be moved back to their original tank, and will scrap all eggs then breed the orange black foot all by themselves!

I am quite excited bout this project coming to an end! Can finally just enjoy watching the live action!!!

[FwoGiZ]

5 min after I put em all in there...! Lotso love in this vivarium haha

[jossh27]

i wasnt following the thread since the beginning as i'm a new member, but i liked the videos. i think it would be cool to do one last video after the fish have been added!

is it safe to have geckos and darts together in the same tank?

pssst... you didn't finish by winter! -looks amazing! great job