40b Dart tank - Natural style build Journal

[DigitalPunk]

Ok - Several weeks ago I acquired a 4b aquarium 36" long x 18" Deep x 16" Tall. Through the inspiration of Geo and his M. Betsileo tank I have decided that this tank will be my first attempt at doing an all Natural Vivarium.

This will be a slow process. Some of the items I am wanting to use I will have to order in and they are not as cheap as spray foam and wood glue lol.

I braved the snow and wind today and purchased some rocks to start test fitting into the tank.

I will start taking pictures this weekend and documenting the steps and the general idea behind it all.

[Mentat]

Have fun Paul ! Build projects are great entertainment when the outside is stormy and cold !

[DigitalPunk]

Ok soooo 230ish pounds of rock was a bit over kill lol, but it did allow for us to pick through the selection I brought home and find the layout we liked best.

I took about 21 pictures that we kept of the final setup. All the rocks have since been removed from the tank to be cleaned and baked in the over for about an hour each at 225. Going to do a picture over load here as I want this build journal to be useful as a guide down the rode. Please if you have any questions or comments post a reply

The Tank


The predetermined water line using extreme levels of math and randomness :P Actually its set to be just above what the sponge filter will need in order to work


First layer in the tank. This layer is designed to spread the weight out over the bottom of the tank and to allow the creatures that will inhabit the water to move freely around the tank


1st second layer rock


1st rock in tank


2nd second layer rock


2nd rock in tank - This layer is just used to get the main land mass up above the waterline and provide a 2nd layer path for the aquatic critters


Third layer rock


In Tank


Medium size river rock - Used to support the edges of the top layer


River rock in back right corner


1st top layer rock


1st top layer rock in tank


2nd river rock


This was placed as a filer. The water at this point was going to be deep and wanter something to give any frogs that fall in something they can get on to help climb out


Not sure the type of rock this is, but it is another support for the top layer


Rock in front right


2nd top layer rock


Rock in tank. This rock is meant to be just above the waterline so the frogs can use it to soak on


Last support rock


In tank on the left side


Last and final top layer rock


In tank - This is the final layout of the rocks


As I said I have removed all the rocks and chronicled their position in the tank with the pictures. They will be cleaned and baked. The tank will be very heavy so before we continue we have to decide where we will place it and do the rest of the build there.

Again this will be a slow build. Once we have the water in place and the critters added we will let it run like that for 2 weeks or so before we start on the substrate and plants. Once the plants and everything is in we will let it run for a month or longer before we order the frogs and introduce them into it.

[DigitalPunk]

All the rocks have been cleaned and backed in the over accept the biggest one. It wouldn't fit so I baked it twice as long and then dried if for 5 days in front of a heating duct.

The supply gathering process has been slow. I spent all my money on the rocks. I will be returning the excess rocks on Monday and will hopefully be able to order some additional supplies with the money I get back.

[Mentat]

The rock arrangement looks great Paul . However; those are lot's of big heavy slabs and regular 40B tanks have a regular, not tempered glass bottom . Would recommend you place a sheet of plastic egg crate cut to fill the whole bottom of tank. The egg crate will protect bottom and help spread out the weight. Then can use a layer of very fine Caribsea aragonite sand to fill egg crate holes to their top edge. That will prevent food and dirt getting caught in egg crate holes. Just an idea and good luck !

[DigitalPunk]

Carlos,

Yeah we have been thinking of the weight and wondering if it will hold. However the bottom of this breeder is tempered surprisingly enough . The idea with the small rocks on the bottom and building up to the top is to help spread the load out as much as possible. We won't be adding the rocks back in until we have the tank set in place and won't be moving it again after that.

The egg create and sand idea sounds like it might work if we start to suspect any problems, but I think the tempered glass will hold up. We will be weighing all the rocks to see what the total weight of the rocks are and then go from there.

Thank you for the advice!

[deranged chipmunk]

Actually, you thought process is backwards. Placing the small rocks on the bottom concentrates the weight to a smaller footprint. Instead of going with egg crate on the bottom, you can cut up a cheapie yoga mat from A dept store and place it under the glass portion of the tank, not the rim. That way it will cushion the bottom pane of glass and will allow some flex without breaking. It's an old time trick planted tankers use because of the weight of all the hardscape we use.

Otherwise, the build looks like it is going to be very cool looking. Nice job!

[DigitalPunk]

Nice tip with the Yoga mat! Will Def look into that.

As I said earlier. The weight of the rocks in the tank is a big concern for us on this build. I really do appreciate the tips on how to best distribute the weight across the bottom glass as evenly as possible.

[deranged chipmunk]

the yoga mat works very well you just need to make sure it is slightly thicker than the rim that way when the tank is set on it and the weight is in it, it will compress so the rim sits flat. i've done this with rimmed and rimless tanks and i know it saved more than one tank.

[DigitalPunk]

Will Def be looking into the Yoga mat trick. Really don't like the idea of using egg crate in the natural setup


So I am testing out heating the terrarium using an underwater heater in a 10 Gallon tank. it appears to be working on a much smaller scale than this tank will end up being but it has brought out something I have not tried to address yet, and that is the Fog. I covered the top of the 10 gallon in Plastic wrap to log in the moisture and trap some heat to simulate the dart tank when it is finished. I assume the fag is due to lack of ventilation, but I am wondering what others do to combat it. I was considering putting 1/2 section of screen along the front glass to promote air flow over the front glass to help keep it down, but I also know due to the high humidity needs the dart tank needs to have little to no air circulation.


Soo at the risk of repeating myself in this post. What are some good tricks to limit fog.

[DigitalPunk]

Another Brief update - I returned the excess rocks I purchased (136 pounds worth of excess). I took the money to Home Depot and bought some Blocks and MDF and set up a cheap stand for it. I decided to set it up low to allow the vertically challenged peoples in the house access to feed and trim and such without any difficulty. I decided to set this one up down in the basement of my 1850 era home. It looks rough, but it is heated and stays daily humid on its own which will be nice during the winter months. As time progresses I will clean this space up more and make it into a proper frog room. I have access to the water lines to the outside faucets from here and plan to "T" one off to a faucet in the basement for the tanks (so i don't have to haul water form upstairs down here to dechlorinate.





Decided to go ahead and get a sheet of egg crate while I was there and cut it to fit. This will help with spreading the load out. I opted for this route over the yoga matt because it was cheaper



I have begun pricing and planning on the purchases for the Aquatic section. Once I have that all setup and running I will turn my focus onto the land masses.


PS - Hauling the blocks, rocks, and tank down into the basement today sucked. lol

[DigitalPunk]

Big order placed this week for supplies.

Aquatic heater
Small water filter
Ultra Sonic Fogger
Moss
Drift wood
A large cork round
Aquatic soil
Sprintails (starting a breeding culture)
Isopods (starting a breeding culture)
Hinge for the glass top
Handle for the glass top
Glass top

Will ultimately try to heat the tank using the Aquatic heater, but won't know if that will work until I try it out. It was working in a 10Gallon tank. If this doesn't work I will either use a CHE or Heat cord.

[deranged chipmunk]

Aquarium heaters work excellent once you get them dialed in. Just an FYI on the ultrasonic fogger, they shoot a water spout about 2" high, so plan ahead for it.

[DigitalPunk]

Aquarium heaters work excellent once you get them dialed in. Just an FYI on the ultrasonic fogger, they shoot a water spout about 2" high, so plan ahead for it.

I have a plastic container of sorts with a lid I will be altering to house the fogger and hide the water spout. Not 100% sure what I will do to it yet, but the plan is to cut a hole near the top of the container to insert a hose and then route the fog to where I want it. I will of course be testing this out prior to installing it in the terrarium.

Glad to hear you have had success with the Aquarium heater. In theory it seems like it will work wonderfully and all my testing leads me to think it will work great, but I am reserving my final opinion until I test it in the tank lol.



The Aquatic soil is running late on the shipping so their won't be any progress on the tank until late next week. This weekend will be full of testing and working on the final design of the tank with all the pieces in hand finally.

[ndame88]

Paul,
What species of PDF are you planning on putting in the viv?

[DigitalPunk]

Not entirely sure yet. The wife really likes the Dendrobate Auratus so we will most likely end up with one of those morphs.

[ndame88]

D. Auratus will be a good choice, do you already keep PDFs?

[DigitalPunk]

No these will be our first ones. My Son is also in the middle of a tank build for some Darts. I absolutely love Dart though and plan to have many many tanks of them in the future

[ndame88]

Great welcome to the hobby, not sure if you spend any time over on Dendroboard or Dart Den, but a lot of information on builds and care. If you need any advice, let me know, by no means am I an expert, only have 3 PDF vivs, but have been involved with PDFs for the past 3 years, I live near Springfield IL, so not that far away.

[DigitalPunk]

Awesome thank you

I have done a painful amount of research over the last 3 months on Darts and the care and enclosure requirements. Hopefully all the research pays off. We are still several months away from getting frogs. I want the tank to be up and running for at least one month before we even think about adding frogs to it.