18x18x24 Exo Build

[LilyPad]

Soooo...I've been busy devoting my life to my frogs the last 5 days....

Supplies -



I bought a basic cork background to go with the cork piece that I already had. Siliconed everything in nice and tight -



The cork bark that is sticking out a bit was hollow, so I filled it as I would a tank, drainage layer, moss, abg, and planted stuff in any of the openings. I couldn't leave it hollow and risk frogs getting in and not out.

Then I used a paint pan, a mixture of coco fiber and silicone to "paint" the paint pan to make a more gradual water area. I have put a filter into this to keep it moving. Also put river rocks in it so no spot is deeper than 1 inch despite it holding nearly a gallon of water. I will use a siphon tube to do water changes. I was just going to do a bowl, but winter here gets really dry with the heat running constantly, so I wanted to make sure the viv was going to have a nice water area to maintain the humidity. The really shallow area gives me space to set my cricket bowls. I was afraid the paint pan would be treated in a way that the silicone wouldn't attach, but it seemed to work out just fine.

For my "moss vine" I did things a little differently than I've seen done because I was too impatient. I used the small "jungle vine" as a base, I took the thick wire out of it. I then wrapped the vine with LFS and some thin, plastic coated wire, leaving the ends long to hang it from the screen top. After that, I wrapped it with sheet moss and cotton thread and soaked it all in water. Then I hung it from the screen using the extra wire. None of the wire is exposed to the frogs at all.

I did a drainage layer rather than a false bottom. I have tubing threaded into the drainage layer to easily siphon out any excess water.

Then it was just down to putting everything together and planting it. I used less plants out of my original red eye viv than I planned. I had too much fun making other purchases. I also intend to keep the other viv (20g high) as a planted tank and add some more orchids too it, so completely emptying it wouldn't have been very beneficial.

Anyway, I think it'll be a good home for the red eyes until I get my 24x18x24 and get that one done.