New FBT set up

[jasonm96]

thanks for your help. i think the best thing i can dois to get a long cork round, take it some substrate, put it in the middle seperating the land from the water and then on the land side plant the pothos directly into the hygroballs, top with sphagnum and then for the water just put some gravel and keep the water about 3-4inches. thoughts?

[ExoPredator]

Heya Jason,

I think we have the same setup in terms of tank! My original setup was very much like yours but I found the FBT's didn't seem super happy. I'm not saying yours aren't, it was just my basic observation in my set-up.

I went from this,

http://i.imgur.com/TR6g7kq.jpg


To this,

http://i.imgur.com/yjUczOn.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Lkt3Ssy.jpg

I have a shallow pool area for the FBT's to chillax in and a deeper area for them to swim in. They love it and they're hardly out of the water. If they aren't in the water they're close to it. I found that the tank is great to use for building up towards the rear and you can really maximize the space you use and give more land surface area without subtracting from the aquatic area of the tank.

I would say most of my tank is now aquatic, including the pool and the various tiered pools on the waterfall which i turned off before I took those pictures.

I notice you're in Scotland... I have a brand new ExoTerra Pebble waterfall (Small), with pump etc. It was only in my tank a few days before I took it out and replaced it. It was a great little water feature but I wanted to build the tank up more. You can see it in the corner of the first picture i sent.

If you want, with you living in Scotland, you're welcome to have it, providing you cover the postage. (Should only be about £5 max, if that.)

This is it;

http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products..._waterfall.php

Hit me up via PM with an address and I'll pop down to the Post Office tomorrow to check how much postage will be if you want it.

All the best and can't wait to see what you do with your tank!

PS,
I also found pebble moss and carpet moss worked better for me, It took root really quickly and thrived under the full spectrum lights

[privet01]

I like that setup ExoPredator.

[jasonm96]

Hi ExoPredator. Thank your for your reply and I appreciate the fact that you fully explained your points and showed me your set ups which both were awesome but yes the second one definitely does look more ideal for FBTs. I think when I get paid next week I'll definitely order some cork bark and try make a water section at the front. Hopefully have it all finished in a week or so then will post it and show you thank you so much, I'll PM you just now about the waterfall.

[ExoPredator]

Hey Jason,

Sounds like a great plan. I managed to do my transformation for absolutely nothing - free of charge to Exo's perpetually crying wallet.

I'm going to do a tutorial on how I managed to get the aquatic and land section up and running as a few members have messaged asking how I did it.

I've replied to your PM,

Regards.

[jasonm96]

i've like to see that, i'll keep an eye out for it! i'm thinking of maybe taking my exo terra to a fish shop that i know makes custom tanks and put a divider in it. if i were to put a divider right down the middle of my 18x18x18 do you guys think the water side would need to be filtered? i'd imagine finding a small filter would be a nightmare. over in america they do tetra whispers or something and they look good but hard to get a hold of here so that's out the window.

[monster]

Hey, ya you could split it in half that's how mine is setup. I have a piece of plexi glass as the divider, I have heard of people getting small leaks were the caulking from the tank meets the new but I haven't had any problems and its been about 9 months. And if you have a fish store close by you could pickup the caulking there and do it yourself instead of paying someone else to do it. For the filter that tetra is what I use, again if you have a fish store I imagine if you explain to them the small amount of water you need to be filtered someone there should be able to help out. unfortunately I don't know the most myself about them and I don't know what is available to you, even a small turtle filter would work if you could find one of those. If you do the caulking yourself give 48 hrs to set and let the fumes dissipate before putting anything back in. I will try to post a picture in abit of mine.