FBT Vivarium Preparations

[synikalspinstress]

Better to have holes poked into the build now than next week! Please continue to do so! :P

So I did a mini-test, filled it with about two inches of water for five minutes. No leaks, didn't instantly shatter. Looked at the seals, and no water got underneath them. I think it'll be okay, so long as I'm very, very diligent about emptying the false bottom, via the PVC method. Looking around the internet, others who put far more water in it than I'm planning on (up to half a tank) say they've had no issues. Of course, others say it's cracked on them, so.

I think this will work.

So, the plan is, make a 2-inch egg-crate false bottom, and an egg crate, like, divider, to hold back the substrate when I remove the water tub for changes, with a PVC pipe for drain access. Then three-or-so inches of Eco Earth x ABG. Load with springtails and another plant or two, and call it golden.

Uh, and then Fire Belly Toads.

[daybr4ke]

That all sounds good! I'm curious, are you planning to use metal or plastic screen between the substrate and the false bottom?
Also, this may come in handy:
http://www.frogforum.net/showthread....-the-cheap-way!
I used a knife with a half serated blade to scrape texture into my pvc with the serated part, and used a drill to make some holes. I used a blowtorch to bend it a bit so it looked more natural. I personally haven't used the grey pvc, I used white and black. White looks unnatural and black is too glossy and bubbles form in it when heated. The grey seems like the best, and I'm planning to get a length of it myself. It can be painted as detailed in the thread, but a sealant to go over the paint proved very hard to find, and I eventually abandoned it. Here's a picture of a really basic one I made from white pvc(with frogs). You probably won't want any holes or bending, since you're using it to run drainage stuff down, so it should be pretty simple.

[synikalspinstress]

Ooo~, thank you! I might give that a try. Or I'll chicken out and, like, hide it with a plant, or some bark. XD Grey sounds like it'd be the one that'd blend in most easily, although black could work with the coloring my stand.

I'm planning on using some window screen as the barrier.

[synikalspinstress]

Alright, went out shopping today and could not find egg crate. Like, I spent two hours hunting for it and nope. They had other light diffusing things, but, not what I need. So. What's an alternative I could use for it? Or, gosh, should I just skip the egg crate and go with two inches of gravel?

[daybr4ke]

Honestly, I've never seen platic egg crate ANYWHERE. I've only ever seen it online. Before looking into false bottoms some time ago I didn't even know it existed or what it was. Maybe someone else will know where to find it. I worry about the gravel, though, as it is very heavy. It'll probably be fine, but that thin glass makes me worry. LECA/hydroballs are another option, but is probably too expensive and can also be difficult to find in retail, unless you have a good reptile/vivarium supply in your area. Personally I made a small leap of faith and bought ODLA clay pellets from IKEA, as they seem to be normal clay with no additives, and they wouldn't be in direct contact with frogs anyway. They are around 6$ for 4.5 quarts. I found a post on Dendroboard by someone stating they used it, so I decided to try it, but I feel it would be irresponsible of me to recommend them before having used them for a while.

[synikalspinstress]

Thank you! I might--might--have found a store that actually has the egg crates, and I'm gonna head out in a few minutes to see, but I'm not holding my breath. If I don't find it, I'll probably go with the hydroballs... if I can find those.

Ugh. I just wanna get started building this thing! But, without the false bottom, all I can do is move stuff around and imagine it.

[daybr4ke]

I hope you find the egg crate! Good luck!
Edit: Did some googling and found a useful thread on another site.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wh...ggcrate.98495/
If you don't find it where you're going to look maybe this will help. If not, there's always hydroballs!

[synikalspinstress]

Oh my gosh, I found the egg crate.

Somehow--somehow--I managed to search our Lowes for two hours and missed them. Goodness. Seriously, if anyone is reading this in the future, or lurking, or whatever--the egg crate stuff is never in the lighting section, which makes no sense. You'll absolutely find it in the wood section, by the doors and windows and planks. What the heck. Also, handily, Lowes has a map of each store they have online, and it'll show you right where the thing you want is.

It literally took me five minutes to get into the store, find the egg crate, and leave. What?

So now, finally, I can start building my vivarium. Bwah.

[synikalspinstress]

Hello, me again!

My vivarium is practically complete. Plants in, substrate in, gravel in. There's been, ah, a couple bumps along the way: making a false bottom with a huge opening like I did was probably not the smartest thing for a first-time effort, but, it's mostly working. Mostly. So, here's my problem.

Between the large plastic tub and the wall of egg crate that's holding the substrate back, there's about a half-inch gap that goes down to the false bottom. Filling it with substrate isn't possible, because I have to remove the tub clean and refill it, and it'll all just fall into the open area of the false bottom. I thought about putting cork over the top of it, but, cork is a bit curvy, and has instead made some neat caves that lead to the gaps. (It looks nice, though, so, there's that.) Is there something else I could use that would be easy to replace each time I remove the water tub? Pond filter? More egg crate wedges?

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

[daybr4ke]

I've never used a ceramic heater. I'd bet on around 50-60w, unless someone else has a better idea. I figure it's a safe wattage, but with a thermostat it should be safe even if it's a bit much, anyway.

[synikalspinstress]

I ordered a 60w CHE with a thermostat and lamp. My tank is at about 61*F today, so, figured it was for the best. Poor dudes. It'll be here Tuesday.

Now I just have to figure out when these guys will want to start eating. Probably when the temperature increases.

[monster]

From the pictures you put up if you didn't get the thermostat the 60 would have more then likely been to much judging by the distance from the lid to the ground, but with a thermostat you should be ok. And one more thing, make sure the dome you got has a ceramic fixture for the bulb to screw into and not plastic or something else. Ceramic heat emitters get pretty hot and it will melt plastic. I suggest you get a stand in the future that you can suspend the dome from, with it sitting right on top of the metal lid it is going to make the lid around the dome pretty hot and the dome itself will be hot so you don't want to have to pick it up every time you want to get inside. Wouldn't want you to burn yourself.