55 Gallon Build- Pic Heavy

[rcteem]

, I decided to give it a whirl for this compettition...here is what I've got.


So I decided to empty one of my fw breeding tanks and build it for a dart frog tank. It is drilled and has a canister filter running the pond...lil over kill for an 6 gallon pond but thats what I love about it. Here are some pictures of what it looked like before and what I have done so far. This viv will be powered by HOT5s and hopefully another pump in there for a drip wall, no promises though.

Before, My breeding tank of apistogrammas and L/F bushy nose plecos:



And here is the start of the viv build:


Here I am using a shop vac to empty out the rest of the water so it is dry and ready to silicone the glass to it for the pond.


Here is the glass glued in place:


And the pond is finish/ planted


Tomorrow morning is the background/ false bottom...if times allow I will be finished tomorrow night . Rough cost for this build is only $75 dollars to as I had most of the stuff for it!!!!

[rcteem]

Ok, here are the labors of this morning.

I installed my false bottom. I used 3" pipe for support of the eggcrate. I then covered it with the fiberglass screen for windows


Here is a picture of the pipe I used for support and also my easy access point to drain out the water for water changes and pump back in to fill.


For heating the viv for cold months and for the proper tempature of the fish I have a 200W submersable heater under the false bottom.


For the back ground I have decided to go with clay. I used smart choice kitty litter from Food Lion, and mixed it with sphagnum moss and my own mix of substrate. Here is a picture being mixed


I wanted to hide all pluming as much as possible and here is a picture showing the process.




I will have more to come tonight, hopefully finished minus the placing of plants.

[rcteem]

Ok, finished the clay and started placing some plants...need to buy more vines but to cold to ship them.

Close up shot of the clay mix I used for a background


The clay background finished


Shots of the tank half planted.

[rcteem]

Not my best build but from start to finish in 24 hours and only costing me $55 dollars I have nothing to complain about

[tjtreefrog]

Not my best build but from start to finish in 24 hours and only costing me $55 dollars I have nothing to complain about

I like how you say, "Not my best build" like it's nothing, and yet it's better than any vivarium I've ever done. This looks awesome!! Great job!!

[John]

What's actually going in there, Chris, and what's the purpose of the big pond?

[rcteem]

Well the purpose for the big pond is so I can keep breeding these rare site specific apistogrammas since Im moving to a tiny apartment in DC. Im not sure what will go in here yet so Im just going to let it grow in for a few months first.

What's actually going in there, Chris, and what's the purpose of the big pond?