150 Gallon Vivarium (Post as I go) plus looking for loads of advice

[BonnieLorraine]

My one question would be why are you doing both an egg crate false bottom and hydroton?

[Rick Mazzante]

My one question would be why are you doing both an egg crate false bottom and hydroton?

On Josh's Frogs website for all the dart frog articles they say to use the hydroton and substrate barrier (egg crate) then ABG, help with moisture since im not drilling a hole in my baby =D for drainage

[ApxWingman]

what a steal! Looking good so far. Looking forward to seeing what you are going to do with this.

[nos187]

Here is a video from Joshs Frogs explaining the hydroton method.
How to setup a vivarium or terrarium for poison dart frogs - YouTube

As you will see,
the substrate barrier is a netting material not the eggcrate.

Hope that helps more lol.

-kevin

[nos187]

On Josh's Frogs website for all the dart frog articles they say to use the hydroton and substrate barrier (egg crate) then ABG, help with moisture since im not drilling a hole in my baby =D for drainage

Hey, maybe i can help clear this up.

Those are 2 seperate methods for creating a drainage layer. Eggcrate and Hydroton
The substrate barrier should be weedblocker netting. It keeps the soil from falling down into the drainage layer.

Eggcrate Method- Bottom of tank to top
1. 2-3inches off bottom an eggcrate barrier.
2. Cover the eggcrate with weedblocker (its a mesh material). This keeps the soil from falling down into the 2-3inches of drainage room.
3. Substrate
4. Plants

Hydroton method - Bottom to top of tank
1. 2-3inches of hydroton balls
2. Weedblocker netting
3. Substrate
4. Plants

You see, the hydroton is just acting as a resevoir for the extra water. But when you are using the eggcrate method there would be no sense in using hydroton as well because it would just take up more viable space for the resevoir.

I hope thats clear. I am having trouble explaining today. Sorry

-Kevin

[Rick Mazzante]

Awwww that makes my life a lot easier then, with these backgrounds i would of had to cut the egg crate to fit the rocks, but now i can get rid it and just use hydroton and the mesh. More pics to come my comp won't recognize my phone for some odd reason so I can't post them yet I'll try tonight

Also, am I the only one who doesn't have any luck with the silicone eco earth backgrounds? ive tried three times now and everything the eco earth just falls off of it, always get the bagged eco earth too

[BonnieLorraine]

On a tank that size, I might go with the egg crate instead, that much hydroton is going to be rather heavy.

For the background, I do plain peat moss and silicone, haven't had any trouble yet. I get the peat moss in bales from Lowes, the miracle-gro kind in bags has fertilizer added and usually grows fungus.

[ApxWingman]

I agree with Bonnie. The eggcrate is easy and light to deal with. I have used it on 3 tanks and it is great and cheaper too

[Rick Mazzante]

Alright doing a little update, I finished my 20 gal long tank have a pic below. That was hydroballs,mesh, then a mix of ecoearth spagnum mosh and orchid bark, just missing some leaves. little waterfall coming down the drift wood piece. Just have an issue with condensation, and I feel like my light is killing the fern and moss i put in there, any suggestions on that?

And for the 150 Gal, I decided to ditch the one half of the background and switch it to the great stuff, after seeing the 20 gal done it looked too nice to pass up the opportunity to do a real nice background.
As for having a eggcrate bottom how do you get the water out if there is a bunch of sitting water? and do you let water sit down there all the time or try to get it out always (Not drilling a hole)