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Thread: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

  1. #1
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    Vivarium beginner (for newts)

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    Dear all,

    I've read so so much about all your vivariums here and i would like to start off something... Please give me your advice..

    Tank size - not decided yet. Most likely a 2ft.
    Fauna - fire bellied newts
    Feature - a small waterfall
    Filter - external canister with UGF?
    Substrate - I've got some peat moss, cocopeat, coral sand, gravel, pebbles, soil...which one should i use?
    Rocks - i've got slate rocks and dragon rocks...
    Plants - quite a few assortment.. (see photo)
    Lastly, i'm trying to grow moss on my slate rocks...Please advice if i can grow them emersed (like in the photo)? I don't have my tank yet.. So i am putting them in a container and misted regularly and covered with plastic sheet...



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    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Hi AhVy, I'm sure you will have lots of fun...

    Think 2ft is a good size to begin with. Try to have more water capacity, so that it is easier to maintain good water quality. You will need at least a fan to cool down the temperature too. Do not use coral sand since it will increase the PH of the water. Think your moss is not in the emersed form, so will need some time and care to let it transform. I used emersed land moss on my previous setup, so it is much easier. Lastly, you need to design a tank cover too...

    Warmest Regards from Merviso aka Merv Soh
    [ my vivarium: 2012, 2010, 2009 & 2007]
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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Sound cool. Most of what you suggested will go. Perhaps now is a picture of your tank with setup so that we can comment on the setup.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Merviso View Post
    Hi AhVy, I'm sure you will have lots of fun...

    Think 2ft is a good size to begin with. Try to have more water capacity, so that it is easier to maintain good water quality. You will need at least a fan to cool down the temperature too. Do not use coral sand since it will increase the PH of the water. Think your moss is not in the emersed form, so will need some time and care to let it transform. I used emersed land moss on my previous setup, so it is much easier. Lastly, you need to design a tank cover too...
    Hi hi Merv!! Thanks for your advice!

    I'll sure take note of your pointers..more water capacity, cooling system (fans and icepack), no coral sand, design a cover and let my moss transform to emersed state!

    Ermm.. But question...how do I let them transform??

    Cdc: my tank is still in my head. Haha so can't take any photos yet!
    I'll sure more photos of my development when I get the tank.

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Keep it moist, but out of the water, at a cool shaded area... It should either transform or die...

    Warmest Regards from Merviso aka Merv Soh
    [ my vivarium: 2012, 2010, 2009 & 2007]
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    i'm a dreamer... a dreamer living in the lost city of moonlight.....

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Hi again~

    Wanted to ask if these plants are suitable for vivarium??

    Unfortunately, I tried to search via the net for more information, but I can't get a clear answer...

    20120515_012421.jpg

    20120515_012959.jpg

    20120515_013518.jpg


    Thanks.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Merviso View Post
    Keep it moist, but out of the water, at a cool shaded area... It should either transform or die...
    I really want to click "like" for this

    Anyways TS, the common land miss "Singapore moss" can be grown on rocks. But need to keep the rocks abit damp no need to tie unless your water feature will wash it off the rock.

    Google and instructables should have. The one which require to "chop and dice" will also work.
    Learning the hardway, not the highway.
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    Hello! Time for some WIP and need some advice as well.

    Been working on this since last friday.. I really underestimated the effort to do up a vivarium. But.. I'm enjoying every bit of it! All the sweat and tears... Really not easy.

    Okay. Enough blabbering. Here's what I've got.

    Tank - 2ft tank (60x30x45) from seaview.
    Metal stand - from Y934
    Background - from NA (initially wanted to do a DIY styroform background, but too much time needed)
    Plants - got a lot of unknown plants...and actually still hunting for it.
    Substrate - got the clay pellets from giant
    Water feature - small waterfall on the left, drip wall on the right. (cors cannot afford misting equipment, so want to a drip wall instead...to simulate like rain drops?) got both pumps from C328
    Lights - Beamworks 300 from AquaEmpire

    You can only imagine how many LFS i have been to! Tiring... Phew

    Anyway, here are some photos for the setup..and i need advice if i'm doing anything wrong that may lead to a disaster!

    Photo - Tank setup with pumps and background and pvc pipes and eggcrate.



    Here's the questions..
    1. The layers of my false bottom will be...pvc > eggcrate > mesh > claypellets > mesh > potting moss > soil (for the land area) and pebbles (for the water area). Q: Are these layers too much??

    Illustration:



    2. The gap you see in the center will have to be blocked up by mesh.
    Q: which mesh should i use? Eggcrate? Green plastic mesh? Or the black screen mesh? (See photo)
    Q2: how should i secure this mesh to the background so that the clay pellets/soil/fauna will not go to the back of the tank? Silicon okay?



    3. The pumps are situated behind the background.
    I know i have to construct this such that i should be able to access/remove the pumps in case it spoils or for cleaning.
    Q: Any suggestions how i should make this easy for me to achieve this? Or should i change design?



    That's my progress so far... Appreciate any advice! Thanks for reading!
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    Last edited by AhVy; 8th Jun 2012 at 02:17.

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    hi there. nice progress you have made.

    For the foam background, i notice that you have left a space roughly the size of the pump behind. that is simple and good. To make it more simple for cleaning, may i suggest that you lower the foam background some more till it is about 1 inch away from the base of the tank. Then for that space, you can either put black bio foam or rocks to fill up the gap.

    For plants, you can try nana or java fern. What i usually do for my vivarium / paludarium is that I just keep 1/2 of the plant wet and they grow wonderfully. rarely do i encounter the plants dying on me. For the land portion, you may want to collect Singapore moss from your garden and but Ophiopogon Japonica "kyoto" (WP365), cyperus haspen (WP824) and Syngonium podophyllum "red knight" (WP441) as these plants are shade loving and they grow relatively well near water source. and if your tank is tall enough, you may even try Arundina graminifolia aka bamboo orchid. I have all these plants in my 5 vivarium / paludarium and I just enjoy the colours that they gave whenever I visit them for maintenance. Arundina graminifolia has got either purple or yellow flowers and they are very affordable.


    Also you may want to consider not putting leca at the water portion. Let me go draw and post it by tonight latest.


    Hope this helps.
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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Honestly speaking. Hypselotriton orientalis or chinese firebelly newt is purely aquatic. Land area should be very limited. Typically, when your firebelly walks up to land, it has issues.

    See here.

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Quote Originally Posted by delhezi View Post
    Honestly speaking. Hypselotriton orientalis or chinese firebelly newt is purely aquatic. Land area should be very limited. Typically, when your firebelly walks up to land, it has issues.

    See here.

    Thank you sir for highlighting this. I learn something new today. However on a side note(but a very important one) is that newts ARE NOT approved by AVA as pets. The only approved amphibians by AVA are the notorious Red Ear Slider, Malayan Box Tortoise and the Green Tree frog.

    But having said that, you can turn your vivarium into a Vampire crab enclosure. 12 of them would fit inside there very well. They are relatively easily to care for and they eat almost anything; from dirt to dead animals to bananas and aquatic plants. Just a suggestion though
    A Friend is one who is Faithful, Reliable, Inspiring, Encourager, who is Neutral when handling conflicts and helps to Develop you as a person.


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    Thanks all for your advice..
    I will be making some changes to the design... And last night i realised a major thing! I actually forgot to cater in a filter!
    I will probably get a cheap external canister like eden501 later from seaview.
    I'll update some photos again...



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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    wow! AhVy, your project is much massive than my mini caves!

    I am also camping here to see your progress and the end product.

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    AhVy,

    Do you want me to help you through... to make it a successful one? Then just let me know. I will be able to advise you in person like I did four of our AQ members before. Now they are, however, better gurus than me through!
    cheers
    eddy planer

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Your sketch did not show the output - from a rain bar? Your pump should be easy to remove for cleaning right? If you are keeping newts, then this setup is okay as they willl not climb over the background into the pump area, but better to provide a cover to cover all inside.

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddy planer View Post
    AhVy,

    Do you want me to help you through... to make it a successful one? Then just let me know. I will be able to advise you in person like I did four of our AQ members before. Now they are, however, better gurus than me through!
    Ahhh..eddyy..i saw your message toooo laaateee! I've already setup yest..boohoo.. About done already.. But got some failures.. Tonight i'll post some pictures.

    Quote Originally Posted by cdckjn View Post
    Your sketch did not show the output - from a rain bar? Your pump should be easy to remove for cleaning right? If you are keeping newts, then this setup is okay as they willl not climb over the background into the pump area, but better to provide a cover to cover all inside.
    Yesyes.. I designed it such that the pumps can be removed. But like i say there's failure already.. Sobs



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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Okay....here's the wip and the almost finished project!

    I call this my VyVarium...

    A slight change in design...half water and half tank, with false bottom.
    I wanted to do like a natural landscape...but didn't know how I achieve that.
    so in the end, it became like this.
    The right side with the false bottom is laid with egg crate, mesh, clay pellets, mesh and then soil on top.
    VyVarium 13.jpg

    Slope with mesh... I was so afraid that the soil will seep through the plastic and dirty the water, so it's mesh mesh and mesh again... haha
    VyVarium 19.jpg

    The left side for the water area..with waterfall feature..
    VyVarium 18.jpg VyVarium 43.jpg

    The styroform block behind is put there so that I can "support the background" as well as an additional separator to prevent any fauna from going to the back.
    Though I did seal the gap up with the mesh...but oh well (just in case)...

    To be continued...in the next post.

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    Continued...

    Water area filled with pebbles and slates (for the waterfall area)
    VyVarium 01.jpg

    Full tank shot..50% completed..
    VyVarium 02.jpg

    Planting...
    I actually don't know what plant this is! I got it from Cold Storage actually..haha but I love the plant structure...long slender stems and leaves... So I decided to just get it....!
    VyVarium 31.jpg VyVarium 32.jpg

    After all the planting...added in some dragon rocks on the right side as well...

    VyVarium 04.jpg

    Sorry.. I'm not allowed to put in more than 5 photos...so...to be continued again..

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    After planting..

    The rainbar/dripwall feature...

    VyVarium 48.jpg Center bar

    VyVarium 50.jpg side rainbar...(oops...ugly silicon work..please ignore that!)

    I thought the center bar can be improved...so I got some java moss to "decorate" it.
    Hope it lasts..

    VyVarium 59.jpg VyVarium 64.jpg Tada! Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would be..

    Finally the waterfall..

    Next post....

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    Re: Vivarium beginner (for newts)

    very nice work, AhVy. can't wait to see the next update on the waterfall.

    did the water get into the right side with the false bottom? did you use silicon to seal the side? I am interested to know your method (if it's not silicon). Now I am getting "poisoned" to build a vivarium, probably a mini vivarium for my 14 litre tank.

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