Here is my humble 2ft vivarium build that I've setup.
The tank is a 2ft(L) x 1ft(B) x 1.5ft(H), it has a small waterfall feature and integrated with spray system to moist the plants at certain intervals.
Appreciate feedback and criticisms if any, as I'm new to vivariums and am still learning.
I will share more info and pics on the buildup if anyone is interested.
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The tank currently as no fauna yet, and I've not decided if I want to have any at all.
I made a couple of newbie mistakes along the way, and if I were to set it up again, I will have made changes especially to the false bottom.
The reason for the false bottom was because I wanted to have a small pond in the middle, but the result was not what I had expected - the pond was too shallow.
I should have made the pond deeper.
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Last edited by Cardinal Tetra; 30th Aug 2015 at 23:37.
Looks nice... it'll be a suitable habitat for some small fiddler crabs.
Looks good. Crabs just need a small water area. How does you misting system work?
The spray system is just a simple setup really, just a small pump connected to an air tube with tiny holes just like a spray bar.Originally Posted by Ingen
I am still trying to configure the perfect timing of intervals to spray the plants.
I will take some pictures of them in action tonight.
Hi,
I am interested to know the followings and hope you can share...
1) Do you have any filtration in this setup?
2) Is the setup enclosed?
3) Did you DIY the background wall or purchase from LFS?
4) Do you design it in a way that the pump can be removed without affecting the scape?
As I am planning for my paludarium setup currently,would hope to understand some tips from you.
Thanks
1. Bio filtration is used for this setup. I added bio home from my previous setup under the false bottom, just for kicks.
2. The tank is not covered yet but I will be getting a cover for it soon if I intend to keep frogs.
3. I used cork bark as the background which I bought from NA. I had much so fun playing around with cork bark and I will use them again for future setups. Initially, I wanted to use a normal black plastic board as the background. I would have regretted it if I did.
4. Both pumps can be removed easily as I've built a partition for it. This is to facilitate the pump with easy removal and to plug my hose into my chiller if necessary in the future.
I will post more pictures tonight when I get home. Perhaps I will share the initial tank setup pics as well.
Next phase is to get a cover for the tank, and attach 2 fans (in/out) to provide good air circulation to the tank.
I am also looking at getting a fogger/mister to connect it to my setup. But that will be at a much later stage.
Last edited by Cardinal Tetra; 31st Aug 2015 at 18:41.
Here are some pictures of the build phase. Hope it can help others in planning to build their vivariums/paludariums.
Planning the layout and building the false bottom using egg crates.
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Wanted to use this black board as the background until I managed to find cork bark. The tank would really look weird if I went ahead with this. In the pic, it shows the partition I've created to conceal the pumps. Ignore the cabinet reflection, though.
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Found a nice big piece of corkbark
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Work in progress. I really enjoyed sticking cutting the cork bark and sticking the pieces to form the shape of the partition.
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I used a simple potting dish to create the pond
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Silicon the gravel to the sides of the dish.
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Done.
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Laying out the foundation.
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Added some biohome from previous setup.
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From here on the pics are bluish as I had not changed out my marine tubes.
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This is where the problems started. Being the noob that I am, I initially thought of filling up my bottom lay of water with hydroballs.
Big mistake. The hyrdoballs started to float and I totally didn't expected that.
To solve the problem I added 5kg of black sand over the balls and enough to fill up the sides of the tank to cover up the ugly eggcrates.
Tested the waterfall. Next was to plant the plants.
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Filling it in.
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Realised that I've made the pond too shallow.
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Next was to incorporate a spraying system to water my plants as the T5s can be really hot.
Attached an airtube to a small pump which is T-ed off for irrigation on both sides.
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Used a needle to poke the holes. Some holes are meant to spray water, others are meant to drip on the cork bark to make it wet for mosses.
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Last pic of the water spraying system in action.
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I am still deciding what kind of fauna to keep. Some bros here suggested crabs but I read that they will tear up my plants!
The setup was designed to make it look as naturalistic as can be, without having any equipment seen.
Also the design included a partition for easy removal for the pumps.
Along the way I've made mistakes and learned from my experiences. If I could have done it again, I would not go for the false bottom, and got myself a deeper dish for my pond. The fun part of the setup is that whatever mistakes you make, just cover it up! Thats the fun about vivariums. Everything backend is fake so don't worry about being neat, the plants will cover up any false parts.
Hope I've helped give you some ideas to your design and helped to answer your queries.
Nicely and thanks for sharing all the details! Too bad we don't have dart frogs available in Singapore. I saw some small crabs (Batik Crab - Metasesarma Obesum) about an inch big at Aquatic Avenue last week, did some reading and they are mainly terrestrial and only need very little water, mainly for molting purposes. May be a good fit for your set up. Was planning to get them but my vivarium/paludarium do not have much land for them haha.
Nice setup.
Is it possible to take a top view of the waterfall area?
What pump you use for the waterfall?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I am using eheim compact 1000 for the waterfall.
I'm not sure what you mean by top view. Do you mean top down view of the pump compartment?
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