# Dart Tank



## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

The wheels are well in motion! Been waiting for darts for about 2 years. Scored this tank and stand off ebay for £30, practically new. Didn't do a log as I kind of did it all in a short time and forgot.

The background is EpiWeb. I've read mixed reviews, although I ignored the people who threw it out instantly because it "felt wrong". We'll see!


























Substrate is a mix of soil, fine cork granules, granulated tree fern, crushed leaf litter, and I also chucked a few small squares of EpiWeb in as I thought it would drain well.

Twin T5HO Light Fixture. Dunno if thats enough or overkill?

I'm gonna go for a Marcgravia species and panamian ficus perhaps on the back and then just ferns or something round the edges leaving the centre open. 

Any suggestions welcome!


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Those lights will be awesome. Might be too bright for ferns though!


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## jme2049 (Jan 11, 2008)

Does it have any lid at all? How do you keep humidity up?


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

No it doesn't at the moment, thats why it's so dry. I'm gonna do a glass top like GRIMM has on DB. It's 2 panes of glass attached by this hinge.

So the back pane will siliconed down and the front will be larger and opened for spraying and feeding. But i'll put a bead of silicone down anyway so it should be quite snug.

Got them off Lightbulbs Direct. Expensive packaging but really well packaged and quick delivery. Ballast is a Hagen GLO T5 Unit (Which for some reason recommends T8s in the manual. Duh?)


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## jme2049 (Jan 11, 2008)

Cool, Look forward to seeing it planted up and grown in.

Good luck:2thumb:


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

nice work mate,i think this is going to look very cool once planted,up what species is this for?
Stu


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Cheers Stu. I'm not sure yet. I could be taking Morgan's Leucs but I'm not on a big budget so depends how fast I can get it ready to roll.


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Can anyone recommend a decent compost to use? Seems this may contain fertilizer >.<


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

Make your own bud.

Fine orchid bark + xaxim + pure sphagnum peat + ground up live sphagnum moss and oak leaves + a tiny bit of calcium bentonite powder. Plants love it, as to woodlice and springtails.

Ade


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

jamesthornton said:


> Cheers Stu. I'm not sure yet. I could be taking Morgan's Leucs but I'm not on a big budget so depends how fast I can get it ready to roll.


 James,why not make up a qt tub,ours are those curver boxs,£7ish,acouple or three vents a couple of plants hiding places and your sorted,that will give you time to finish the tank,you might need extra heat of course but a heat mat/stat should sort that
Stu


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Wolfenrook said:


> Make your own bud.
> 
> Fine orchid bark + xaxim + pure sphagnum peat + ground up live sphagnum moss and oak leaves + a tiny bit of calcium bentonite powder. Plants love it, as to woodlice and springtails.
> 
> Ade


Yeah I did. I made a nice mix and used most of my stuff so this is gonna take longer now. They only state it has feritilisers on their website. Useful.


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Update!

Tossed the old substrate, made a nice new mix, plants from Richie (Cheers, the little pepperomia is lovely), and I've got EpiWeb mix on wall. I had tried this mix before but under pathetic lighting that wouldn't get the infamous creeping fig to grow. So I got some creeping fig too, so if moss doesn't work, got the creeping fig, if the moss works, I can pull the fig.

Fingers crossed.

Spraying the wall about 3/4 times a day cus the lights are so close it's dying out at the top. Don't have the top yet.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Is there a reflector on the light? I can't tell.


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

No there isn't at the moment which is a bit bollocks, but it's two T5HOs, reckon it will be enough!


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Definitely!

Keep that moss wet and it's bound to grow, will take at least a month IMO.


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## richie.b (Oct 27, 2008)

jamesthornton said:


> Update!
> 
> Tossed the old substrate, made a nice new mix, *plants from Richie (Cheers, the little pepperomia is lovely),* and I've got EpiWeb mix on wall. I had tried this mix before but under pathetic lighting that wouldn't get the infamous creeping fig to grow. So I got some creeping fig too, so if moss doesn't work, got the creeping fig, if the moss works, I can pull the fig.
> 
> ...


No problem James glad youre pleased.
and as morgan said the moss should grow with your lighting if well watered, if it doesnt get covered by the ficus first 

cheers
Richie


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Some promising signs and some pictures!

Hemionitis ariflolia has some new leaves unrolling!









and I really hope this is a sign of things to come. 2 small lumps of EpiWeb I left on the ground have started showing green. The background is spread quite thin compared to this nice lump, so I hope i've put enough on and it's just taking a bit longer.









FAO Richie if he sees this:

The Peperomia caperata. The flowers are growing, one is very tall now, but they are starting to curl, one is almost at a 90 degree bend. Is this doing ok do you think?

And the Peperomia medidiana. Does that stay small, haven't noticed much from it as it's so dainty but it's staying very green.

Cheers


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## richie.b (Oct 27, 2008)

jamesthornton said:


> Some promising signs and some pictures!
> 
> Hemionitis ariflolia has some new leaves unrolling!
> image
> ...


The peperomia meridiana will grow into a small bush but sounds like its doing fine if its kept its colour
the peperomia caperata will grow different shaped flowers as it matures like in the picture below










cheers
Richie


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

I had a search and I see what you mean about the flower spikes. Cheers for that. Weird looking thing!


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

I had to remove the Peperomia caperata this morning, it wasn't doing well, leaves had fallen off and it was losing colour quickly. The fern is throwing up tens of new leaves, and the whole moss wall is just beginning to turn green, and 3 tiny 2-leaved shoots have stuck out, so I pulled the ficus pumila and left it to crawl around the bottom, but i'll probably remove it.

I'll get pictures of the moss!


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

1 of about 4 tiny shoots coming out of a lump of moss mix. I'm noticing more every time I go to spray it.









New layout. Planning on going for a few miniature Orchids/epiphytic Ferns next.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

What's the green groundcover-type plant in the middle, just in front of the wood? I picked up something like that in Homebase a few weeks ago- it seems to be doing ok in my golden treefrog tank but it was just labled 'foliage plant'.


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

peperomia meridiana. I got it from RichieB, i'm unsure how well it's doing though.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

jamesthornton said:


> peperomia meridiana. I got it from RichieB, i'm unsure how well it's doing though.


 Ah, thank you. Not my beastie, though, having gogggled it. My plant has very smooth, oval, almost waxy leaves, somewhat like a ficus, but soft. The search continues! :lol2:


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

The lights may be too bright for ferns on that back wall.


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Just had to drain it for the first time since I started spraying. Taking into account how much I spray, the false bottom is doing a bloody good job, holding a lot of water.

I can now say I wish I had drilled it. The small gravel pond doesn't hold much water so it keeps filling in as you're draining. Had to do it with a small length of hose and suck on the end, quickly avoiding the tannin filled water.

The moss is SO close. Tiny spikes of moss and shoots of plants coming out in places and generally it's all got a greenish tinge in it. Can't wait!


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

I got around that problem on my conversion by plumbing an external filter into it to run a water fall. To drain the false bottom I simply remove the inlet hose from the filter and allow it to syphon into a bucket. With the pump been outside the tank if it breaks all I do is replace the filter, no need to get into the fale bottom.

Ade


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

I presume you did this before setting up your tank, or not? I'd be grateful of a picture if you have one!


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

Yeah I did it during set up:-



















I have a strip of twin wall polycarbonate that I gorilla glued with xaxim that I just place in front of the pipe, just to hide it a bit.

No reason why you couldn't retrofit something like this. Or even skip the filter, just put a filter hose in in the same way, fit a tap on it. Get the syphon going, close the tap. Then when you want to drain it, just open the tap. To seal the hole at the top I just used gorilla glue again, which foamed up completely blocking any gaps between the hose and the lid. If it's hard for you to do though, just use something like milliput/reef scape putty to fill the hole, no drips with that.

Ade


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## jamesthornton (Nov 24, 2008)

Cheers for that. I'll have a think!


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## Grasssnake36 (Aug 2, 2011)

Good luck with the dart frogs


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