# my live planted viv



## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Just spent most of today putting together my new viv for my frogs, remind me to nver to it again lol its soo annying and fiddly trying to make a waterfall from pieces of slate. 

I tried to take pics as i made major steps, just so people coud see how i did it. 

heres the viv with the pump fitted, the boxs of stuff i had acquired to make it (behind the viv)










With sponge mushrooms glued in place.










went on a bit of a mission and put the lining, some soil and some of the stone in before i remebered to take pictures.










After trying to make the end of the waterfall water tight, so it all ends up in the pond rather then everywhere else. You can see a lot of the silcone here but it will be covered up, and i now hate silcone.










about another hour later on the waterfall:










another hour on the waterwall, at this point i'd reliesed i had cut the pipe into the wall to high and then had to remove about a 2 inch strip from the background and lower the pipe.










Was happy with the waterfall so thought i'd add some plants, tho it was only a few pieces of ivy and a couple of large air plants.










Added the moss and some more soil










after testing the waterfall reliesed there was more leaks and the water didn't do what it was told to do so had to rearage things. silly water.










and the viv now mostly finished










tomorrow im going to have another go at sealing the entire waterfall but cant be arsed any more, and then im also going to try and cover up the exposed silcone. But im really impressed in with what i can do in an afternoon. 

hope you like
Jay


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## basky (Dec 11, 2006)

that looks ace :thumb:


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## Brat (Oct 7, 2007)

Looks great so far!


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Tho making a waterfall from small piecies of slate im never going to do it again lol, its making me want to throw it through the window.

Jay


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## Brat (Oct 7, 2007)

You'll be proud when it's finished I'm sure.
What's the rabbit poo type stuff in the bottom?


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

its hydroleyca (spelt wrong i think) but its used to help filtration of the water. there little clay ball things. 

In case anyones interested i've done the whole thing, including buying the viv and the frogs for about £50.

jay


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## boabloketony (Jan 22, 2007)

Very nice setup Jay !!! :2thumb:


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## essexchondro (Apr 9, 2007)

Nice...very nice!

What frogs are you keeping in it? I'm really tempted to do a nice display viv for dome dendrobates.

Stuart


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

the tanks for a selection of Hyperolius species im currently keeping. as i think there ace little frogs. 

Jay


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## jacko (Apr 7, 2007)

nice setup m8, once the plants start to take hold and fill out, it will look even better. you could do with some pothos in there. grows really well and will fill the back of the tank nicely


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## BecciBoo (Aug 31, 2007)

Looks good. Would like to see some pic of the finished thing, I did something similar for my fire-bellied toads and it tool me ages, really fiddly is that silocone stuff :lol2:.


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

jacko said:


> nice setup m8, once the plants start to take hold and fill out, it will look even better. you could do with some pothos in there. grows really well and will fill the back of the tank nicely


yer im after lots more plants, but im doing the whole thing on a tiny budget, so im scrounging everything including the plants. The entire think including buying the exoterra and buying the 4 frogs i currently have has only cost be £50 so far.

jay


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## Ben_Roberts (Sep 22, 2007)

great viv, was thinking to do a waterfall in my next viv


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Ben_Roberts said:


> great viv, was thinking to do a waterfall in my next viv


word or warning there the most fiddly and annoying things ever. Also, somthing i didnt think of cover any exposed silcone with dirt/stones etc, as trust me there will be loads once you tried to fill in all the gaps so you dont lose all the water. took me a far few attempts to even fill most of the gaps as water doesnt do what its told. 

jay


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## Bubby Fat (Oct 31, 2007)

Just trying to figue out what you've covered the clay balls with at the bottom.... is it pond liner?

Cheers

BF


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

You must have the patience of a saint! :lol2:

Brilliant result! :no1: The tank looks amazing! can't wait to see the frogs in it !


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

its hydrolecca (glay balls), covered in pond liner, then a layer of stones around the pond area. then you have to slowly pack your substrait in (i recomand coco houmus). then you have to wedge in the piecs of slate for the watefall and wedge substraite in as and wear u want it. 

Pollywog as some great articals about the ones he makes on his site. its where i first got the idea. 

Jay


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## SuperTed (Apr 19, 2007)

Thats awesome mate! nice job!!! got any new pics of it? :no1:


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## Bubby Fat (Oct 31, 2007)

Thought it was (pond liner).... I used to have live planted vivs a few years back - my largest was a 4'x4x1.5' full glass viv. Will see if I can dig out a few photos for you.

I took a break from the hobby for 3 years (mainly due to work moving me around the country - not really fair on the animals) but I'm now getting back into it.

May even go and ask the person thats was 'looking after' the viv if I can have it back. :mf_dribble:

Oh, and good work on the viv btw : victory:


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## joe0709 (Sep 22, 2007)

that looks really good :no1:


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## Bluesharp13 (May 31, 2007)

Brilliant set up


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

last plants added, think im happy with it now.




























and if you can see him there a little frog sitting in the corner.










Jay


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## boabloketony (Jan 22, 2007)

Looks great Jay !!! :2thumb:


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

im well chuffed with it hehe, and i demand more replies to the pics lol. 

Jay


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## Bonkers! (May 27, 2007)

Duuuude that's an awesome setup 8)


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## Angi (Nov 12, 2005)

I love the idea of using slate for the water feature, very nice.


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

Looking good Jay 

You should have used a bit of gutter as the waterfall the lined it with slate and gravel, and a bowl for the pond, that makes the water do as its told better!


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## Art_Gecko101 (May 6, 2006)

how long did you leave the silicone to cure before trying out the waterfall? when making mine i left it a good 3 days or so to make sure the silicone had fully cured before testing it. that could be why you had so many leaks. It looks good now, just make sure the silicone has fully cured now your frogs are in it!


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

darkdan99 said:


> Looking good Jay
> 
> You should have used a bit of gutter as the waterfall the lined it with slate and gravel, and a bowl for the pond, that makes the water do as its told better!


yer but with guttering it would have done what i wanted or looked as nice. There is pond liner under the slate so all the water reaches the pond in the end. The water the escapes simple sinks through to the false bottom and is recirculated. But by removing most of the silcone and just wedging the saltes pieces i've got it flowing really nicely now. 

Jay


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## darkdan99 (Dec 28, 2006)

You could have, 

If you sunk the gutter into the mud, you could have filled it with slate, but either way works


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## CWD (Feb 11, 2007)

thats well smart mate good job !!


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## Lowenna (Feb 6, 2007)

Hi Jay, that is brilliant!! and thank you- you have have inspired me to re do my waxy monkey frogs home...

I have a question, might be a silly one! How do you go about changing the water?? Or does the Hydroleca keep the water clean enough until you need to top up??


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Lowenna said:


> Hi Jay, that is brilliant!! and thank you- you have have inspired me to re do my waxy monkey frogs home...
> 
> I have a question, might be a silly one! How do you go about changing the water?? Or does the Hydroleca keep the water clean enough until you need to top up??


the hydroleca helps to filter the water a bit. I also have a filter on the pump. So between the 2 of them complete water changes shouldn't need to happen to frequenntly. Im thiking about every 6-7 weeks maybe depending on the water quality. Its somthing im going to have to keep and eye on. If the water quality stays goo i'll leave it long and just do part water changes. I've absolulty no idea how to attempt it tho. Didnt think of that when i made the viv lol. 

Jay


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## SuperTed (Apr 19, 2007)

your going to have to demolish the waterfall to get all the water out :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

SuperTed said:


> your going to have to demolish the waterfall to get all the water out :Na_Na_Na_Na:



that never going to happen took me far to long to make. I have some idea, tho we'll see if they work when have to do it.

Jay


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## linda.t (Sep 28, 2007)

looks great 
i've got to start getting mine ready 
i will be getting my 2 next week
linda


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## Rain (Oct 9, 2007)

yours is an inspiration!!! I'm starting the layout for mine tonight


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

oooo, i want to see pics of all your live planted vis as well guys once you get them going. 

good luck
Jay


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## cracksolja (Sep 10, 2007)

Hi jay, Great Pics love the viv - what live plants do you use ?

Also what is the green stuff beside the slates? I like trhat very sassy 

I have fake plants currently but would like to introduce some real ones since the growth of plants would look very natural


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Plant wise, there to different bromalids, one lone leaf grass fern (front left behing tiger bromalid), the green stuff in the back right is some sort of fern, cant remeber what. Tho it died since the pic. I think the conditions were to damp for the fern. I also have various pieces of ivy as well. 

I like real plants alot at the moment there more fun. 

Jay


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