Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey just wanted some input on the tank I've constructed. It's a 35 Oceanic Hex Lizard Lounge. I have a 4800 PC Lightbulb I got from work (a Local Fish store) and a heat Bulb (no light emitted). My substrate is a layer of large Gravel enclosed in Carbon Vinyl screen for drainage, with Cypress Mulch covered in Moss on top. I have 2 plants so far, one Rubber tree and a Mangrove tree which i hope grows prop roots soon. my waterfall is built from 2 large peices of Mopani wood and a Maxi Jet 404 for flow from the bottom of the tank. The bottom up to about level with the top of my large gravel is submersed in water splitting the tank to 2/3s land 1/3 water. I thought I might put a Pantadon Butterfly fish in the water for Cricket and bug clean up. As soon as my RETFs come in I'll be installing a watering dish with RO water.
Any comments and input would be helpful as this is my first Vivarium.

I can't give you any help on the tanks, but I would love to see it when it's finished! I'm getting some RETF babies in a couple weeks, they'll be in a nice starter tank, waterfall, nice. But I want to build my own next year when they're bigger.

I'll post a pic of my tank if I can. The picture was taken with the flash so the colors are way brighter in the photo than actual.

The pic doesn't show the big driftwood that I added today to the front left or the water plant on the right. Still trying to find another piece of driftwood to wedge into the right side bottom. The tank is maintaining well so far and the humidity is doing well too. Can't wait for the froggies though!

nice tank, however, if you are planning to keep babe RETF in them, i would suggest lovering the water deptha lot. no more than an inch. once they get older still keep it lower than you have it now. good luck! if you have any questions about RETF i have kept them so feel free to ask questions!

Thanks, I'm sure I will be asking!

As far as the tank, the water doesn't reach more than 2 1/2 inches in any spot. Just to make sure I have added more plants in the water and large rocks and just bought some more jungle vine to wriggle around the top of the water. I have also put another piece of small diftwood in the tank and looking for one more. Seems I see it everywhere when I don't need any and now can't find the right size!

i know what you mean about not finding stuff when you need it, drfoster and smith.com has a buncho f nice driftwood and in all different sizes, so does blackjungle.com. it would be ok if you put a lot of driftwood and plants in at that depth. if you want to know how to make your own background (it's alot cheaper) i can help you too. good luck and post pics of the frogs when you get them

Nice tank arrangement. But I've heard similar about having shallow water I lowered mine, mostly because It kept finding a way to leak out the vent holes in the lower end of my tank, but also because I keep hearing that the RETF are prone to drowning. Also discovered why no one uses those foggers. I can't find a suitible spot anywhere and when it does look like it might work out it shoots water out my vent holes and on to the floor. I'm bringing it back on wednesday and swapping it for a moonlight instead.
ONe question today though, Is the leaching color from my mopani going to be safe for my frogs or am I going to be trying to remove that regularly???
Thanks

i personally don't see the point of having fake waterfalls or foggers, you can build a real waterfall that looks 100 times better for the same price and just mist the tank every day and you save 30 bucks. i would answer your question, but whats a mopani? is it a kind of lamp?

As for the waterfall I did make a real one. Mopani is the African Driftwood I used to make it. Often used for discus tanks for it's eyecatching shapes and lines, look it up on Google. Thanks though, the fogger is a waste.

Posted by: Naxirith at Mon Apr 3 14:19:59 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

Nice tank arrangement. But I've heard similar about having shallow water I lowered mine, mostly because It kept finding a way to leak out the vent holes in the lower end of my tank, but also because I keep hearing that the RETF are prone to drowning. Also discovered why no one uses those foggers. I can't find a suitible spot anywhere and when it does look like it might work out it shoots water out my vent holes and on to the floor. I'm bringing it back on wednesday and swapping it for a moonlight instead.
ONe question today though, Is the leaching color from my mopani going to be safe for my frogs or am I going to be trying to remove that regularly???
Thanks

The Mopani wood which is sold as African driftwood will NEVER stop leaching. Mine was 2 yrs old it constantly leached I had it for dwarf Amazon cichlids so it worked great.
Even after boiling it over and over for 2 yrs it never stoped leaching. Its completely harmless but I got tired of the brown water look and bought reg diftwood from aquariumdriftwood.com
I use the mopani now in my treefrogs tank and since its not submerged in water its great. I wet it daily by misting it but the leaching has never bothered my treefrogs. Its safe just after awhile I got tired of the brownish looking water .
the leaching of tannic acids slightly lowers your ph in your tanks water but I found not much and in some tapwaters PH its good.
Again it has never bothered my green treefrogs and they prefer it over the glass in the tank .

I'm making a completely new tank. I need to make a door on the front because it'll be too tall to reach in from the top. Does anybody know if acrylic(1/4 inch) will get scratched and hazed by cleaning or just regular frog abuse(I hear they're tough). Thanks.