Lmao, thanks man I appreciate it. Been putting in a lot of work on this thing for the last couple weeks. Just wait until you see this thread by the morning!Originally Posted by the.under.ground
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Lmao, thanks man I appreciate it. Been putting in a lot of work on this thing for the last couple weeks. Just wait until you see this thread by the morning!
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Alright.....so construction has been completed.
Here is how I modified the intake and return for the canister filter. I cut the return at the elbow and reversed it so the longer side is in the pipe in the tank. I took the spray bar and covered the spray holes with silicone to use it as an extension to get the intake to the bottom of the tank. It's not in the picture but I used zip ties around the hose that connects the two pieces of tubing for the intake to make sure I had a good seal.
I finished up my DIY fogger before I even started building the vivarium, lol. I am using a Vicks Cool Mist Humidifier. I had bought a used Reptifogger for $10 that didn't end up working, but the part of it that attaches the hose to the base fit perfectly on top of the humidifier, a little silicone and its now one with the humidifier. I had a spare Fluval filter hose (dont know where it came from, I don't have Fluval Filters lol) that fit perfectly to the spout and to the tank. After that I cut the back plastic part of the glass top for the tank to get a tight fit with the hoses and pipes, dont want any escapees.
I started on the drainage layer and substrate next. I put a layer of hydro balls and the river rocks for the water section in first. Then I covered the hydro balls in the land section with a decent layer of organic peat moss soil, making a slight slope to fit with the creek. I took and cut the return piece that feeds into the small pond at an angle so it will be easier to hide. I will be covering this with mesh to keep crabs from trying to crawl in.
I misted down the entire thing very liberally to get a decent soak and then added the water. I got the siphon going on the canister filter and plugged it in and the creek began running, GLORY! Lol. I knew it was going to work fine but its always a load off the shoulders when its functioning properly after being installed.
Fog test incoming......
I am very happy with the finished construction, it came out amazing! Is it overkill to use an Eheim Classic 250 to filter only about 7 gallons of water? Hahaha. I will be adding in some of the plants I have tomorrow. After its planted I will be taking some video and throwing it on youtube so everyone can see it in action. Now I just gotta be patient about getting the crabs at the right time! Lol. Whatcha guys think so far?
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Last edited by Kole85; 09-15-2018 at 02:52 AM.
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Bongox3 thanked for this post
This is so awesome Kole! Like everyone else, I can’t wait to see it when full of plants. Great work! Inspiring me to get started on mine but gotta be patient.
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Got some plants in it over the last few days. Put a few small stones in the upper pond section with some bucepheldandra and some anubias nana pinto and anubias nana marble white. On the rim of the upper pond and creek I put some mini xmas moss, java moss, mini pelia, terrestrial star moss. I also put some of the star moss on the piece of cork I am using as a bridge for the creek.
The plants in the back, from right to left, are: Crypt Wendtii Green, Neoregelia Bromeliad 'Fireball', A.R. Mini Variegated, Pink Fittonia, Neoregelia Bromeliad 'Whinnie the Pooh', and some mini xmas and star moss here and there on the background.
Around the little house I planted S. Repens and a Crypt Flamingo. On the front left near the creek I planted U.G. I put some mosses on the rocks between the water and the land and some Salvinia Minima in the water section to help with water quality. I have a terrestrial moss mix on a moss ledge thats finally starting to grow some as well. I want to get some more U.G. for the front land section as well as some mini ferns and Marcgravia vines for the background.
Its really coming together nicely.
Oh ya, TODAY I GOT SOME CRABS! They're not the red devil crabs, but I found someone in san diego who had captive bred vampire crabs and I couldn't resist. I got 1 adult female and 3 young unsexed juveniles. I will be adding my other adult female in here in the next couple of days.
One of the youngsters instantly found its way to the little pond and decided to take a dip.
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SamSam563 thanked for this post
Kole honestly put dart frogs in there with the crabs they look very nice with a lot of color schemes
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Sadly Dart Frogs and Vampire Crabs aren't compatible with each other, otherwise that would be awesome.
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Whats up everyone? Time for an update on the vivarium. *View at own risk lol*
I got a whole bunch of terrestrial vivarium plants and swapped some things around, these plants are gorgeous! I took out the small shack for now so I have more room for the plants. I also moved over my female vampire crab I have had for months.
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This is going to look insane once it's grown in.
Wow! What an awesome project. I love this.
Thank you very much.
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I know its super teeny tiny and really hard to see.....but ZOOM IN........My Purple Vampire Crabs have bred!!!! I've already seen more than 4 little babies crawling around! Whats funny is I didnt even know I had an adult male, lmao.
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Those crabs! Do they spend much time in the water? Can they reproduce in freshwater?
That’s awesome! Congrats are I order! Let me know when you ready to trim the herd so I can get started on my Vivarium. Lol!
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They are land crabs. They go into the water mainly when they need to hide or molt, but require mostly land. The babies stay in the water the majority of the time because thats the safest spot for them in the wild. They will drown if left in the water without a way to get out. The water is freshwater though.
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Lol...definitely man!
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With how moist it is, could you grow some aquarium plants emergent in there?
Of course you can. I have U.G., mini xmas moss, java moss, anubias nana marble white, bucephelandra, and a crypt wendtii green in there. Other aquatic plants that would do well would be Limnophila Aromatica (both normal and mini variations), Staurogyne Repens, Staurogyne Purple, Lindernia Rotundifolia, A.R. Mini, A.R. Lilacina, and others. I'm sure H.C. and Dwarf Hair Grass would go well also.
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So rad! I'm trying to wear down the wife to get a 75 gallon since Petco is having their sale until I think the 17th of November, but a smaller tank like this would be insanely cool.
What does the maintenance look like for this tank and these critters?
Maintenance? What maintenance? Lol, just kidding. But seriously, its insanely simple. You could literally forget to feed the crabs for a week or two and they wouldn't even notice. A lot of people who keep them find that a lot of their diet consists of just the dirt they live in.
And as far as cleaning the tank and what not, once the filter was established there isnt much water changes needed. The canister is rated up to 40 gallons I think, its filtering maybe 7 gallons of water. I set it up to be super simple. I was going to do a water change but once I saw the baby crabs that plan changed lol.
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My wife will be gone in January visiting family - might be a good time for me to tear up the house and add a small tank. Hmmm... bookmarking this thread just in case.
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