False bottom tank too dry.

[Lamb]

Hello all,

This was my first attempt at building a false bottom tank, but I think I've done something wrong. I gave it what I considered to be a good soaking last night to check the moisture of the soil, and by tonight it was pretty much dry. Too dry for my comfort. When my opacum juvenile gets a little bigger, it will go in the tank. Photos are attached.

Here are the specs: 10 g tank. The bottom is taller on the left than the right (around 7 cm on left). The substrate is a fir/peat moss mixture, along with some sand from the collection sites of the mosses and fern. The tank has a screen top.

When I think about it, I could see the depth of the soil layer being a problem (too thin, perhaps), or the permeability of the screen top being a problem. Or perhaps the false bottom is too tall? I'm not sold on the substrate composition being an issue, as it holds water well in my smaller enclosures without false bottoms. But, as I mentioned, this is my first attempt, and I'd like your suggestions and ideas. Do false bottom tanks typically require more watering than non-false bottoms? Wouldn't the humidity increase if I poured enough water through the soil so that some accumulated in the bottom?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Mark]

Hi Lamb, I think you're right, the substrate layer is too thin and because it has good ventilation both above and below it's drying out very quickly. Not ideal for a salamander environment. If you want to persist with the false bottom you're going to need to add a much thicker substrate and a good helping of leaf litter/moss on top to help retain moisture. You may also need to look at reducing the ventilation from the screen lid.

Personally I would scrap the false bottom (sorry!). For a drainage layer I would use some clay beads. False bottoms work well for animals that have a requirement for constant watering/humidity i.e. dart frogs with misting systems frequently drenching the tank, but for a terrestrial sal with simple moisture requirements it's probably not necessary.

I wouldn't let water sit in the drainage layer as it has a habit of becoming foul and stagnant which won't be good for the occupants above.

Hope that helps a little.
Mark

 

[Lamb]

I reduced the "false bottom" to about 1 inch since I didn't want to use more than one small bag of hydroballs. Then about 1-1.5 in of hydroballs. I've mixed up the substrate (still fir and sphagnum, but mixed different brands). At the higher end the soil is about 3-4 in, and the lower end it's 2.5-3. Already it appears to be working much much better. The set up makes the tank heavier than I originally hoped for, but it will still be easy to move. They hydroballs are really keeping the humidity up. I'm hoping to plant more ferns and more moss patches.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[evut]

How did you construct the false bottom, please?

It would be nice to see some pictures of the finished product and of the animals in the future :happy:

 

[Lamb]

In the original tank set up, the false bottom was made out of 2 grates from a filter (?) and 4 pieces of PVC (2 7 cm and 2 4-5 cm). The PVC was stuck to the filter with silicone. The new set up (pictures to follow when I'm not in a hurry) still uses the filter grates so that the "false bottom is only about 1 in of air. Then there is about 1 in of hydroballs. All together that just about satisfies the depth of a proper aquifer (2 in).

The opacum (marbled salamander) wont be put into the tank until he/she is 1.5 to 2 inches in length (otherwise it will probably be too hard to find). Right now, it still has the color pattern of a metamorph and is just over 1 in long. The filter grate I'm talking about was given to me by my professor. It was previously used to keep the gravel away from a below-ground water filter system. It has dashed slits about 1 cm apart that let water get through. The two pipes sticking up from the ground open below the grate and will be used to siphon out water that collects there.

I apologize for switching back and forth between measurement systems. I typically do this, regardless of the scale of the length. Growing up, I learned both and they kind of meshed together.