Seepage set up -step by step

[paris]

i have a 29 gallon tank that i keep a colony of 2 lined sals in (see pics in post for species specific section). once a year i clean it out-thin out the plants and clean the glass. i have found about 40-50 larvae in there so they were moved to a different tank. i start out with an undergravel system and an inch of pea gravel.(again the pics arent great as it was night and light from my flash isnt great)

i have a power head attached to the only uplift tube-from this powerhead i put a silicone tube that will pump the water to the top of a stack of rocks. i start with 2 big rocks that will keep the mass of rocks low in the water and support those that actually do seep. these rocks are both granite and sandstone. there is a cross stone placed on top to support the next part.

now i place 2 unique stones that will butt together at the middle and slope away. note the tube is between them and sticking out higher.

next i add a 'capstone' this stone will allow the stream of water coming from the tube to be diverted left and right-i can adjust it so that there will be water flowing on both sides. there is also some water hardy wood added.

next i added the bad toupe (spelling??) of grass and ferns that grows on top of the rocks-often the sals will hide in the layer of wet roots. there are also moss patches and a few logs that have things growing on them.

this is a pic of the finished product

and here is a close up showing the actual seeping in process

 

[i.]

Huh, I like this, the water flowing over the rocks is really cool.
I'm curious as to what your "bad toupe" is. It looks like you don't need any earth for planting those plants? The roots just get nutrients directly from the water? That sounds pretty aquarium friendly!

 

[paris]

yeah i had roots going down all the way to the bottom of the gravel layer. i put the plants on top of the wood-that created a sort of soil-once those took i moved them overtop of the capstone and set up more on the wood-i never planted the fern-it sort of just appeared. there is high moisture higher than usual here since it has the flowing water, plants and a solid top(not screen).

 

[shawn]

Paris Awesome setup. very awesome indeed

so when ya comin to setup my tank hehe actually i think im gonna build a custom tank sometime soon since most of the tanks on the market are thin and high or thin and long some are on the wider side but i think i wanna go with some thats like 3ft long by 2ft high by 3ft deep this way i have alot of area on the inside to play with and make a fairly elaborate setup but when i do i plan to make it look elaborate but actually break down very easily for cleaning purposes etc.
Wolfie

 

[chris]

What food do you add? Do you keep it inside, or out? If it's inside, how do you manipulate temps for breeding?
What are the dimensions of the tank?
Chris

 

[paris]

chris,
sorry it took a while to get back to you but i keep forgetting to measure it.
food= crickets, blackworms on surface near holes where they live (they are very used to this)

tank is kept inside at 60 in the summer-but it is higher inside because its enclosed with a solid top and a light on top of that -it may even get to 70 or more in there-i should put my min/max thermometre in there -they have lived/reproduced in this set up for 5 years now.

i really dont manipulate the temps to breed them-i just leave the windows open in winter, but they reproduced at my duplex and those windows were shut -it was about 50 in there then (not including the greenhouse effect)

tank is 30 inches long, 12 deep and 18 high

 

[joseph]

Wow! This is pretty neat! Any other species that naturally occur in seepage areas suitable for this type of setup?

 

[ajfr0ggy]

Looks cool.
Its kind of like my oriental firebellied toad viv, although mine is quite a bit smaller. There is a powerhead which pumps water which runs over a few bits of slate. You can hardly see the water running, but the slate is constantly wet. A varigated ivy grows like mad in there, and the constant dampness of the slate allows java moss to grow, with grips onto the sides of the slate. I might get a photo of it later.
I find naturalistic vivs so effective with amphibians, and its great that i only have to clean them once a year or so!

AJfr0ggy

 

[jessica]

AJfr0ggy, I would like to see a pic of the toad set up

 

[mark]

Cool! How many sals are in there anyway?

 

[paris]

15 2 lined-and some larvae i couldnt catch and 1 longtail is in there till i can get it its own set up.

 

[ira]

what kind of pump do you run in that? i cant think of any i have ever used that have a flow rate low enough to simulate that.

 

[paris]

its a power head - i cant remember which kind but it is adjustable i think. you could also use a shark or other submersible filter and then run a hose off of that


hey check it out!! -my 500th post!!

(Message edited by paris on August 04, 2004)

 

[jenny]

whoa that set up looks well good! you shud get a bonzai tree then itd look like a cliff scenery or somethin! is it hard to spot ur sals ina ll that? i didnt realise salamanders went in water and land i thought once they morphed they just stayed on land!

 

[ira]

humm, i have used powerheads before and always had problems with them being too powerful to recreate a stream. maybe i will have to look into these adjustable ones.

 

[jj]

Now I ahve a question. Can I mix Two Lines with soome local frogs or tadpoles. Will they eat them? If they eat the tadpoles I'll feed them that