Wow very nice I didnt relize how much room the 3 dimmensional background actually takes up until I got the downward shot but I love the tank becasue it is tall and the 3d backgound makes it look so unique .. did you get another frog yet?

Love the new growth, I wasnt able to pick uup any new plants this time (not that the quality is that great like you said), but I did notice that your bamboo(like?) plants definitely shot up. How long have these been set up? It looks great. Cant wait to see when the plants take over your vivs!

::Andrew

Hi, The background was made that thick purposely as it gives me the option of adding plants as I go, all I have to do is pic a spot, pick a plant, make a hole, add a the plant! =)also, if you look at the right rear corner of pic #1 you will see the triangular opening of "the false wall" that I use for pump access, this is an idea off my own design and have used it on my last two set ups (works great by the way!) pump slide in or out with no prob =) feel free to try it, but please give me credit if asked where you got the idea =) to answer the other question, no, I wont be getting any frogs or other critters any time soon, maybe my next set up =) its been set up since Feb 5th, todays the 26th, so....21 days? the bamboo has actually only grown about an inch, but all the others seem to have grown at least two inches and as much as a foot! Look at the second pic and you will see a type of brom (only known as "papa gayo") that is in the middle right growing on a branch, the leaves are growing clear out of the tank! =) and the baby tears have grown a few inches =) and the fern thats growing in the upper left was almost bare when I added it to the tank and although you cant see it in the pics has many new fronds just waiting to open! and as you said whatisnseen, cant wait till the plants fill in! (not an exact quote! LOL! as I wont let them take over) I will be adding better pics of pic 2 3 and 4 today as they are very low quality Thanks for the comments! =)

Where'd you get that epi hanging plant thats in basically all your shots? It looks pretty cool, I'd like to try one in my setup given it can handle the moderate conditions.. Actually were do you get most your plants?

I figured you wouldnt let them take over and would atleast trim them and make sure that they are decent enough to let all plants get light and such. Papa gayo, you say? would that be the long shoot coming out of the brom? it looks like that. I could be wrong :shrugs:

-Andrew

If your talking about the one in pic 6 with the large narrow leaves its a pitcher plant (n.alata) it is a cutting that was given to me by a member of the forum, hopefully it will root in about 6 months, if it does I should get really nice large red pitchers growing from the tips of the leaves! If you talking about the plant thats around the pitcher with the tiny leaves (as it is the one thats hanging)it is a Baby Tears, I picked it up at my local Home Depot, it really likes moisture and humidity and has been growing great in the terrarium, yes that is the "Papa Gayo" thats what the locals in the area of Puerto Rico where I collected it called it anyways, its actually a "leaf" that you see coming out of it, there are two more smaller leaves behind it, but you cannot see them in the pic, I also collected the fern in the upper left in PR, I get my plants from all over, some from flea bay, some in trade from members, and as stated, some I collect myself, I keep myself open to all trades and when I go on a trip to a tropical place I call up the Agricultural Dept and see what there "rules" on plant collecting are, I also keep my eyes open whenever I go to Garden and Home Centers, thats about it. =)

great thanks! I never really thought about importing them with me when I went on tropical trips (not that I've gone on any recently). I was referring to the Baby Tears I suppose, but I didnt even notice the piccher until now. I'm loving that brom. thats quite a leaf to be that huge compared to what the others seem to be, and two more coming up behind, wow, lucky lucky.. I'd love to find myself one of those.. tell me if you ever have any pups that you wouldnt mind getting rid of when it flowers, of course... Anyways, I'm off to the sack.. Hopefully I'll finish my background tomorrow so I can take a picture of the finished result on tuesday and then finally move the huge thing upstairs and do the rest (add gravel and substrate and plants)... I still wish I couldve found somethign other than gravel, say leca/hydroton.. I couldnt get my hands on any egg crate either, but I wasnt really looking for it since I wouldve had some trouble fixating it, oh well, gravel will do fine, I believe.... Thanks iliketerrariums for all, even if it wasnt direct help most the time :).. until tomorrow or something.

Looking good Tony. How does the water in there circulate? It's hard to tell from the photos. That a good idea having that false corner area for the pump, but it looks it might be a little tight getting the pump in and out. Can you post a picture of that corner with the pump?

Hey mucky, Its a very good fit actually as I made the corner with the pump size in mind, in other words, I built the corner to the size of the pump, so I can access it with ease, if you go down nine post from this one you will find the post,"Pics of My terrariums after it was redone" look at the first pic, in that pic go to the seem where I glued the two tanks together, go to the middle of the seam then just a bit to the right, thats where you can (barely) see the water running down the piece of driftwood protruding out of the rear wall, it trickles down the piece of driftwood, falls into the "pond" at the bottom of the tank, is drawn by the pump (behind the false wall) through the gravel and plant roots, throught the nylon covered PVC grid built into the lower part of the false wall at the water level(you cant see it as it is covered with gravel) the water passes throught the grid, behind the false wall and into the pump that returns the water to the top of the driftwood via a hose that was put in place before the foam was sprayed, so after the foam dried all the hoses and "stuff" were hidden by the foam background, when the water reaches the top of the driftwood it trickles out onto the driftwood and starts the whole process over again, Im hopeing that the gravel and plants root system will act as a "natural filter" as I have lessened the waste load by removing the critters (one, Nishiki, actually died, Im almost pos he fell to his death) so I hope this system will work well in the long run =) I will have my kid post a pic as I tried and cant, (comp tart) but she wont be home for a bit so check back from time to time =) and remember, the false wall can be built to fit any pump, and is way better than taking you tank substrate apart to service a failing pump! =)

I forgot to mention, there is also a small drip wall behind the "Lucky Bamboo" forest, the water for it is also supplied by the pump, I just added a "Y" adaptor to the hose, one side feeds the "water falls" the other the drip wall, so I hope to get at least a bit of biological filtration from the drip wall as it takes up half the hight of the tank and a little less than half the width of the tank. (theres already some kind of green moss/algea growing on the drip wall!)

Hi
Very nice pix!! have been meaning to post some pix of my old terrarium but I hate working with the comp.lol
Can't get pix to come out of the paludarium .Very dark and lack detail. i lost my digital camera so have been using the dispoables.
gary