I think youll be OK, I mist due to the fact that I have anoles that will only drink water that builds up on the leaves, like morning dew, so I have to mist every morning, the water level went up over the layer of gravel and made the soil soggy and fouled it, but that was my fault, I should have been keeping an eye on it, or installed a false bottom with a water feature, if your method works so far Id let it be, remember,"Dont fix it if it aint broke"

Hi
In my humble opinion a false bottom is the only way to go.
Solves so many problems and at least doubles what you can grow, A direct drain would be nice or even better a sump
system but you can always siphon the water out with a FB.
With the 150 you'll have lots of room for features so do a lot of planning. You'll probably want to have streams or waterfalls and false bottoms make them fool proof.
The most important aspect is light ,water and airmovement. If these are of the right amount at the right time you can grow anything.
gary

I have to agree with gary. I had an 85 gal. terr set up, and at first I didn't have any drainage. This just did not allow me to have the waterfeature I wanted, so I took everything out and started over, this time putting in a false bottom. That was problem free! And boy, did that soil STINK when I took it out! I had even originally put charcoal in. So I also switched to bark chips for the substrate. Plants love it, and no stink! You may not have to tear up your two smaller terrs that you have now, but for a 150 gal, you definitely don't want to have to be re-doing that one, so I'd for sure put in a false bottom. Make sure you also plan for a way to easily access any pumps you put in the false bottom (or heaters). I did allow for this in my 85 gal the second time around, but I still didn't make it easy enough. I had to pull all kinds of substrate away, so it was still a pain in the butt. Just make a trap door of some kind right over the pump/heater and cover it with a decorative piece of wood or rock that can easily be removed. And if you don't want to drill your take to make draining the water for water changes easy, then make sure you also have an easy way of siphoning the water out. I'm taking all of this very seriously for the tank I'm currently setting up, and it's only a 30 gallon!

This is all very good Info, I used a different method for pump access, I built a false wall in the rear left hand corner, I just caddy cornered a piece of pvc egg crate up against that corner so that when you look straight down at it from the top the rear sheet of glass, the right side sheet of glass, and the pvc makes up a triangle, make sure that the space is big enough for your pump, in that space you can slide the pump in and out as it needs servicing, just make sure you leave the hose from the pump long enough to pull it out, when I tuck mine back in the space the hose looks like a backwards "S" shape, the bottom of the "S" leads to the pump, and the top of the "S" leads to the water feature, it works very well as I dont have to bother the tank or the critters to access the pump =)

I would say that if you are using a glass aquarium, it's not worth putting in a drainage hole. Like they said above, a false bottom works fine.

Out of all my vivariums, 1 has a drain. Its a 300 gal enclosure, so basically it was a no brainer to use a drain. Another thing is that the enclosure is made from plywood, which means that it was very easy for me to drill a drainage hole (which leads to a sump).

So, to sum it up, I would say that a drainage hole/sump system is superior to the "false bottom" technique, but fale bottoms are great too and I've used them with great success.

By the way congrats on your new dart frogs! Leucs are very beautiful and they do well in groups. They like to climb on plants and hop around the tank. How are the tomatoe frogs doing?

The tomato frogs are doing great. They are getting so big and fat! During the day of course, they are mostly asleep. If I stay up late playing around on the computer I get to see them hopping around like crazy all over the cage. They are fun to feed because they swallow big crickets like its nothing. The luecs are only about a month old, they are so tiny! I have them right here by my desk and I get to watch them all day long. I have them all four in a ten gallon right now, will be moving them in a couple of months as they get a little bigger. I guess you could call this tank their quarantine tank. I haven't decided if they will go in the 150 or in a 20 gallon and I might get something else for the 150 gallon tank.

I will have a waterfall in the big tank and have already planned on a false bottom under the water portion. The land portion will not have a false bottom. My main concern with not having anything like that in the two smaller tanks that I have now is toxins building up that could kill the frogs and plants. I don't have to mist or water hardly ever, so it is not washing anything away. I don't want to wake up one morning a few months from now and find my frogs dead from their own toxins! Can anyone tell me if they have had a set up like mine with no false bottom, and did you have any trouble with the animals inside getting sick?

If you put the dart frogs in the 150 gallon tank, don't make the water area to deep. One or two inches are okay for green tree frogs but can drown a dart frog. Dart frogs can not swim. At least put a few fake branches in the water so that they can climb out of the water area.

Back2eight: In my experience it's much easier to just false bottom the entire tank. That way you don't have to worry about the water leaking into the land portion of the tank. Also that way you've got good drainage throughout.

The tank already has a divider in it that is maybe four inches tall. It was used in a pet store with water frogs on one side and terrestrial animals on the other. I don't think the water will be able to get to the other side with that divider in it. I will make the water very shallow, and will pt branches and things for the frogs to be able to climb out. I am worried about it being moving water, will that hurt the darts? I have some luekomelas in a ten gallon right now with the land sloping down to water. I have no false bottom or drainage in this tank. The water sits about a half an inch in the gravel, not touching the moss that is the top layer. I beleive I have it posted in the gallery. Thanks all for the responses.

Needless to say, darts aren't swimmers, and they could wash away and drown if the current is strong enough. But, that doesn't mean you can have a pool of water or a gentle stream in their cage.