# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  New Summer Project - 50G Build

## ApxWingman

So today, I found an amazing deal that I could not pass up on a 50G tank. With that being said I am starting a new project that I will be working on during the summer. This will be my 3rd tank, and I plan on spending the most time on this one, so this will be a slow build log (I am actively on this site). I will have pictures of the tank posted as soon as I can (I am currently in the middle of another move). The tank is long and narrow with a black painted background. It has a plexi glass cover with a small square opening, that was used to feed fish (previous owner). I currently have 3 Fire bellied toads in another tank that will move into this tank when I am done with it. 

I plan on filling up half the tank with water so that I can house some fish. I am not sure yet what kind of fish, but I have read many forums, and it seems like minnows, tetras, guppies and betta are fish that seem to live just fine with FBTs. So these ones are under consideration at the moment. I also plan on housing some kinda of algae eater to help keep everything clean under the water, although I am not sure what would be best. As I said I will be housing my FBTs with the possibility of adding more.

For plants, I am still looking around for a certain look. I want something colourful, so broms will most likely be in the tank, among different types of ferns and mosses. I will also be adding lucky bamboo and java ferns for the water plants, and some lilies. 

For the land area, I want to make something simple with a water feature. I am currently thinking about making a stream that runs from one side of the tank to the other along the background and drops into a pool. I will have plants mounted to the background using plastic plant pots and GS foam. I have a power head for the water feature that will power the stream/water fall. I also have a canister filter that I will be hiding in the background, with access so that I can change the filters. I will also be getting a kit from Mistking to help with watering. I want to add a fogger, but I heard that the foggers that sit in the water(sorry I don't know the brand name) can actually shock/kill the frogs. Is this true? If so, what can I use/do so that I don't have to worry about it killing my FBTs?

So far that this the plan, although it may change as I go through threads and get inspiration. I am open to any comments, suggestions, and ideas. I will post pictures shortly of the tank.

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## mrzoggs

very nice, i cant wait to see your progress. im not sure about the fogger. i use mine but its inside a waterfall and my frogs dont drink water out of it.

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## ApxWingman

do you have pictures? being behind the waterfall, would that not block the fog from getting out?

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## mrzoggs

i use this

Hagen Exo Terra Natural Waterfall with Pump Size: Medium (10.6" H x 8.2" W x 9" D)

and it has a hole for the fogger to go in.

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## ApxWingman

Yea I have seen those before. I considered using it for that too, but it seemed like it would restrict the amount that got out. I was also considering maybe sticking it in the water, but block the area off so that the FBTs don't get at it.

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## mrzoggs

i bought my fogger before i bought my waterfall. i didnt realize the fogger was supposed to be an addition to the waterfall. when i got home with the fogger i put it in a cup of water. it splashes all the water out in under 5 minutes. no matter what i tried ( blocking it with leaves, getting a deeper cup, etc) the water still seemed to get out. i bought the waterfall because the price kept getting marked down at the pet store i went to so i grabbed it before someone else did. there is a perfect spot in there where the water doesnt splash out but the fog comes out easily. whatever water does splash out goes right to the bottom and gets pumped back into the hole with the fogger. its the best ive ever seen it work.

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## ApxWingman

hmmm....I have one of those as well. I didn't realize that worked so easily. I will play around with it and maybe do that to get it working. Still in the planning stages on how I want it to look. Thanks for the info though!

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## mrzoggs

keep us updated on your progress and let me know if you have any questions  :Smile:  i am far from an interior decorator but i can try my best :P

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## ApxWingman

I will be updating. Like I said this is going to be a slow build. I am in the middle of moving, so it will not be until I am there before I get a good start on the build. I am trying to get all my ideas down now so I have a plan

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## ApxWingman

Wow...it's been since May that I last posted here.....sorry for the really slow update here. We are now moved in, and about 2 weeks away from our wedding so things have been very hectic. Here and there I have managed to get a few things done. I have started building the waterfall and land area. In the pics you will notice I made the land starting higher up on the tank. This will allow me have some fish in here comfortablely. I will be using a regular power head that I have from my current setup to power the waterfall, and will be picking up a fluva filter in the next coming weeks. I have made places for some potted plants as well. Question about the plants, I want to put some worms or some kind of bug to help with the waste in the tank, especially around the plants. What would be good to use here?

I have also used a waterfall setup as some decor as well to make an area where my FBTs can get in and out of the water easily. I am going to start carving this week. Here are pics of my current progress.












I will have more pictures as I progress, and plan on updating more frequently then this.

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## mrzoggs

springtails would be great janitors for your viv! im selling a ton right now  :Wink:

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## Pluke

Ohhhh can't wait to see the final product.

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## ApxWingman

> springtails would be great janitors for your viv! im selling a ton right now


Really? I would be interested in them, but I don't think you can ship those across the border. I might have to find someone around my area that is selling them.

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## mrzoggs

oh **** hehe. your probably right. i would do a google search or something and find some. glad to see your back!

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## ApxWingman

Thanks...I plan on being a little more active on here, especially after the wedding. I will have all the time in the world for this  :Smile: . I am also planning on getting a mistking for this setup, and a fogger. More updates to come!

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## ApxWingman

I got a little bit more done over the last couple days. Carved out a pool that will overlow into a waterfall and a path for the toads to get in and out of the water without struggling to climb over the edges. Also carved up the back ground to make it look a bit more natural. Today I I put the silicone over the GS. For the waterfall I used aquarium pebbles to create a rock mall, and used coco fiber and soil on the background. Once it is cured and dried up, I will be adding soil and plants. I am still looking around to see what I want at Walmart and Home depot. I will be getting a fern that will be planted in the pot closest to the waterfall. Any thoughts? 

Here are some pics of the progress:

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## ApxWingman

So the background is done, I have the tank now off the table and on its stand. So heavy, but managed to get it done. So far I am really happy with the way it turned out. There are a couple spots that I missed when putting the rocks on the background, but will fix that. I have added rocks to the bottom of the tank. I am going to need to go out and get some more as it is a little thin layer on the bottom. I should be getting plants within the week (probably on the weekend), along with a Fluval filter. Once I am done this, I just need to put the pump in the tank for the waterfall and fill up the tank and add my FBTs and fish. Still looking to see what kind of fish I am going to add. I want something colourful. Right now I was thinking guppies, minnows, or tetras. I have heard lots of good luck with the tetras living well with the FBTs. 

I don't have any new pictures at the moment, but will take a couple shots of it tonight or tomorrow to post up here. I am hoping that I will be done this in the next couple weeks, assuming all goes smooth for me.

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## ApxWingman

So I know I promised more pictures, but I must say that after my wedding last Friday we have been busy with getting some new furniture and straightening things out. I will get a picture tomorrow though since I will have the day off. Today I managed to make my way over to petsmart to get some crickets and picked up another bag of aquarium rocks and a fluval u2 filter. I have installed the filter and put the rocks in. I also got some riverside rocks (they were going to be used for center pieces, but we ended up not using them. They look different, so it will add a little different colour to the picture). This week, maybe even tomorrow, I will be going to pick up some plants. I have decided on a fern maybe 2, and something else that is a little more colourful still undecided. I think I will just see what home depot has and pick from there. I only have room for 3 plants, but I will be putting lots of water plants.

Does anyone know where I can get plexiglass cut to a specific size? The lid for my tank right now is 2 different pieces of plexi glass and it still leaves about 1/3 of the top open. I can't have this, as the crickets and my FBTs will definitely escape.

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## Pluke

I'm willing to bet that Lowes or Home Depot would be able to cut some plexiglass for you. It's coming along great man and congratulations on your marriage.  :Smile:

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## ApxWingman

> I'm willing to bet that Lowes or Home Depot would be able to cut some plexiglass for you. It's coming along great man and congratulations on your marriage.


Thanks! When I go to Home Depot to grab some plants I am going to ask them if they can. I hope they can, it will make my life so much easier lol

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## mrzoggs

i would use glass. Lowes will cut glass for you and its fairly cheap. I just got 2 pieces cut 11x11 for $5. plexi glass will sag and warp over time. especially if you put heat over it  :Smile:

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## ApxWingman

So I got a lot more done today that I thought I would. I didn't end up going to Home Depot, right now I am using 2 pieces of plexi glass and a DIY lid with eggcrate and screen. This is only temporary until I get glass done. If it works out well, I may end up leaving it. I did not get any plants either, this is something I will be doing tomorrow as I am really eager to finish this. I ended up going to Petsmart today to grab a thermometer. I ended up getting some water plants (I forget the name of them and they don't say it on the bill. I also got lucky bamboo. I also got 2 snails, and 5 red minor tetras. I filled up the tank today and set the plants in. I am still not sure if I like the arrangement or not, so I may end up changing it. The fish are very active, the snails...not so much. Tomorrow after I get the plants in, I will be moving my FBTs into there new home, and should be all setup. The water temp is sitting around 70C, so I am considering getting a small water heater to stick behind the waterfall to bring the temp up. 

As promised, here are some pics!

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## ApxWingman

I couldn't resist putting them in their new home! lol. When I go to put the plants in tomorrow, I will just make sure they are out of the way, or I will just take them out for the few minutes I'll need to put the plants in. Here's a pic of my FBTs in their new home! They seem to be enjoying it, although the small brown one, is trying hard to get out of the tank, but the other too, are just hanging out in the water and ignoring the tetra. I wonder if they will eat the tetra or not... I guess we will have to see. They were just feed today, so they may not be hungry.

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## ApxWingman

SO I finally got all the plants in, just going to add moss soon so that can start growing over the dirt. I also added 3 guppies. I have read that the FBTs will eat guppies. It has been 2 days and my guppies are still alive. Any thoughts? If they don't eat them then I am just going to leave them in it. I got 2 female fancy guppies and 1 male fancy guppy. Here are more pics!

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## kmichael55

Looks awesome!  I like your plant selection. How long did it take to fill in the background with the tiny gravel?? 

Any fish I put with my frogs (my ACFs) I just assume will turn up missing, sometimes a guppy or minnow will survive in the tank for months.  My mom's bullfrog in her outdoor pond eats sparrows and has even caught a robin (which was too large to eat) Frog's eyes are usually considerably larger than their stomachs!

I didn't realize you could use great stuff under water...opens up possibilities I hadn't thought of! 

For one of my next two tanks (either for a False Tomato frog or a vertical tank for a Grays tree frog) I really want to incorporate a small waterfall, nothing huge just a trickle down the background to the pool at the bottom.  I was going to silicone a piece of glass into the bottom to separate land and water.  For now, I am just going to foam a length of plastic tubing into my Great Stuff background and figure out the mechanics later.  How much water would I need to use a powerhead/ do you have any ideas that could I make that work? (I have several powerheads but have only used them in 100% wet tanks; They pretty much need to be submerged right??)

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## ApxWingman

> Looks awesome!  I like your plant selection. How long did it take to fill in the background with the tiny gravel??


Thanks. It did not take me that long. All I did was place the tank on the backside so the background was flat. I used GE silicone II and rubber gloves and spread the silicone all over the background. I then took handful after handful of aquarium gravel and placed it on the silicone and then pushed it down so it would stay on there. When I lifted the tank back up, all the excess gravel just went to the bottom of the tank. It made it easier for clean up as I used the same aquarium gravel for the substrate in the water.




> How much water would I need to use a powerhead/ do you have any ideas that could I make that work? (I have several powerheads but have only used them in 100% wet tanks; They pretty much need to be submerged right??)



It depends on the powerhead. I am using a small repto powerhead, and only needs a couple inches of water to work. The bigger you have the deeper the water needs to be. They should say on the package if it needs to be fully submersed or if it only needs to be partially under. All that I did was make the waterfall wall using Eggcrate and covered it with GS foam. Before I covered the eggcrate with GS, I made the hole for where the waterfall mouth would be and just cut a small piece of the tubing I had planned on using. This allowed me to cover the eggcrate with GS. Once it was cured, I just cut out the mouth of the waterfall where the tube was. Once I was done with the background and was ready to put in my powerhead, I took out the tube and ran the new tube from the powerhead to the waterfall. I found it is a quick, easy and nice looking way to make the waterfall.

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## ApxWingman

> i would use glass. Lowes will cut glass for you and its fairly cheap. I just got 2 pieces cut 11x11 for $5. plexi glass will sag and warp over time. especially if you put heat over it


lol funny thing about that, I ended up using the plexiglass as a cover. Turned out to work really well. I have something hanging the light overhead just far enough away that it did not heat up the plexiglass too much. Well one morning I woke up and it had fallen. My lights are on timers, so I had it set to turn on at 8am, and for atleast 2 hours it was sitting on the glass and melted a bubble into the plexiglass and joined 2 smaller pieces into 1 large piece. Thankfully no harm came to the plants or frogs, and no dripping of the plexiglass either. Since then, I have re-enforced the light so it will not fall again. I will eventually get a glass piece tho.

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## mrzoggs

Im scared thats gonna happen with my glass lol. Even though im using glass its pretty thin. I am probably not going to sit my glass on top. I like it clamped above anyways. I finally finished mine and put frogs in it and its doing good so far. glad to see yours is doing good too.

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## ApxWingman

nice! I came home yesterday from the CNE to find out that all my fish had disappeared. My frogs were not eating them for a few days, and now they are no where to be found. I thought they may be dead so I was checking everywhere to see if they were there. No luck, only conclusion I can come up with is that the frogs ate them.

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## ApxWingman

so Tomorrow I am finally going to get around putting the moss in the tank. It has been sitting next to the tank for almost 2 weeks now and is starting to grow over the edge of the pot lol. I will post pics as soon as I get it done.

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