# Filter a Vivarium



## mheltcameron (Aug 1, 2012)

So I am in the process of building a vivarium for Dart Frogs, which will also have a larger water feature which I will house a small school of small tetras, not sure which ones yet. I am trying to come up with an effective way to filter the pond. I am thinking there will end up being about 8g total, I have a come up with an idea that is similar to a the Sump rack setup I use in my saltwater biocube. Thought I would run it by everyone and see if there were any concerns or improvements. I will setup small pump to carry the water up to filter enclosure, which will be acrylic, it will run down to the right, first through Blue Bonded Filter, then through a bag of carbon, the lowering will be filled with bio balls, after the bio balls the water will exit into a stream of sorts leading to a waterfall back to the pond. I know the setup will have a good bit of sound but having a water fall in the enclosure that is not a concern. Thanks for your thoughts.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Not sure from your pictures how things would work but seems to me if you are good and can work with the acrylics to build your own sump there are a few things I would want. I would want the sump to be "external" of the tank so for your design could you use the small pump, pump the water up to a tube that goes over the back of the tank into the sump, run the water through the sump, and return to the tank through a return of some kind which flows into your waterfall (maybe just a modification to an external wet/dry box would do it). Just a thought. Also, I would lose the carbon from the sump. I don't think it's necessary (although I'm not a sump person). Maybe sponge instead.

Would love to see pictures of this setup when you are done. Great ideas.


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## mheltcameron (Aug 1, 2012)

Here are a couple Models of what I'm thinking to help understand a bit better, water will flow from left to right.


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## mheltcameron (Aug 1, 2012)

The entire back of the enclosure with be a false background with ledges, caves, and plants, so the filtration would be visible, except for from above. In the photo you can see the approximate location of the eggcrate cage that will hold the acrylic in place. I don't think I will be moving a tremendous amount of water through it so I think it should do it's job, I am trying to keep everything as AIO as possible, should only be about 8g in the entire setup.


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## mheltcameron (Aug 1, 2012)

Anybody?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I think we were just waiting for an update. Did you have a specific question? I don't know many members on the forum doing a vivarium.


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## mheltcameron (Aug 1, 2012)

I was mainly looking for opinions/advise on the filter design, not the viv as a whole, prior to welding up the acrylic. If people are interested in the viv itself I have linked the build thread I am trying to keep updated. I figured the fish folks would have better insight into filtration than the frog folks. Thanks all

http://www.dartfrogz.com/f12/mhc-exo-build-4424/


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I can't view any additional photos on the dartfrogz site without registering but I understand what you are trying to accomplish.

Your bioballs will be mostly submerged in your drawing so while they will harbor BB, you won't get the higher level of oxygenation you would if the bioballs were suspended above the water and the water was able to trickle over them. I think you may be more satisfied if you were to use various sponge/foam inserts between the inflow pipe and the outflow pipe. You could cut the foam so they are inserted vertically, in stages. Using different pore sizes will act as finer media before the water exits back to the 'pool' area. You could always place the bag of carbon right over the outflow pipe, maybe on a raised piece of egg crate to clarify the final water output.

You don't mention the dimensions of the vivarium filter, what are they?


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## mheltcameron (Aug 1, 2012)

The dimension aren't set in stone, but the over all length will be pretty close to 12" and the width will be about 3'', the inflow side of BB would be 4" tall, the outflow side would be 3", the BB area would be another 4" deep. Volumn wise should be about the same as an Aquaclear 30. The use of the BB is simply because I have bag of them that I didn't use in my reef tank, the thought process was that is I made the inflow side of the "ball pit" taller than the outflow side, the main flow of water would be impeded a bit creating circulation in the "pit". That being said if you think it linear series of finer sponges I could do that. As far as oxygenation, I don't think that should be an issue. Once leaving the filter the water will traverse a wood and stone stream to small waterfall into the pond. That should do a good job oxygenating, right? I will be using a Hydor centrifugal pump, the small 70gph one, should get the job done. I tested it last night and it moved the water at a pretty good rate.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I'd say try and set it up the way you had originally planned with the bio-balls since you already have them. You can always change it up using the sponges if you decide you don't like the way it works.


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## duds (Apr 16, 2010)

It looks like most of the water will pass over the bio-balls. If you add in a partial wall in the middle of the bio ball chamber that reaches from the top of the filter to about 2 inches or so from the bottom you can force the water down and have it run through the majority of your bio balls (or whatever filter media you choose to use).


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