Quote Originally Posted by Clay View Post
just looked up some of the PVC tanks.. seen them at the Reptile Expo, wish i had more money to grab them, they were cheap compared to these online prices..
looked at some bio tank set ups too.. maybe later on i'll have more time to set something like that up.. always wanted like pool or stream to water set up for as long as i could remember too but you really need the know how to do all this stuff.. i have 2 younger kids so i don't really get a lot of time to sit and figure stuff out without interruptions yet
You can generally find them used for quite a discount depending on what you are looking for. For off the shelf I use Vision Cages, they aren't the prettiest, but they are one piece and light weight. I made some mods to the them to allow for a deeper substrate, which is what led to me build my own enclosures, it isn't any cheaper but it lets me build them exactely how I want them. I assume some of the bio-tanks you saw were for frogs etc since you mentioned pools and streams. Do yourself a favor and really research like Skip and I have both said where Anteresia Childerni come from and what their natural habitat looks like. You will realize that generally when one refers to a "bio-tank" they are just referring to the fact that the soil is "alive" meaning it has springtails, isopods, and other cleaner bugs that help sustain the environment and clean up waste. It can also refer to living plants etc. While the planning takes a while once you have a direction to go the keep up really is minimal, and again I myself find it rewarding. I enjoy watch the animal in its environment just as much as I enjoy hands on with it. You can build it in stages as well. Again mine is no where near complete for any of the reptiles I keep because it is a constant evolution of "how can I make this better".

I don't know how old your kids are, but I have a 6 year old son, and he has really enjoyed helping me out, it use to be all about "I want to hold them", now he tries to do his own research and come up with ideas on how to improve the environment. Its is a fun bonding/learning experience. All that being said you have to want to do it and enjoy it or like anything else it will become a chore. You don't have to do anything right now other than research as much as you can. Skip pointed you in the direction of some great starting points.

As far as the temps in your tank. You may have added too many holes, since heat rises and your holes are at the top of the bin you are losing a bit of heat. Where are you taking the reading for your ambient temps vs the reading for your surface temp? You really should have a probe for each spot or an IR temp gun to measure the hot spot. That being said I try not to give too much advice on different Temps because what works for me may not work for someone else, but I will say this (**I am not telling you what temps to use, again do some searching**) But the ambients in MY tank are mid 70s and the hot spot fluctuates between 98-101, so a low 90s hot spot IN MY OPTION is a little too low.