The description sounds great. We got it set up and running without much effort. However, there are some features we really don't like about it. One the filtration is so-so. Water can run UNDER that filter unit instead of through the filter cartridges. The water flow through the filter cartridges is VERY SLOW. It took much longer than I think it should have to get the water clear after adding our cleaned gravel.
What I consider a serious design flaw is my biggest gripe. We have fire belly toads in our setup. They can crawl through the space where the river bed exits the waterfall tower. And, since our tower has a manufacturing defect, there's a hole in the inside wall of the unit. One of our toads, of course, worked his way in to this hole (which is underwater, by the way) and couldn't get back out. We had to dismantle the ENTIRE thing to empty the water out of the base, pull it up, and retrieve the toad. What this meant was that we had to remove the other toads, scoop out all the waterbed gravel AND the course gravel from the land side which meant destroying our carefully built live-moss landscape. Then, as a two person-and-many-swear-word-job, everything had to be carefully put back into place (difficult because you can't let any gravel get under either piece or they don't work right), try and rebuild our mossy ground cover and re-plant our live plants, and then add back the toads plus more water.
Our fix to prevent this happening again was to place 4 cottonballs at the corners inside the tower unit to prevent toads from working their way into the tower again. So far so good, but I can't imagine what you'd do if you had a small amphibian!
Finally, even though the filtration base makes a really tight fit against the sides of the terrarium, all sorts of debris gets sucked up against the rubber seals I assume this means some water is also flowing beside the filter box instead of through it. Regardless, it's unsightly because there's this vertical line of debris right in the middle of the front of the terrarium glass that I can't reach to clean.
Also, there's no way to easily clean the gravel bed in the land area. I am interested to see if this proves to be a problem or not. The water portion is easy to clean you just siphon it like you would in an aquarium.
I wanter to see my daugter's pet turtle on land for once and thought this waterfall/stream setup might entice him to come out of the pool. Setup was easy and unit has worked flawlessly for several months now.
I put his basking light right over one of the flat "rocks" that covers a filter. The turtle now comes out and basks laying on his rock something I had never seen him doing. Unexpectedly he also "plays" in the stream I think he is searching for food but its quite amusing to see him moving shells around with his head. If threatened by a noise or movement he uses the stream as a water slide to jet himself back down into his pool.
The water quality has been good I change out some every week but it has stayed clear and clean looking. The waterfall and stream have increased evaporation of water so I am adding more water then I used to.
Overall this new setup for our tutle has worked out very well. If a turtle can be said to look happy, then our turtle is happy. His behaviors seem much more natural and he acts more curious now.
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I bought this as an upgrade for the one that was in my tank. It is certainly an amazing upgrade!!! However, there absolutely no possible way that this is intended for use by frogs! I had to put a lot of time and money "frog proofing" this product before I even dare to put it in the tank. With a lot of hot glue and nylon screen, I finally was able to put it in the tank. It works wonders! I definitely suggest this product to people with pets over about 4 inches in diameter, or a turtle (I don't think the hard shell could squeeze through the 1.5 inch gaps)
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The best purchase I've made for my Chinese Water dragon. He loves it and takes his baths then comes back to dry land. Best investment I have made.
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Our next door neighbor recently moved out and somehow left his turtle behind. We found him (a Red Eared Slider)walking around in our back yard in late November.
Our 12 year old son was so excited and curious about this turtle that we had to adopt him. We named him "Toodie" and I must admit I fell in love with him too. Having had turtles and fish and all kinds of pets in the past but none now, I wanted to give him a good home and also teach my son how to properly care for and the importance of the "how to and whys" of making the proper habitat for reptiles. So, we started out with just a five gallon tank, filter, hood kit to see how "Toodie" would do and how our son would like caring for him. "Toodie" liked the 5 gallon aquarium but soon it was obvious that the tank was too small. So after a couple of hours of research on-line, we moved up to a 20 gallon "turtle-quarium" kit that included the proper lighting, basking area, filter, etc.
Then about a week later I asked a sales specialist at our local Petco store what I could do in order to make the turtle's tank as realistic as possible, making it part aqua and part land environment and he suggested the Tetra-Fauna Viquarium.
So I bought the Tetra-Fauna Viquarium as a family gift for Christmas. It is very well made and well designed. Fortunately, it is NOT made out of cheap plastic...it is made of a heavy clay type material which adds great realism to the unit. The way the clay is molded looks totally realistic, just as you may see a small river waterfall with rocks in a real jungle/tropical area. It fit perfectly in the corner of our 20 gallon tank and because the instructions are simple and well written, I had it set up and running within about 20 minutes. I have had this set up and running in our tank now for about 10 days and the built-in, hidden filtration system is quiet, effective and runs extremely well. The waterfall flow and realism is totally awesome and adds tremendous aesthetic realism, beauty and quality to the turtle's environmental safety and naturalism. Most importantly, "Toodie" just loves it! He climbs up on the top of the waterfall and slides down in to the water below and sometimes basks on top of either one of the two "towers" formed by the clay molding.
I think it was originally priced at over $100.00 but it is a great deal at a lower price here on Amazon.com. For the money, this is a totally worthwhile investment in your turtle's habitat and we have had numerous compliments on the tank by friends and family over the holidays!
The Viquarium unit also give you some design flexibility to your tank; it comes with a nice artificial plant fixtures that looks totally real and also a waterfall "extension" to lengthen the waterfall slide if you wish. The unit is also easy to clean and easy to change the filters. The unit uses two filters that are inexpensive to buy and replace through Amazon.com or your local pet store.
If you really want to care properly for your turtles or other reptiles/amphibians and have a delightfully beautiful addition to your home, get this totally unique and functional asset for your aquarium/terrarium habitat and you will not be disappointed.
PWN
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Perfecta light is okay. Not like the way they used to make them 15 years ago. This time around a the light is slightly smaller than before and you may not fit 2 at a time on a 55 gallon tank. It is a cheaper composite of plastic also, because the density isn't there. Otherwise a good standard light. I've always know perfecta lights to be high quality. Today, I realize I may change my opinion.
