15 Gallon ExoTerra Journal (Pics)

[angry-monkey]

Hey folks, i decided to bring this over from the tree frog section (thanks for all the help there guys), im gonna just pop pics up as i go and anyone with any advice feel free to shout ok!!

So the basics background, im building a naturalistic viv for some tree frogs (i asked Ben in Reptile Haven (Dublin) to look for Milk or Grey tree frogs, sound guy!). The tank is an Exo Terra 12''x12''x18''. Im building in a pond with water feature and because of that it has a false bottom.

Anyway folks, i'll pop a few posts up on the steps i've been through already and we'll work from there. Hope you enjoy it, i am!!!

[angry-monkey]

So the first step was to put the false bottom together, I couldn’t find ‘egg crate’ here so I bought some plastic air vents and broke them apart and got something that I think will do the job! I bought an aquarium pump and a bit of wood I thought had character for my water feature. When I decided where to put it all I used a hacksaw to chop up the plastic and hot glued it together (hop that holds!).

Once that was all set I popped in some pea gravel and weed barrier where the planting section will be. Then i popped some into the water area too, I like it, I think its got character, I hope it looks well once the moss has grown in. Fingers crossed!!

Tonight im just after putting some expanding foam over the lid of the pump box and I put the wood for the water feature on top, so hopefully when I lift the wood, the lid will come up too so I can change the pump filter easily, that’s the plan anyway!! I left some pipe in the foam that I can pass the pump hose through later.

So thats up to date, i'd love feedback or advice guys!! Cheers for reading!

P.S How do i set this up to show the pics on the post?

[countryboy]

were can you buy plastic air vents?

[captaincarot]

Originally Posted by countryboy

were can you buy plastic air vents?

ebay they're very cheep.
search on vivarium.

[Pandion59]

angry-monkey... looks great so far! Please keep updating with pictures. I plan to begin a very similar project in the next few days.

[angry-monkey]

Hey folks! Thanks for the replies!

countryboy, i bought the vents in Woodies DIY (Ireland) but im guessing you can pick them up in any DIY store, the biggest i could find was 9" square so it takes a bit of hot gluing, they have wide flat edges so its easy to get a good join. Hope that helps. They cost around 6.50 euros but everything is expensive here so i'd say they're less in other countries!

Pandion59, thanks for the reply, i'll keep'em coming, lookin forward to seeing your viv!!

I put silicon (Non fungicidal / black) and coco fibre coat onto the background and water feature tonight so as soon as its dry I’ll be laughing! I love the way it looks now but hopefully it will look well when its dried in about a WEEK because its so thick!! I hot glued and then siliconed over the water pipe so its'll look like the water runs from under the cocofibre. The pics are below so tell me what ya think.

Thanks again folks, keep the feedback coming!

[angry-monkey]

Hey folks! So the background and water feature are dry (i hope!) and I’ve popped them into the tank. I bought a hood for the tank and i popped a 60w sun-glo and 13w repti-glo for the plants (moon-glo comes later!). The exo terra hood says max 26w, but its the best place for the sun-glo, i hope it doesn’t explode!! I've wired up a US style screw-in light fitting (managed to finally find one!) with an Irish plug, im going to drill the hood and use that fitting for the 60w sun-glo and, fingers crossed, no explosions!!

Im getting 28c-29c (83-85f) at the top and 24-25c (75-77f) at the bottom of the viv right now, and its been sitting for a while. Bit high, what do you think folks? Pics below, any suggestions/feedback just shout!

[Pavel]

Looks good, AM. I like the way the background came out. How did you you get the ripples in it? Just multiple layers or is there a foamcore that you shaped first?

Easiest way, IMO, to post multiple pics is to upload your pics into an online photoalbum like photobucket (it's free) and then paste the image codes (photobucket creates those for you) into your post.

How odd, I'm now seeing thumbnail pics whereas earlier [just 10 minutes or so] I was not.

[angry-monkey]

Hey Pavel, thanks! I used the standard exoterra foam background coated in silicon/cocofibre so the ripples were already there! Wish i could take the credit!

PS Any idea why the exoterra hood is reduced to 29w bulbs when its clearly not enough to heat the 12x12x18 its designed to fit??

[Sharkdude]

Looks good.
Tagging along to watch the development.

I too will be soon setting up the same size exoterra.
Do you think the background takes up too much space?
I'm thinking of going without it.