56 gal aquarium to terrestrial terrarium conversion

fallenangelfyre · #1 (**permalink**) 03-01-2010, 05:14 PM

hey guys. so i scored this old 56 gallon aquarium with a cracked bottom from my neighbor. after a little brainstorming, i think i'm going to convert it into an 18" H x 36" W x 20" D front-opening terrarium for my leo. that's 3/8" glass! some pics:

only the bottom is scratched up like that. obviously i'm going to clean it up- get rid of the old algae/dirt, razor blade off the old silicone, etc. i already removed the top flange. i'm going to remove the bottom flange and cracked piece and replace it with 3/16" glass with three or four 3" holes drilled for air-flow. i'm going to get 1/8" glass doors that overlap, and put in plastic "E" channel so they slide. i was thinking i might rip off the lip on the top flange that the glass top is supposed to sit in with my table saw. sand and paint them black and silicone them back in for a more finished look. then do up a styrofoam/grout faux rock wall on the back and sides. what do you think? any ideas/critizisms are welcome. one thing though- would this be too large for only one male leo?

one more question: i want to use black silicone to hide the messy innards of the faux rock wall like they do with GS foam and coco-fiber, but i'm not sure if hot-glued styrofoam would stick to silicone. any insight?

froggsong · #2 (**permalink**) 03-01-2010, 11:11 PM

Pretty much anything will stick to silicone, lol...

IMO, a cage can never really be too big for an animal. If you are worried he might not always find his food, you can hand feed. IME, animals get bored when they can't hunt down their food. That's pretty much what reptiles do in the wild, they hunt, bask, sleep, and hide. Besides, you can always add a female or two if you want to later. I think your idea sounds great. The only thing I have a question about is the furniture pads. The only thing I can think of when you say that is the cloth they wrap your furniture in to move... I personally use small square tiles. They come connected together in a 12"x12" square, and I cut them apart and use them in the corners to elevate the tank for the heater. I find that they work much better than anything else I've tried. They are more stable because they offer a larger area, and they don't stick to the bottom, so it's easy to move the tank if you need to.

fallenangelfyre · #3 (**permalink**) 03-02-2010, 12:10 AM

frogsong, thanks. that's what i was worried about with it being too big for him- that he couldn't hunt down his food. ah well. the furniture pads that i'm talking about are actually just little 1" x 1" x 1/4" pieces of rubber or felt that you put on say the legs of chairs to keep them from scratching hardwood floors or something. (like so: Amazon.com: Pergo 81040 Felt Floor Protectors, 7/8-Inch Diameter, 8-Pack)

froggsong · #4 (**permalink**) 03-02-2010, 01:32 AM

ok, I gotcha. The felt ones should work better than the silicone or rubber ones. I don't think they'll elevate the tank enough for the UTH though. I recommend getting some of the tiles, then sticking the felt to the bottom of the tiles (or put the tiles under the felt).There should be enough air flow because there isn't tank frame all the way around, but I don't think there will be room under the tank for the place where the heater connects to the cord.

little98dime · #5 (**permalink**) 03-02-2010, 08:42 AM

I'll be watching this one. I plan on doing this with a 55g that I am getting soon. One question, have you already located the E channel? If so, where did you get it?

fallenangelfyre · #6 (**permalink**) 03-02-2010, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by little98dime

I'll be watching this one. I plan on doing this with a 55g that I am getting soon. One question, have you already located the E channel? If so, where did you get it?

i have not yet located the "E" channel locally. however this thread: (DIY construction of European style viv) is not only immensely helpful in doing these glass constructions, but many people link sites to get the "E" channel from in the states. you'll have to just go through the thread to find where they posted the links-

fallenangelfyre · #7 (**permalink**) 03-03-2010, 04:12 PM

ok, so haven't made alot of progress just yet. i have removed the bottom trim along with the cracked glass, and razor-bladed off the excess silicone. haven't gotten pictures yet. about to place my glass and E channel orders.
i have been doing some more brainstorming though. particularly on lighting and substrate.
up to now my leo has been kept in a 10 gal with a styrofoam/sanded-grout faux rock wall BG on brown repti-carpet. we went with repti-carpet because we wanted something more aesthetically pleasing while reducing the risk of impaction. i have noticed that he prefers to lounge on the flat parts of the sanded grout BG rather than the repti-carpet. i was thinking for this large terrarium i might get a piece of cement board underlayment that they use for installing tile (1/4" Gypsum cement board), cut it to fit the floor area, and apply sanded grout to this. when cured, would be quite strong, solid so there's no chance of impaction, should transfer the heat from the uth quite well, and would look much more natural with a little artistic imagination with the grout. it would be quite easy to wipe clean, or remove for more thorough cleanings. i was thinking set it in a very shallow bed of sand on the glass bottom of the terrarium to level it out and help with the absorption of the uth heat.
i would like to plant 5-10 small succulents in the BG like so:

i have never grown plants indoors under artificial light. would two CFL bulbs be sufficient to keep these healthy? some ppl say yes, but they must have the propper light spectrum and be the correct intensity- which is what? would this be printed on the CFL packaging? what is the propper light cycle time-wise? 14hrs on/10hrs off? would i be able to use red LED's for night viewing without disturbing the plants light cycles? i was also thinking about possibly using a combination of some yellow and orange LED's with the CFL bulbs to give a more warm, sun-like light during the day rather than just the harsh flourescent light. would this disturb the plants?
also- thought about these succulents possibly bringing the humidity levels too high for leos, so a hygrometer and an intake and exhaust fan may be necessary.
what do you guys think?

beckdg · #8 (**permalink**) 03-03-2010, 10:11 PM

ge daylight cfl's should be fine... 100 watt equivalents (~23-27 watts).
12 on, 12 off should do fine.
orange, yellow and red could all disturb the plants. dim would be better... green and dim, even better... none would be best for the plants but if you can make it work why not.
scratch the orange and yellow comment... duh.
open top should keep humidity down. if you do add a fan be careful not to disturb your temps too much.

fallenangelfyre · #9 (**permalink**) 03-04-2010, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beckdg

ge daylight cfl's should be fine... 100 watt equivalents (~23-27 watts).
12 on, 12 off should do fine.
orange, yellow and red could all disturb the plants. dim would be better... green and dim, even better... none would be best for the plants but if you can make it work why not.
scratch the orange and yellow comment... duh.
open top should keep humidity down. if you do add a fan be careful not to disturb your temps too much.

beckdg, unless i scrap my existing plan (which is highly unlikely [see above sketch]) there will be no way to have an open top. there will be four roughly 3" holes for air circulation quite high up on the back piece of glass.
i wanted to know about the red lights disturbing the light cycles of the plants because red light wavelengths do not disturb the leo's at night, and lets you view them during their most active period of the day. i'm not quite sure i understand you by "dim". do you just mean dimmed regular light? do green light wavelengths disturb the leo's at night? i'm much more concerned with their health than the plants. if i can't make the succulents work then meh- i'll just go with some dried, sterilized desert grass and fake cacti. i don't want to lose the ability to view him at night no matter what.
thanks on the info about the cfl's. haven't been able to find that anywhere.
what do people think about adding yellow and orange LED's or incandescents to attempt a more "warm" light rather than solely harsh flourescent light?

Epiphile · #10 (**permalink**) 03-04-2010, 07:19 AM

Red light in a particular range does cause plants to photosynthesize. The less light they receive at night the better, I'd think. I would guess that a dim red light wouldn't be too bad for the plants, but I couldn't say for sure.

I think a warm light can be achieved with fluorescent lights- using a lower colour temperature will give you a more yellow (headed towards red the lower you go), less "harsh" light.