The first vivarium that will be placed on the right will be a vertical design. This will be a smaller, yet more complicated build process and will hopefully show how with more time and commitment, a few dollars can be saved. Once this method is perfected, it can be done to almost any size terrarium. The only real setback to this process is you have to have special tools to cut acrylic accurately. A table saw is best. Below is a build log that shows a time line for this part of the project.
This is an image of the overall project. You can find the build log for the left side (26 gallon bow front) vivarium here:
26 Gallon Bow Front: Detailed Log
Initial Silicone of base. This is a very important step due to the fact that if your silicone job is not done tightly, water will leak and defeat the purpose. There is no way to know if it will leak until the vivarium is being set up so its better to use too much silicone and be safe. I not only use it on the seam but on the inside, and on the outside of the silicone to guarantee a watertight seal.
The screen top is cut specifically to fit the top piece of the aquarium. This is made from screen, screen framing, and corner pieces that you can buy as a kit at Home Depot. Choose the size of the screen based on the type of vivarium you are gearing for. A smaller screen will produce higher humidity and less airflow. A larger screen will produce more airflow and a dryer habitat. Once completed, just silicone in place.
The door is the last piece made for the vertical vivarium because the base and the screen are variable in size so the door must be made last to insure a proper fit. The most important part is the living hinge purchased from
Aquarium Hoods & Canopies: All-Glass Versa-Top Replacement Pieces. They also sell the handles used in the far left picture. I placed a door spacer where the screen lock meets the door to make sure the door is tight fitting to the tank. I don’t want any frog escaping.
This is the original design with rocks silicone to the back wall. For the 10 gallon I wanted to design it using rocks as my other vivarium for this project will be made with wood. There is no proper way to do this. Just lay the rocks down in the way you would like them and once everything fits, start taking them out one by one and siliconing them back into place. Let sit for several days before you continue. Rocks with moss growing on them can create a very beautiful scene duh to the contrast between the darkness of the rocks and the green of the moss.
This next part set me back several weeks. My initial design was going to use a 1/8” carbon fiber drill bit and a small plastic tubing cap as the drain. The more I read about it the more I realized that I needed at least a ½” hole. I attempted making the whole bigger with the ½” black and decker carbon fiber bit. The drainage hole went ok (although it cracked slightly). It just so happens that rio pumps come with a nozzle piece that fits just right in a ½” hole. After I had this whole made, I went to drill the hole on top for the misting system that is later on in the build. During the drilling, the bit caught, and the glass cracked. The tank was ruined. I had to take everything out and start over. Every problem is an opportunity in disguise and this turned out to be good because it motivated me to buy a real, diamond coated drilling bit off the internet.
Drilling Glass Block was the website I used for a ½” drill bit.
After my FAIL, I bought a new 10 gallon aquarium repeated all the steps up to this point. I decided to lay the rocks out in a different pattern and I silicone a rock to the right side of the vivarium to give a little bit of a floating island look. This is after Avatar came out.
With the new design and the glass drilled properly with the ½” bit, it was ready to have a blacked out corner. Instead of using spray paint, and taping off the tank, and letting it dry, I prefer to use black post paper from staples or office depot. I simply measure and cut to produce a nice blacked out background and right side. Having this will help the animals with stress by not having the whole world passing by their view at all times. Notice the back is only blacked out a couple inches from the bottom due to the drainage hole.
This is slightly misleading because I drilled these holes before the previous entry about using post to black out the corners. So technically blacking the corners out took place between pictures #2 and #3 above. But as you can see, I successfully drilled a ½” hole in the top (for the misting nozzle) and the bottom corner (for the drain nozzle) of the tank. Almost done.
Now that the terrarium construction is complete, the next step is getting the terrarium up and running. The first layer of interior is the 2 inches of hydroton as a false bottom. This product was purchased at a local hydroponics store and can be found in garden stores. The purpose of a false bottom is to provide space for the water to sit below the dirt as to keep it humid but not soggy. Hydroton is not the only product that can be used for this, Rocks work just was well. The nice thing about hydroton is that they are expanded clay balls so they are quite light in weight and are inert so they will not change the pH of the water. The third photo shows the level of hydroton in relation to the drainage hole. Add an extra ½” to 1” of hydroton above the drainage hole to make sure the water does not get close to the dirt layer.
On top of the false bottom should be covered in with a nice layer of screen. This screen is uncoated and nontoxic. I cut two pieces just to help keep dirt from falling into the hydroton. I also bend the screen in the back because that is where you have to be most careful about the drilling falling through and clogging the drain. This would be a problem because the water would start filling up if it has no where to go and you would have a flood.
This Terrarium moss is dehydrated and sterile. It can be bought at almost any pet store. I soak it in clean water for about a minute, squeeze the water out and then place a thin layer on top of the screen. This moss will help bridge the distance from the water level to the dirt, keeping it moisture in check. It also provides a good medium for beneficial life such as springtails to breed and assist in terrarium maintenance.
The last layer of the interior is the dirt. Discussed earlier, through trial and error I found Eco-Earth dehydrated bricks to be the best suited for the job. The dirt is clean and easy to spread about. I add about 1” on top of the moss. This does not have to be thick enough to plant large plants because I mostly grow plants on the rocks and walls of the terrarium. Dirt merely acts as a medium for moss to grow on top of or roots to grow through. The terrarium is now ready for plants.
This is a shot of the finished product on the 10 gallon. the riccia has grown in on the bottom a little and the arrowheads have established some good roots.
Turned the macro feature on with my camera and got in there for some close up shots. i call this a frog's eye view
10 gallon vertical: Detailed Log
I have seen that post on Dendroboard but I did not "copy" it in the sense of the word. This style of terrarium is common, if you Google "vertical vivarium" you can find at least 3 threads of pages that do this. As for decor placement, the hobbyist on dendroboard uses wood and foam covered in brown silicone, and I don't think he drills the back or creates a false bottom. I mostly found the design in brianstropicals.com influential. 
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