# Bored, so I started a new project .::20gal Vertical Vivarium::.



## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

I got bored, so I decided to do something productive. I had a 20gal tank laying unused. It's one of the two little tanks I picked up laying outside a house since they didnt want them anymore 

I took out the black frame of it a while ago to give it a cleaner look, but I set it aside since I got busy working on my 40gal Vert.

This project won't be as complex as my 40gal. I won't even have misters in there. I'll be hand spraying it since it's going into my bedroom. Im not planning on drilling an drains on it either. I'll just suck the water out of the false bottom with a turkey baster or something.

So here's what I got so far today.

I measured and cut pieces of some leftover Polycarbonate to build the euro vent.



























I didnt have enough poly carbonate so I decided to just put 3 columns in the front to support the aluminum L shape piece going on top of it. I put that L metal piece on there to support the middle column.



























There's all three columns siliconed









Time to drill some holes on the piece that going on the top of the Viv to lock in the glass door









drilled









took a scrap piece and...









cut it in half


















drill some holes on them









screw them in









BAM! done (I will be siliconing this on the top later after the main vent is done curing)









cut up some Aluminum L-shapes to build the frame on the euro vent









Cut some screen + silicone = done









Whew! whole vent done. Now time to sit and wait 


well that's what I got so far. I'll be posting more pics of the progress later on.


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## andy321 (Jun 12, 2008)

looks like this is going to be a nice viv.


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Count me in... *subscribed*


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

Dont get your hopes up guys LOL! I was thinking of this just being a grow out tank. I have a few tillys already that I cant fit in the 40gal, so they're going into here. I might order some plants here and there but I wont be able to until this fall. Still too hot out here to get plants shipped over


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

So is this gonna be a "What 20 gallons of plants looks like" type thing? lol


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

I miscalculated my measurements LOL the top part is now sticking out.




























I had to readjust and drill new holes for the door to fit in.

The glass door that i'll be using I salvaged from a 10gal tank. Its width is a bit less than my 20gal, so I had to put some L-shape pieces on the side so it wont fall into the tank ahaha. This is turning pretty ghetto. Good thing Im not putting the door side in the front. I'll be showing the other sides since I wont be putting anything on the walls.


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## Suzanne (Dec 28, 2008)

Well, I have to warn you about the mesh you're using. In my experience fruitflies (hydeii as well as melano's) will crawl strait through! Hope that isn't a problem for you? You can place another layer of mesh on top of the first one, so that they overlap. I made that mistake as well, hope this helps you before you find your room full of flies


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## boogsawaste (Jun 28, 2008)

Suzanne said:


> Well, I have to warn you about the mesh you're using. In my experience fruitflies (hydeii as well as melano's) will crawl strait through! Hope that isn't a problem for you? You can place another layer of mesh on top of the first one, so that they overlap. I made that mistake as well, hope this helps you before you find your room full of flies


He's probably going to use this tank for plants only so ff's won't be a problem.


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

yeah Im not keeping any frogs. Not even in my 40gal


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

ok so here's what I got so far. The door goes in nicely now with the L-shaped guards on the sides of it.

This Viv will be sitting in front of my window, so my only source of light for it will be sunlight from outside. I have an idea of putting the whole viv on top of a rotating platform/base so I can rotate it and give some light on the other sides of the viv. 

I found this 










but i was thinking of a motorized one. One that rotates by itself slowly. Is there such a thing?


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

ok I think im finished! 









first, the rocks at the bottom to prop up the eggcrate









cut some eggcrate up (the reflective one is the only one I have left )









good fit









screen on top









the substrate









aaaaand the tree stump


















made a little pond in the corner


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Sweet.... What other folaige are ya gonna keep in there?


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

some more tillandsias and ferns maybe. I threw in some Dichondra seeds in the substrate as well. i hope it grows well


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

nice. I like Dichondra. I grow "silver falls" but up here its an annual


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

The dichondra Im trying is called 'Emerald Falls'


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

.::UPDATE::.​
well look what the USPS guy just left on my door 










I got it on eBay for $6! ahaha


I made a little animation of how it looks now


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

I also snagged one of these in black on eBay for $13 + free shipping 

takes a 100w bulb


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## nathan (Jul 24, 2009)

The turn table idea is genuis! love it


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

interesting angled vent, love the tree stump in there.


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## Smashtoad (Apr 27, 2007)

Killer. Love it. Please post shots in a few months.


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

I definitely will update  I already have a few seeds sprouting out


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

..::Update::..​
Well this tank went no where LOL!

The original tank got neglected since I had to move it out of my room when I repainted my whole room and put new furniture in. I had no room for the tank so it went out into the living room next to my 40gal breeder tank 

I didn't pay attention to it and never spray it because I got lazy lol.

Now I decided to completely redo the tank and connect my automatic misting system and fogger to it since it's just right next to my main tank. All I have to do was to split the connections and plumb the 20gal vert.

So here's what I did below:


1.) Since I want the tank to look clean ( I don't want to see any tubing etc.) I decided to run the misting tube inside the tube for the fogger.

The misting tube is about 1/4" diameter and the fogger has a 1/2" inside diameter.










This is how the plumbing will look at the top of the tank. The Black tube is for the fogger and I'm putting 3 hole around it for the fog to come out off.










here's a pic of the misting tube being ran inside the fogging tube. As you can see, I used a tee splitter to run the misting tube inside the fogging tube. I silicone the end of the tee where the misting tube come into so that when the fogger is turned on, the fog won't come out on that end.



















Here's the whole plumbing before siliconing everything in place.









The toughest part was fishing the misting tube through the fogging tube. 
After I fished it to the right area, I cut a hole into the fogging tube and inserted an L connection into the misting tube so I can connect the misting head.









here's it is after the tubing was all siliconed in place. Notice I still have the turntable at the bottom, so i can rotate the tank freely from side to side but not 360 degrees because of the plumbing in the way.










I filled in the bottom with river rocks.









Then the substrate. Which is a mix of perlite, peat moss, sand and sphagnum moss. I didn't put a false bottom(eggcrate) this time. I don't think it was necessary since i won't be misting this as much as the other tank I have.










Here's me, messing around with the cork bark, trying to get some ideas rolling 









stacking them up doesn't look like a bad idea..


















But ultimately I decided to just place them on the side walls like this, with the gaps in between.










I wanted to silicone them onto the glass but since they're curved in the backs of them, it will take a lot of silicone. So I decided to put GS behind them and laid them flat on a paper towel and let the GS dry flat, so their backs will be filled in and flat. 

After they were dry, I applied silicone behind them and stuck them on the glass.

Sorry, I forgot to take pics after they were all place onto the glass. 










So anyway, I needed something to place in between all the cork bark. Since everyone is doing the clay background these days, I decided to try it for myself 

At first I bought the "Special Cat" kitty litter at walmart, the one in the red bag. Soaked it overnight and it didn't dissolve at all. So I got a different brand called "scoop away" and it says on the box "clumping formula". This one started clumping as soon as I put water on it.

I mixed the kitty litter with lots of peat moss to turn the clay mixture more brown instead of the gray color and to put some texture to it.

All in all, I love this procedure a lot better than using GS all over the background! It's so much easier and more natural. It's easy to shape it as well. Here's some pics of the results.














































I don't have much plants in there right now. Just some moss from the other tank and pennywort. 

I'm planning on putting another nepethese ampullaria in here once it cools down outside, so I can place that order for that plant 


All I need to do now is to install the fans. I haven't installed them yet since I was waiting for the fan controller to come in the mail (which came in today)

Here's the four fans hooked up to it. 2 of them will go to the 40gal breeder tank and two in this one.











2 of the fans have white LED lights on them when they're turned on.


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

I can't see his photos for some reason... Anyone know why that is? I tried Chrome and Safari.


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

i just checked photobucket. They're having a site maintenance right now 

check back later i guess


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

They are back up now. Cool. The clay really is somethin' i gotta try. Looks good man!


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## myersboy6 (Aug 23, 2010)

man i really like your work you do on both of your vivs. The clay and bark is a great idea and has helped me decide on what i am going to do for my first viv now!


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

I got some fern moss in the mail and spread it around the tank.


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

Just got a package in the mail. I've been waiting all day for this, I guess I was the last stop for UPS 





























I was worried that it was going to be dead when I unwrap it because of the heat over here. 

I was surprised on how well it looks despite the high temperature it had to endure. Even the sphagnum moss it's planted in is pretty darn hot. 

The pitcher on the right was wilting so I had to cut it off.










Closer pic of the pitchers. The plant is a Nepenthes Ampullaria 'bronze Nabire'









Here it is planted in the corner of the tank 

I can't wait until it grows some basal pitchers for me.


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## wesly2007 (Jul 6, 2007)

where did you get that Nepenthes Ampullaria


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

wesly2007 said:


> where did you get that Nepenthes Ampullaria


I got it from blackjungle


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## VPardoel (Apr 2, 2010)

I really love topics like this.

Great job on building the viv mate ! can't wait to see how it looks after some months.

Any idea about the inhabitants? ( or did you post that allready..... i was to busy watching pics  )


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

nothing yet. I'm going to wait until the plants and moss grow in first


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## VPardoel (Apr 2, 2010)

allrighty.

Can't wait to see new pics


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

..::UPDATE::..

Here's some new shots of the tank. The moss is started to spread around the tank and the Pennywort as well 



















​

So..since I'm getting frogs pretty soon, not sure yet if they're going in this or into my bigger Viv, but none the less, I had to add something in this Viv to make it more interesting to look at plus to utilize the vertical space of the viv.

I decided to make a fake stump/vine since I was inspired by "HX" from this thread
*http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/21034-how-were-these-constructed.html*

so here's a little EDU for you guys 


*Materials:*
1/2" PVC pipe
Heat source to bend the pipe. (a Heat gun would be great but I didn't have one so I used my outdoor grill)
25lb bag of Grout (I chose a dark brown color)
Manila Rope
peat moss
bucket
water
Paint brush
Glue Gun
Great Stuff
Carving tool (anything sharp will do, like a screwdriver or a knife)


I drew up a sketch on how I wanted it to look like before I started bending the pipe.

So I fired up the grill and started cooking 









twisting and bending them to my likeness and then dip them in a bucket of cold water to harden it quickly.

(Wear gloves so you won't get burnt since the pipes will be really hot)









I laid them all down and glued them together with a glue gun. and then put a layer of 'Great Stuff' over it to give it more shape and to better hold all the pieces together.



















After the 'Great Stuff' dried. I mixed up some grout with water. At first I made a thick batch and it was hard to paint onto the pipes. Also after it dried, it was cracking and crumbling off. So I mixed up a runnier batch with the consistency of paint. 

I painted over the pipes and gave it a few coats.

I took my Manila rope and cut a few strands of it.










I dipped it in warm water first to soften it and then dipped it into the grout mix.


















pull it out and let the excess drip off










Here's the piece with quite a few vines around it.









After it dried, I painted on another layer of grout and sprinkled some peat moss over it to give it some texture.

After that dried up, the piece looked too smooth for me...









so I took a carving tool and started carving away making vertical slashes to give it a more worn out wood look.

*Before* Picture









*After* Picture









annd here's the whole piece after it's all carved up 









I'll take more pics later ones I put it inside the tank.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Looks great. Nice work. 

Will the rope strands pose any possibility of irritation to the frogs?


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

I doubt it will since it's made from plant material. It's better than using nylon rope.


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

here's a full tank shot of it in my tank. I planted bits and pieces of moss in there as well.










another pic, which I took today after I moved the venus flytrap from my 40gal viv into this viv.









closer shot of the plant


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## BlueRidge (Jun 12, 2010)

chinoanoah said:


> I can't see his photos for some reason... Anyone know why that is? I tried Chrome and Safari.


I can't see them either, theres a tag that says 'Photobucket bandwidth exceeded, upgrade to Pro".

Also Raim, what did you do about curing the grout?


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

Yeah my bandwidth over at photobucket is over the limit for this month. They should show up again by November.

Now about the grout. After it dried I just placed it in the tank and it should cure in a few weeks as long as its kept humid


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## BlueRidge (Jun 12, 2010)

Sweet. I have a 15 vert and 2 10g verts I wanna start working on while stuff grows out in the 40g's. I really want to try the clay and I love using the PVC.

I know you probably said somewhere already, but where are you getting your plants. Alot of them are pretty exotic, and what about lighting?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Very nice work. 


Maybe try flickr? Think I've only seen a bandwidth exceeded message from them once in my entire life. See it more with photobucket I think then I see actual pics


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

yeah I was thinking of that, but the problem with that is that the old pics in this thread and in my other thread will be all blank if I delete my photobucket account 

I'll probably just go with Flickr from here on and just leave the photobucket alone lol


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

raimeiken said:


> yeah I was thinking of that, but the problem with that is that the old pics in this thread and in my other thread will be all blank if I delete my photobucket account
> 
> I'll probably just go with Flickr from here on and just leave the photobucket alone lol


Good call...I have 1 pb account and 2 flickr accounts


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## talbot777 (Oct 22, 2010)

Looking really good.

what is your background made of?


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

Pics of the tank with the LED moonlight turned on.


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

talbot777 said:


> Looking really good.
> 
> what is your background made of?


Mostly Clay mixed with peat moss. Also I have pieces of cork bark siliconed on there.


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## dendroman1234 (Dec 4, 2010)

Any updates on this viv? It looks good from what i've seen


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Did I miss the reply about where you got your plants???


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

dendroman1234 said:


> Any updates on this viv? It looks good from what i've seen


I'll take some pics tomorrow  

the bottom is over grown with pennywort at the moment and the Clay background isn't doing too well. It's drying up. I might end up taking it our and just using tree fern panels on it.




Judy S said:


> Did I miss the reply about where you got your plants???


Most of the plants in this viv were taken from my bigger 40gal Viv. See the link in my signature.

The Pitcher plant was from Blackjungle and the fern moss was from an eBay seller


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

..::UPDATE::..​










[[url]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GYIQ91c-gMY/Tq7ACOA7a3I/AAAAAAAACkc/ZsWvZkiWo_s/s640/DSC04845.JPG/img][/url]


[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-iDxC0pPWj10/Tq7ADeX1fVI/AAAAAAAACkg/_VkN4bVvClg/s640/DSC04846.JPG


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Which biophytum is that?


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

jacobi said:


> Which biophytum is that?


I believe he has Biophytum sensitivum in both of his tanks


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## raimeiken (Dec 24, 2006)

yup! it is


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Thats a niiiiiice tank


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

i love this viv. Those sorts of vines would be awesome for geckos. I'm saving your photo for inspiration.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Thanks. I thought it might be, but wasn't sure...


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