# 10 gallon vert construction



## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

I am sure this has been done a million times, but here is a sort of small step by step instruction for the one I just built. It is my first, so if anyone with experience has anything to add, please do so:

Step 1
First off it is best to make the false bottom section if that is what you will use. For false bottom construction, do a search. As for the way I do it, I leave a small gap between the egg crate and the glass to fill with gravel. Just a trick I learned from a local, and it works and looks great.









Step 2
Once you have the false bottom finished, you can glue the background in. I used a full size cork piece that fit the entirety of the back. I used foam only around the sides to keep it in place. I am not a big fan of filling in the entire back with foam. I then covered the foam later with silicone and bed a beast









Step 3
Now you can start glueing the glass to the front. I used a piece that was 6 inches tall, and had a snug fit in the black plastic rim of the tank. Make sure to seal the black plastic to the tank as well or it will leak. Also, now you can add any landscape you want such as that smaller cork piece I used to add some depth. I also made the screen flap for ventilation in this step, however it isn't installed yet, I just wanted to check the fit of both glass pieces.









Step 4
Once the glue is cured, you can now add substrate, or gravel. I use gravel on top of the egg crate so I have very little substrate because it is so much like a sponge. I have really saved a lot of plants with this method from root rot.It also looks nicer not showing the false bottom eggcrate section.









Step 5
Now it is time to add the plants and substrate. I just drill holes into the cork and then hot glue the broms in if they aren't secure enough in the hole. I also have squeeze many crypt babies into small holes since they grow so well. The lighting is a 20 watt 6500k compact flourescent from walmart. It puts out a LOT of light. It is in just a clamp fixture for now, but that is only temporary. anything past this step is totally your preference. And if you are daring, you can drill holes/hole in the back glass piece to get a cord out for a pump or something. I didn't want to do that yet, , but on my next one I will









I hope this helps somebody out. I think this tank will look great once grown in more and the door is totally finished. If anyone has more questions please do ask.

Ed Parker


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## EverettC (Mar 9, 2004)

Good guide. The only thing I would have done differently would be to make the false bottom with PVC couplings instead of gravel, but only for the weight reduction.


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## joker555 (Jan 8, 2005)

great job on the false bottom. I thought the cork tiers were placed especially well. (sticky.)

Dustin


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2005)

Very nice Mr. Parker, it is hard to plant a vert 10 and give it a natural look. I think you did very well. Congrates! I do like the full gravel front. This is very useful when you go to suck water out of the tank. 

Things I do different and why;

No false bottom's for me in small tanks. They are used mainly to cut down on weight. I just use alifor instead. Anything over 20 gallons get a false bottom, in my house. 

I install the bottom glass behind the tank frame. I worry over time the silicone holding the glass to plastic will fail. If use use plexi-glass (acrylic) you could epoxy the to pieces together and it shouldn't fail. You will just have to silicone inside the tank between the frame and tank glass, ( You stated this, but I know more than one person that didn't do this and had to tear a tank down).

I am interested in seeing the door system. I mount all the vents behind the tank rim, do to the style of locks I use. This keeps the door tight to the tank rim, and leaves a small 1/16" gap at the top between the vent and door. Depending on the frog species I may use a plastic u-channel on the top egde of the door sealing the tank up tight.


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

I second Ben's method, I'm on my 4th vert for my rack, and even though it's a lot of work, it's worth it in the end. I did however, mount my screen rails on the outside like you did. I'll post some pictures of how I secured the latches, if you need ideas.


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

I don't understand the door system. Can you explain this to me? Also, did this come as a kit or did you make it yourself, where do you get it, etc.? 
If you drilled a hole for a wire, how do you plug the remainder of the whole, what can you use?

Tank looks good, by the way.

Thanks for the help,

Greg


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

Oh, and what section of Walmart did you get the light? What do you plan on using, since you said it was temporary?

Thanks again,
Greg


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

mydumname said:


> I don't understand the door system. Can you explain this to me? Also, did this come as a kit or did you make it yourself, where do you get it, etc.?
> If you drilled a hole for a wire, how do you plug the remainder of the whole, what can you use?
> 
> Tank looks good, by the way.
> ...


for a wire, a grommet should be used, if further sealing is required, a gob of silicone can do amazing things.


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2005)

Looks great.

A bit off topic but what are the brom's that you're using? All of the broms I can find at the local nursuries are way too big for a 10g.

Can you post a picture of the tank with the door on?


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## EverettC (Mar 9, 2004)

try http://www.peaceofthetropics.com for really good broms. Ken is a good guy, he'll help you out a lot.


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

I will put a pic up as soon as I get the door finished. You do bring up a good point ben, but I will see how this holds up and see if it leaks. 
Dane, I would like to see your door method as well.
Mydumname, I made it all. Buy a 10 gallon, get glass cut for the front, and if you make the screen section, you can get all of the supplies for that at home depot or lowes in the window section. The light bulb came from the light bulb section at walmart. It was called DAYLIGHT I think. Just read on the 20 watt compacts what the color is. This one says on it, 6500K. 
The bromeliads are a neoregelia fireball (biggest one) and a neoregelia tropiflora. They don't get very big at all, but they do reproduce VERy fast from what I have seen. I got them from customecos.com. They have great prices and plants.

Ed Parker


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## TopGunJags01 (Jul 31, 2004)

if you wont the tank to look nicer i will paint the air vent black, it came out looking alot better.


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## jkinsey (Oct 7, 2004)

Can you show pics of the door and vent area. I would like to see how you did that. Tank looks great.


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## Guest (Feb 25, 2005)

Great write up! Have you finished setting up this tank?


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

Yeah, the tank has been housing 4 vents for the last few weeks. I will get some pics up of the door asap, as well as the total finished product. I was very pleased with how it turned out. I am now working on my next 10 vert to split my 2 pairs of vents into. Thanks for all the comments,

Ed


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

Just wondering where you got the components for the screen section.

Luke


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## Blort (Feb 5, 2005)

Luke,

You can get screen channel and corners at most large hardware stores in the window section. I did something similar here:

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 0&start=15

You will need:
1. Window screen channel
2. Mesh
3. 1 pack of channel corners
4. Hacksaw
5. Mesh spline
6. Spline tool (you can improvise)

See:
http://www.homefocus.com/419/repairing_ ... reens_.htm

Best,

Marcos


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## dmartin72 (Oct 27, 2004)

I get my screen components from Home Depot and Lowes, but the screen I make out of nylon mesh to keep the FFs in.



Darks!de said:


> Just wondering where you got the components for the screen section.
> 
> Luke


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## jkinsey (Oct 7, 2004)

sounds good definilty keep us posted on the tank. Thanks again.


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

Almost forgot about this. Here is a pic of my hinge, and handle. I just siliconed them in place with Aquarium silicone. The hinge is an excelon piano hinge, and the handle is an acrylic pull handle.



















Ed Parker


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## acleverusername (Feb 28, 2005)

Mantellaprince20 said:


> Step 3
> Now you can start glueing the glass to the front. I used a piece that was 6 inches tall, and had a snug fit in the black plastic rim of the tank. Make sure to seal the black plastic to the tank as well or it will leak. Also, now you can add any landscape you want such as that smaller cork piece I used to add some depth. I also made the screen flap for ventilation in this step, however it isn't installed yet, I just wanted to check the fit of both glass pieces.


What materials did you use for the vent and where did you get them from? What all did you have to do to the materials to make them into the vent?


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

You can get the supplies for the screen section at any home depot, or lowes. I used mosquito netting instead of screen though, for fruit fly escape prevention. But if you just go into the window section, or screen supplies section at either of these stores, you can get this stuff real cheap. They even have a kit which made about 4 vent sections for my 10 verts for like 8 dollars. The only things you will need to do is cut the screen channel (border) pieces with a saw, like a hacksaw, or even if you have some type of power saw with a metal blade, and cut the window screen. If you ask someone at one of the above mentioned stores, they will give you good details on how to do it exactly too. 

Ed Parker

(sorry, I totally forgot the correct names for the parts for this vent section, You will need the border material, the rubber stuff to secure the screen in place, and the corner pieces.)


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## acleverusername (Feb 28, 2005)

I have another dumb question. How do you cut the aluminum to 45 degree angles?


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2005)

On those screens you don't the corners are plastic and you just have to make a straight cut. I use a miter saw for 45deg cuts however :wink: 
makes it easy


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2005)

I'm getting ready to setup something similiar for my office (once I get the insert piece from Benjamin. 

I have a question though about the orientation. Everyone always turns what was the bottom of the tank into the back. Is there any reason You couldn't keep one of the sides as the back? so that the door opens to a side? (and so that what was the bottom of the tank is now a side. What was typically the front/back are still the front back (just perpindicular). 

I can't think off the top of my head why this would be bad. I'm just going to use a tank that at one point did have a siliconed background (in the normal position) and would prefer to re-cover that with the new background. Also a bigger viewing area unobstructed by latches/screens etc would be more aesthetically pleasing. As this will be just sitting on my desk access shouldn't be an issue. I just want to be sure I'm not missing anything (as I've never seen anyone orient their vertical tanks in this manner).

-Tad


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## acleverusername (Feb 28, 2005)

Sorry I got your question wrong.


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## rjmarchisi (Feb 16, 2004)

I think he means that he still wants the tank to be oriented vertically, just to have it side opening instead of front opening. 
Alot of people, including myself use front opening due to the ability to place them side by side. If you plan to have it freestanding there is no reason to not make the former side the front to get a totally unobstructed view.

rob


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2005)

Rob, thats what I'm talking about. I'm wondering if anyone has done it this way... if they had issues where the background met the door, etc. Or any problems that I just haven't thought of.

-Tad


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## rjmarchisi (Feb 16, 2004)

I remember seeing a 20 gallon flipped on end with the door on the side. It might be in someone's image gallery. I dont think you should have any problems, just make sure the background stops.

rob


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2005)

Hey Tad, you mean kind of like this 










and a link to the page: 
http://thechocohut.homestead.com/DIY_20vert_Fogged.html

It works nice, but as you can see I have it only open half way. The problem I see with the full door is the back ground so close to the opening. You could have a hard time trying to keep the frogs in the tank.


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