# 55gal built from scratch



## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

We just finished building our second viv. We built it from scratch, just let the glass cut, then siliconed it together, inserted the mesh, covered the edges with aluminium. For background we tried something similar to the flevopol method - I really prefered that to the mess with the silicone! It also holds water quite well.





































The shop I ordered the plants from had some really nice epiphytic ferns


















The finished viv! I'll just have to put in some leave litter. It hopefully houses some imis soon...




























............................
barbara


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## arielelf (May 23, 2007)

Amazing tank!!!
Looks bigger than 55 gal. though.


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## griffen0218 (Jul 25, 2008)

that tank looks amazing what did you use for the bg i didnt really understand it


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## thetattooedone (Mar 26, 2007)

That is awsome! Thanks for sharing! Be sure to add updated pictures as it matures and gets inhabitants.

Brent


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

Thanks all!

On the foam on the background I applied a mixture of ground peat, water and some sort of non poisonous flexible tile adhesive. It dries out completely and gets quite hard. Then you rinse it a lot. After that it will soak up water again and the plants grow on it really well.

@ arielelf:
I calculated the size again: its actually only 53.98gal... :wink: 


......................
barbara


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## pet-teez (Oct 3, 2007)

I *LOVE* it!
I love your other one too though 
Fantastic


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## griffen0218 (Jul 25, 2008)

what is the blue stuff holding in the wood??


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

i don't really know, what it's called in english... but i think it is something similar to what you call "great stuff". It's a two component PU-foam.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

great built!!! wish i was this handy!! do you have a built journal of pics you can post??


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

amazing vivs, i can't even imagine how they will look 6 months from now. the foam you used seems similiar to great stuff, but the texture looks slightly different. whats it called in switzerlandish (what language do they speak there)? i like the way your stuff looks better than the way great stuff looks.


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## Mywebbedtoes (Jul 2, 2007)

I am always SO jealous of your tanks! Beautiful work!


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Man your tanks are always so ugly... :wink: Well done.


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## tkromer (Dec 20, 2007)

Awesome work! You truly build your tanks from scratch, I don't know that I have the patience to cut all that glass.


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## roberthvalera (Jun 9, 2006)

hmm switzerlandish... good one...... anyways
I love those ferns, nice job. The european tile stuff looks more absorbent than our ace concrete primer, looks like mud that holds form. mmmmm. Thanks.
Robert


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

@julio
sorry, no pictures of the construction of the viv itself, we needed all 4 hands to silicone the glass together at the time  The only thing i could provide are some pics of the construction of a small test viv we did, but its not that interesting.

@emily
in "switzerlandish" (german here, italien or french in other parts of the country by the way...) it is just called 2 component PU-foam (well, Zweikomponentenmontageschaum), based on polyurethan, expanding, and drying within a few minutes - but its quite expensive, 18 bucks for one, and it doesn't last long...

@tommy
we didn't actually cut the glass ourselves but let it cut. We tried, but managed to break the first couple of pieces, so we soon gave up. Cheaper that way!  

@robert
It depends on the mixin ratio. We tried a background with more tile glue and less peat first in a small one, and it wasn't so absorbent. Here we really put a lot of peat in, the glue just hold it together. I can't say yet, how long it will hold or if the background will break down in a few years, you could call it an experiment. But i think it should be ok for quite a while.

..............................
barbara


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

18 bucks! it sure does look neat though.


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## melas (Oct 24, 2007)

what glass thickness are you working with? Excellent design! I really like the layout. Very nice!


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

It's 6mm glass. It does get quite heavy, but I wouldnt want an acrylic tank


...........................
barbara


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## melas (Oct 24, 2007)

yeah i definitely think glass is the way to go! it just looked thicker than 6mm (1/4") glass in the picture that's why i was wondering. That really looks great!


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## melas (Oct 24, 2007)

also can we get some detail on your ventalation system there in the front of the tank?


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

With 6mm glass you can make pretty big vivs. For fish tanks you would need thicker glass obviously.
For the details of the ventilation see this thread of my fist viv: member-s-frogs-vivariums/topic34587-45.html
There are some close up pics there and I copied the style of that viv for this one, so it almost looks the same. If you need more information, just tell me.

.............................
barbara


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## Tuckinrim8 (Jul 26, 2007)

Awesome vivs!


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

As the picture links of the thread don't work anymore since the update and some members asked me about them, i thought i post some of the pics again.
And the viv got its inhabitants today! 0.1.2 R. imitator "alto chainarachi". They are so cute!



















Day 1 after Set Up









Toda, after 7 weeks


















And one of those gorgeous imis









................................
barbara


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## sNApple (Mar 19, 2007)

very nice, any more pictures of the 100x50x70cm? your other thread does not have the pictures hosted anymore


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## barbar0 (Dec 3, 2007)

Thanks. I will repost some of the fotos in the other thread.

.....................
barbara


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