# Making a PDF vertical tank, 101



## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I posted this for someone else, but thought perhaps it might be useful.
It was a quick run through and some of the specifics need to be expanded upon....and obviously there are many ways to skin a cat, this is just my way. A final picture with the door/screen needs to be added.














































Ok you can do this.

You need:
10 gal tank.
coco husk chips/chunk peat/ or jungle mix. you pick. for background matterial.
3 tubes of brown GEII silicone.
1 can of black Touch and Foam (or Great Stuff, but I prefer now the T&F)
2-3 pieces of small, or 2 pieces of medium, Malasian Driftwood. (Blk Jungle has a nice supply)
1 bag of Schultz Aquatic Plant soil or similar natural aquarium stone (I dont use false bottoms)
one brick of dendrobedding or coco block.
clear aquarium silicone for the screen insert and bottom glass.
sandpaper.
a front (I make mine with glass, hinges from US plastics, and a screen insert I make from screen trim, mosquito screen ect). Learned it from Ben Green.
Patience and confidence. If I can do it, so can you.

Put the tank on the floor and lay out the driftwood in a pleasing way. use a bit of masking tape to hold it temporarily in place and GS around it. Putting on enough to keep the DW in place after it dries and you stand it up.

Let it sit 1 week, in case the GS decides to shrink and you need to do more, or silicone the pieces onto the glass for added strength.

work from bottom to top, spread the brown silicone using gloves and a pump over all the GS and back glass, generously. Like 1/4 inch thick. Work real fast, and cover with the background matterial of choice. Squish it in place to adhere to all the silicone. be generous with the mix so you dont get silicone coming out all over your hands. Done right you dont have to repeat this step as you can get 100% coverage the first time through. 

Sometimes the step of coverage takes my 2-3 days, a bit of space at a time. I might do 1/4 of the tank, let it dry and do another section the next day, ect. Often doing 4 tanks at a time like an assembly line.

Stand it up when all dry, like the pics. glue in the bottom 4inch glass insert (I get the local hardware to cut it for a buck)...using clear aquarium silicone (I sandpaper the black plastic tank rim first to get a water tight seal). And silicone the tank rim from behind to make sure everything is water tight.

Use appropriate sized piano hinge from US plastics for the thickness of glass you are using. I think some of DB sponsors sell a similar product.

Put in another insert as the door (usually something like 10 inches). then I make a custom screen to fit the remaining 2-3 inches on the top. Pictures to follow, I just didnt have any handy.

sit back, enjoy your accomplishment. I typically plant it and let it sit nice and wet for a month or 2, before adding frogs. 



S


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Nice Shawn,

I would add one suggestion, and that is to first seal the inside of the rim with aquarium silicone. You don’t want to do all that work and then find out the rim was not completely sealed to the glass.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

oh you are so correct Sir. been there 

yes, that needs to be added. To clarify: I typically use the clear aquarium silicone from All Glass and seal the uderside of the plastic aquarium rim (usually at the top of the tank, which becomes the front when vertical). I only do so in to cover the 'bottom' 4 inches, where the permanent glass will be set in place. 

It would be prudent to water test the tank afterwards and before you go on to doing all the GS/Wood.

S


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## black_envy (Aug 12, 2006)

Thanks for posting, hopefully someone will find it useful


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Thanks scott... added to the good beginners threads. 

If you are interested in expanding on this join the care sheet user group and we can expand it and make it a formal care sheet.


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

WOW DOC!! Really cool post! I shall have to try that. Awesome way to make an inexpensive vivarium and seems to be a great follow along guide for the beginner....aka, me....Anyways, I might have to give that a shot tomorrow and see what I cant come up with! I shall post pics when/if I ever get it to look like something desirable!


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## Anoleo2 (Feb 1, 2006)

> Thanks scott... added to the good beginners threads.


You mean Shawn, right? :wink: 

Thanks for posting this, it should help a lot of people...


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Here's another question for you.... In the bottom of my viv, i plan on making a water feature, but have some questions about forming the retaining walls for the water. My little pond is going to be just that....a LITTLE pond, but want to have some form to it besides just having a puddle in the corner. I wish to have some sort of protrusion into the water kinda like a small peninsula, but with the size of the pond (small) it will be hard to get the gravel and substrate mix to hold its form. What do you guys think about roughly forming the ground level with expanding foam and waiting for it to cure, but then going back with a shaping tool to fully shape it to what i want. I would then hollow out the groud leaving only the walls so that i could fill in with gravel, coco fiber and the like. For drainage, some small holes could be cut into the walls and then fitted with some screen to keep the gravel/dirt from flowing into the pond. From there, a hole could be drilled to change the water and such. What do you guys think of my idea? Also, what kinds of long term effect have on the expanding foam? If it degrades easily, then my idea isnt such a great option. THANKS!


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

That technique works fine. Use Handifoam black for ponds, you can find it online....and I go back once shaped and cover the foam with brown/blk silicone and squish in some coco to make it even more authentic.

S





McBobs said:


> Here's another question for you.... In the bottom of my viv, i plan on making a water feature, but have some questions about forming the retaining walls for the water. My little pond is going to be just that....a LITTLE pond, but want to have some form to it besides just having a puddle in the corner. I wish to have some sort of protrusion into the water kinda like a small peninsula, but with the size of the pond (small) it will be hard to get the gravel and substrate mix to hold its form. What do you guys think about roughly forming the ground level with expanding foam and waiting for it to cure, but then going back with a shaping tool to fully shape it to what i want. I would then hollow out the groud leaving only the walls so that i could fill in with gravel, coco fiber and the like. For drainage, some small holes could be cut into the walls and then fitted with some screen to keep the gravel/dirt from flowing into the pond. From there, a hole could be drilled to change the water and such. What do you guys think of my idea? Also, what kinds of long term effect have on the expanding foam? If it degrades easily, then my idea isnt such a great option. THANKS!


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## PDFanatic (Mar 3, 2007)

Cheapest place I have found handy foam is on dartfrogdepot.com Jason Desantis site. Good luck!!


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## abarrera2 (Sep 13, 2006)

Which touch n foam do you use? The "Original" triple expanding or the "new" latex foam "no mess water clean up". 

Antonio


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## McBobs (Apr 26, 2007)

Great step by step instructions...My first is coming along real smoothly....That is until i came home tonight and had my first little hickup in my project. I called for my cat so i could feed her and she comes running along as usual, but noticed something in her fur and realized that she had a great BIG chunk of great stuff in her fur....Spent the next 10 minutes cutting it out....


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## Marek (Aug 14, 2007)

I have the GE II silicone, can I use this instead of aquarium silicone to seal up the trim and put the glass on for the bottom part of the door? Or does it have to be aquarium silicone?


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## Anoleo2 (Feb 1, 2006)

Yes, you can use the GE stuff. They are the same thing; they're both silicone (aquarium-safe silicone). 


:razz: And may I suggest joining:
http://www.newenglandfrogs.org
The forum isn't in use too much, but the mailing list is very active, so check it out!


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## jausi (May 14, 2008)

hello, it's a asome viv, I'm planinig to build my in a 65 hex tank, i already got the great stuff, and a big piece of corck for the back wall, but I've seem a lot pics were people have use a dark silicone to cover the back wall to hide the use of the great stuff and i was wondering what kind of silicone is that, or if I can use any silicone to do that, any advise will be really apreciated.

thank you :mrgreen:


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## davefan13 (Jun 14, 2007)

Use GE Silicone II, either Brown or Black colored. You usually put the silicone on, then pat down coco fiber like shown above. 

Good luck with your tank!


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

for reference the complete care sheet is listed below

http://www.dendroboard.com/care-sheets/topic38355.html


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## AlexF (Sep 26, 2007)

I decided I was going to try the vertical tanks about a month ago and here's what I did:

On the smaller 6 gallon tanks I did exactly as the tutorial, but on the larger tanks I wanted a side opening door, so I glued a thin piece of glass to the plastic rim and attached the piano hinge for the door there.

I also tried using the aluminum rails for the mesh and they didn't work out for me so I made them out of hardwood. My tablesaw blade is just slightly thin for the plastic tube that holds the mesh tight so I just did a second pass probably half a mm and the groove is perfect. Just added oil to the wood and it's doing great.

My only problem with the conversion has been the seal between the glass and the plastic rim. I had so many leak problems I ended up removing the rim and filling the inside with silicone. It has been my only problem so far. I have only taken photos of a single viv, out of 10 or so I did.

Pictures have been posted but here's the 22 gal pumilio tank:


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## wildman (Dec 21, 2008)

Any chance of adding this thread to the construction forum?


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