# Tachikoma's Zoomed Rack



## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

So a while ago I was in the process of building a 150 Vert. Well after the movers decided that I didn't need that tank anymore  I decided that it was time for a fresh start. So thus began the zoomed rack!

The rack is a 60"x24"x72" which turns out is a perfect size for 3 zoomed 18"x18"x24"! 

I ordered six, four arrived but one was shattered when I opened the box. So I am still waiting on the last three to arrive.

I decided to go with LED's for lighting this time around as my last T5 HO's used to make the temps get pretty warm, especially on hot days here. I went with this system:
AgroLED LED Fixtures | Sunlight Supply, Inc. - Indoor Gardening Supplies, Grow Lights, Hydroponics, and Lighting

I went with the 6500K lights but I really feel the color temp is too cool, so I am going to order one of the red tubes to see if it helps balance it out.








Other than that the light output is phenomenal! The pictures really don't do it justice as my cell phone can't really do the job. 
The lights are cool to the touch even after being on all day, so I am very happy about that.








The bulbs are rated to last for around 11 years running 12 hrs a day!
I will keep everyone posted on my electric bill after a few months of use.

I'll post updates as they happen in this thread. 

Stay tuned!
James 

P.S. I am not giving up on my vert build I will continue it after this rack build so no worries.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Last three tanks came in!! I also ordered the red led bar to balance out the blue temp of my light. It now has a very strong 5500K color. The camera saturates it a bit too much but it's a really nice color now.









I also added a glass top to the zoomed, but I still wanted to keep the functionality of top opening as well, so I removed the screen and installed the glass in the existing frame. It keeps the tank nice and clean looking as well!



























I will be drilling the tops for mist king and also air circulation. 

Stay tuned!


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## RedEyeTroyFrog (Jan 25, 2008)

what cha got sleeping on the walls there?? Those Calarifer?


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Hahaa, No those are my moreletti, the calcarifer are in the tank next to them. They almost always sleep horizontal. Their tanks are super bare at the moment just the essentials. I am making some badass tanks for them at the moment. I am discovering the extreme annoyance with the pivoting head on the glass cutter!! It has caused me to ruin quite a bit of glass attempting to cut tops for the zoomeds. I will be posting a few updates today, nothing major but something is better than nothing!


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Looks good. Personally I'd vent the tops somewhere. I vented my Zoo Meds along the fronts and it greatly helps with condensation on the front glass, which may or may not be an issue for you. Are you planning to drill the tops for a misting system?


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## c81kennedy (Dec 24, 2010)

I'm so jealous of this setup. How much did you pay for the rack the ones I have only 2 and a half 18x18x24


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## Bonobo (Jun 7, 2009)

Coming together nicely! I also have a rack with zoomeds only.. but just have the screen top over some plastic. Would you mind sharing how you modded the top to hold glass?

THANKS


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

c81kennedy said:


> I'm so jealous of this setup. How much did you pay for the rack the ones I have only 2 and a half 18x18x24


I think I paid around 130 for the rack, I can't find my receipt to be 100% but I am sure it was around that.



Bonobo said:


> Coming together nicely! I also have a rack with zoomeds only.. but just have the screen top over some plastic. Would you mind sharing how you modded the top to hold glass?
> 
> THANKS


I didn't do anything special, just removed the screen, and replaced with glass then siliconed from the inside so the top still looks clean and factory.
On the other ones though I have been using the drill method described on dart den, I drill out the posts that are holding the screen in on the inside of the rim, then the screen comes out much easier. 

I drilled the glass and put in the misting head.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

ZookeeperDoug said:


> Looks good. Personally I'd vent the tops somewhere. I vented my Zoo Meds along the fronts and it greatly helps with condensation on the front glass, which may or may not be an issue for you. Are you planning to drill the tops for a misting system?


I was originally going to do this, but I'm finding it is not an issue here at all, the air is so dry that condensation almost never forms on the glass for longer than an hour or so. I will be putting in internal air circulation as well. I think the little air holes on the front black bar are letting enough fresh air in.


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## froggies3 (Feb 1, 2011)

Your making me too jealous!- Man I am excited for this!


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Small update! I finally have some time off from work so I will begin working on my rack some more. Some more pics of recent progress.

Drilled bottom.









Bulkhead with right angle pronged adapter for drain lines.









Second Rack!!

















I still need to finish drilling them and still waiting on a few more vivs to arrive.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Priorities priotities. Work only exists to support our hobbies. Were waiting on construction updates.....that means taking time off from work. I'm sure they'll understand.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Soo... another fail to add to the many that I have encountered with this build. My order from Tropiflora came in today...

I was expecting 3 large but viv suitable sized plants and 3 broms. The broms came in as expected but man oh man did I severely underestimate the size of these plants. Lets just say I now have some nice rarer Philodendrons for the apartment. haha


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Last of the tanks arrived today!! 










I have the tops being made at a local mom and pop glass shop. I timed how long it was taking me to cut and drill a single lid and did the math to do 15 it would take a good portion of the day and considerable aggravation, so I figured I'll take it to a place and get it done. I'll report back on the price once I pick up the lids, see if it was worth it to just have a pro do it without any hassle or stress on my end.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

For me, it wasn't the labor I had to consider. It's how many times am I going to make a bad break in the glass and have to replace it before I get it right. So, I go to a local glass man/frogger. BTW, if you read this glass man, I'm gonna need more soon!


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Unfortunately I still have to drill 10 more tank bottoms and that sucks just because each one takes a long time to drill through and also gets dirty from the cooling water and glass dust that turns the water white. So I have to lug the heavy ass tank to the shower stall and wash them, then dry them. lol One or 2 is not a problem but doing 15 gets old fast. I have been doing 2 a day which is fine since I have to do other things on the other tanks as well, like start setting up the false bottoms etc.


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## The Dude1 (Jul 5, 2012)

Wow! I just finished setting up my first which is a 20g and now I'm working on a 46g bow. The 20g is going to sit for a while until it grows in. I can't imagine doing 15 at once. Why did you decide to do this as opposed to starting and finishing one and then moving on to the next? That room is going to look awesome!


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

tachikoma said:


> \


Wow those are nice philos. What species/vars are they?


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

The Dude1 said:


> Why did you decide to do this as opposed to starting and finishing one and then moving on to the next? That room is going to look awesome!


It was a couple of reasons, first and it's my work schedule, I work insane hours for months at a time with literally no break, but then I will have a long (2 month) break then start again. So I wanted to have all of my stuff ready so I could get it done in the time frame of my downtime. 
Second reason is to save on shipping, buying everything in bulk has saved me major bucks in shipping.



hydrophyte said:


> Wow those are nice philos. What species/vars are they?


Thanks! They are as follows:

Philodendron 'Autumn'

Philodendron 'McColley's Finale'

Philodendron 'Moonlight'


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

So just finished my first viv in the dart rack! I did the mint p. Terribilis tank first as those frogs are the largest and so I wanted them out of their quarantine tanks asap. 










Also I received my lids from the glass shop, they charged me 10 bucks a lid, so they cut the glass, drilled the holes, and even offered to silicone all of them in for me. However, I told them I had not finished removing the screen from the rest so they could just give me the glass, and I would do it on my own time. They did silicone the one I gave them for size reference. So in my case it was definitely worth it, $150 bucks to get all 15 lids made! Most other places were quoting $8 a hole!


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

Impressive stuff! Looks very clean and functional. I'm really excited that there's a treefrog rack as well, nice Agalychnis and some nice aroids there.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Just a small update:

Almost done with hardscaping the second tank, this one is one of the treefrog tanks. Their tanks have more ventilation in the top which I made with no see um mesh and some screen framing from the net because neither HD or Lowes has the frames in black. 









Also using custom made to order faux vines made by The Green Oasis. They did an amazing job matching the specs I asked for, I sent in 3D models of the exact shapes I wanted and he made them and they were done fast as well! I'll take better pics with the better cam once I get it back on the rack under the lighting.

















The side and back of the tank is silicone with ground tree fern fiber pushed into it, I ordered a huge box of it from an online orchid supply shop. I also ordered small tree fern cubes which I will try to incorporate into the hardscape for the dart tanks to give more depth and texture to the landscape. 
More to come slowly but surely.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

So got off my butt and got some work done on the frog rack! Cut holes in the rack for the bulkheads to fit into place. Also installed the substrate foam in the tanks, I tried egg crate, but it's just a pain, and ugly. 


































I need to go out and collect some leaves for the tanks so I can stock them with iso's to get them started. I'll need to start adding the plumbing to the drainage system so I can turn on the mist king system. 

More to come slowly but surely!


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## zaius (Feb 21, 2008)

Looks good so far.
What's on top of the foam?


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

zaius said:


> Looks good so far.
> What's on top of the foam?


Just some fir bark. I was turned onto using this as a substrate many years ago by Nick and it's been superb for me. Plants love it, iso's love it, doesn't stick to the frogs, and it is a lot easier to manage than soil type substrates. It also doesn't compact like soil type substrates.


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## bobrez (Sep 10, 2011)

gonna be some happy frogs just wanted too say $1 can black spray paint



tachikoma said:


> Just a small update:
> 
> Almost done with hardscaping the second tank, this one is one of the treefrog tanks. Their tanks have more ventilation in the top which I made with no see um mesh and some screen framing from the net because neither HD or Lowes has the frames in black.
> 
> ...


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Well I wasn't able to make it out to Microcosm  But I did get my own little surprise in the mail! My LED Groupbuy order came in! I ordered 3 of the 48" makers heatsinks. I was looking at other lighting solutions but nothing really was fitting my needs and after reading on this forum of other's success with the DIY led's I figured I would give it a go. Thanks Chuck Lawson for doing the videos they really helped me to get the confidence to try this out!


























I still need to buy the led's and the drivers, I'm just trying to figure out how many I will need and then which drivers/how many per fixture. Looking forward to setting this up!


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Looking good. Can't wait to see it all finished!


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

I wanna see an update on the tanks!


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

So FINALLY my stuff came in from ledgroupbuy.com (Slowest shipping/order fulfillment of all time) 

Anyway started setting up the first fixture, the led's here are the Cree XM-L warm whites and man they give off a really nice warm soft golden light, it would be perfect to use as the dawn dusk header before the other lights come on to blend the colors into a mid day sun temp. I decided to just go with 3 rows of 15 leds, the top and bottom rows will be alternating between cool and neutral white. I have to say I was nervous about soldering at first, but I sacrificed one of the led's to practice on before I committed to setting up the whole thing and it was def worth it. Trust me take the extra few minutes to practice on something before you try to solder an entire fixture a little prep goes a long way towards prevention of mistakes. 


















I'll post pics of the tanks later but they really are very bland no plants because I don't have sufficient lighting yet, (hence the led build) Right now the frogs don't seem to mind since they have plenty of leaf litter to hide/forage in.

James


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## RyanD (Jul 18, 2006)

Hows the build coming? Excellent job btw.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

RyanD said:


> Hows the build coming? Excellent job btw.


I did not see your post Ryan, but fortunately I actually have updates! Today after a ton of trial and error, and a really painful mistake I got the led fixture up and running! First off the mistake that cost me 8 of my XM-L led's, was that ledgroupbuy had my driver voltage listed way wrong (less than half of what it really is), so I did not have enough led's hooked up for testing, so when I powered it on, it instantly fried 8 of my Cree's.  Lesson to be learned: "ALWAYS check with the multimeter despite what the directions claim" 

Oh well no use crying over spilt milk, so at long last here are the pics from the first test run of the led system turned on. Keep in mind this is still just one row of 15 of the warm white cree XM-L. It's so bright I'm not sure if I should even add another row or just mix in the other color temp led's to this existing row. 

First pic my old led bar very disappointing (pm me for the brand and info).









The new hotness!













































Now I can finally start planting the tanks!


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## RichardA (Jul 15, 2009)

Wow....very nice!

Glad I came across this thread here, I am building 12x12x18's and a few others and am planning on the rack system style as well. 

I seen you are going to start planting them, that should be very nice! However I love the simple look and feel of them unplanted LOL


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

RichardA said:


> Wow....very nice!
> 
> Glad I came across this thread here, I am building 12x12x18's and a few others and am planning on the rack system style as well.
> 
> I seen you are going to start planting them, that should be very nice! However I love the simple look and feel of them unplanted LOL


Yeah the feel of the unplanted is actually not so bad, but the brown everywhere gives me a drab feeling when I look at that corner of my apartment, haha I won't go crazy with plants but some green would be oh so nice!


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

We need an update!


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

I'm pretty sure he moved to Canada and his frogs are now with friends.


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